homemade mayonnaise for a summer potato salad

So I finally did it: I made my own mayonnaise! This is one of those things that only professional chefs and food bloggers do anymore, and now that I count myself among the latter, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I joined the ranks of the mayo makers.


freshly made mayo

Look how gorgeous! Watching the unlikely combo of egg yolk and olive oil come together to form a delicate and creamy mass was oddly satisfying, but I have to say that I probably wouldn't try to pull this off on my own.

I started off whisking the yolk vigorously with my right hand, and trying to slowly drip in the oil with my left. My parents have a nice olive oil bottle with a small spout, but if left unchecked it still was more of a small but steady stream rather than a series of oil droplets. I soon tired, and called in my dad from the sidelines. We teamed up, taking turns with the more exhausting whisking and easier dripping. It came together beautifully, and was lightly seasoned afterward. I suspect it could have held even more olive oil, but we were both getting tired and I decided it was good enough.

As cool as I felt making mayonnaise from scratch, the primary reason I decided to try my hand at it was that I was making potato salad, and I didn't have nearly enough Hellman's. This potato salad was part of the ribs and zucchini meal I posted about yesterday, and immediately followed my gigantic coleslaw. As such, I had already used most of my parents' stock of the condiment in question. Enter the handmade variety!


macaroni and cheese

My parents weren't too crazy about this potato salad. I guess it was tasty enough. Boiled potatoes cut up and mixed with mayo, diced celery, minced parsley and basil. I added salt and pepper, and possibly a little dijon. This was just a quick and dirty potato salad, (labor intensive mayo aside), as the real star of the meal was the ribs. I'd like to try making a more interesting potato salad later on this summer.