Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Does anyone here make immersion blender mayo (a la Serious Eats)?

I am not sure what I am doing wrong and I am getting frustrated. The first three times I made it, it was flawless. The last four times it broke and I had to "salvage" it with a wisk.

I am using a cup about 1/4" wider than the immersion blender. I've tried low speed. I've tried high speed. I've nixed any addins that worked in earlier batches (like garlic).

The mayo starts forming, and when it gets to about 3/4 the way up the cup, it stalls and eventually I very slowly tilt the blender to one side as shown in the video. And then it invariably breaks.

Last nights batch came out as thin as a sauce even after "fixing" it with an extra yolk. I'm about to go back to Hellmans.

--Lisa

Curse of the Mayo. Really, every time I've tried a new method for mayonnaise, it works for the first few times and then it breaks forever after. I use 365 brand canola mayo from Whole Foods.

This is really wierd. Though I rarely use mayo, when I do I make it, and have never had a batch break! I have made it in blenders, food processors, and manually, but no immersion blenders. I always used lemon juice and a bit of white rice wine vinegar, and a couple times just lime juice, for a Thai version. Maybe the citrus has something that helps (but then, you may use that,too)? Anyone have any chemistry explanations, as far as types of oil or vinegar being better or worse?

Lisa,

This is a clue; your blender may not have enough power. Make a smaller batch and it should succeed.

Tim

One time in culinary school Chef Peter instructed one of my fellow students to prepare mayo for some Remoulade Sauce, or some other Mother Sauce derivative. Using the Robot Coupe this poor student attempted to make some mayo. It broke. Chef Peter told him to start again. He did. It broke again. Chef Peter was now convinced this guy was inept at making mayo. He told him to try again. He did and it broke yet again. Flustered, Chef Peter decided he would demonstrate the proper way to make mayo. Chef Peter's mayo broke. It was at this point Chef conceded the mayo wouldn't work because the eggs were too old. We opened the new container of eggs in the walk-in, and lo and behold, the mayo succeeded.

Probably not your issue, but do make sure you use the freshest eggs you can.

Amy

I have never had success with an immersion blender. Mine is a cheapo Hamilton Beach so as Tim states it may not have enough power. I can make mayo fine with a whisk, but my shoulder is not happy. Using my regular blender usually results in good mayo (but not always).

That's interesting about the stale eggs. I remember in some of my early books I got the recipes out of they would say to use the "absolute freshest eggs" when making mayo, and I figured it was because we would be eating the eggs raw! I also remember when I first made mayo in a blender the instructions said to use a whole egg, rather than just egg yolk, as the blender would stall using just the yolk.

And I just remembered another thing I do different from most recipes - I use 1/2-1 tsp powdered mustard, rather than the dijon mustard in most recipes, as I don't always want that flavor in there. The powdered is almost unnoticeable, yet there is something in mustard that supposedly helps with the emulsion, so I always add it. I even put that in the Thai versions I have made, just in case.

I believe that mustard contains lecithin, an excellent emulsifier. However, egg yolks contain a ton of lecithin, and I am quite sure mustard is not required. According to McGee, a single yolk can emulsify some ridiculous amount like 100 cups of oil. Breakage really ought not to be a problem. Of course, it may well be that very stale eggs lose their capacity, or the like.

Have you change egg vendors or type?

Ah, here we go, a technical treatment by McGee.

Very informative, Paul. And I wondered how an egg yolk could emulsify 1 3/4 c oil, in that recipe given with that first Cusinart I ever had! I tried it, and it worked, but I was expecting it not to.