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Mayonnaise, "Hellmann's/Best Foods" Clone (P, TNT)
Source: Unknown
Yield: 1 cup

1 egg yolk
2-1/4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon water
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon bottled lemon juice
1 cup canola oil

Whisk the egg yolk by hand for 15 seconds.

Combine vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Add half of this solution to the egg yolk and whisk for another 15 seconds.

Pour 1 cup of canola oil (or soybean oil) into a plastic squirt bottle. This bottle will allow you to dribble the oil into the egg yolk with one hand while whisking with the other. Squirt a few drops of oil into the yolk and whisk, and continue to add oil a little bit at a time while whisking non-stop.

When you have used about half of the oil, your mayonnaise should be very thick. Add the remaining vinegar solution. Whisk. Now you can add the remaining oil in a steady stream while whisking until all of the oil has been added. Your mayonnaise should be thick and off-white in color.

Put the mayonnaise into an old mayonnaise jar and seal it with a lid. Leave this out on your kitchen counter for 8 to 10 hours so that the vinegar and lemon juice can kill any potential bacteria in the egg yolk. Keep up to 2 weeks in your refrigerator.

Poster's Notes:
This recipe is supposedly a clone of Hellmann's mayonnaise.

In this clone recipe you'll be creating an emulsion by simply whisking a stream of oil into a beaten egg yolk. The solution will begin to magically thicken and change color, and before you know it you'll be looking at a bowl of beautiful off-white fresh mayonnaise. I've found the best way to add the oil to the egg yolk a little bit at a time while whisking is to pour the oil into a plastic squirt bottle (like the kind used for ketchup or mustard). This will allow you to whisk continuously with one hand while squirting oil with the other. The real stuff is made with soybean oil, which can be hard to find in some areas. Fortunately common canola oil is a great substitute.

Posted by Sue Epstein

Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A