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How to Make Mayonnaise By Leon Kritz

A homemade mayonnaise made with eggs, vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

How to Make Mayonnaise By Leon Kritz

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Break eight raw eggs (yolks) into a bowl.

  2. Add some salt and pepper.

  3. Whip for a few seconds.

  4. Add a half tea-spoonful of vinegar.

Make the mayonnaise

  1. Incorporate slowly one quart of good French or Italian olive oil while stirring constantly.

  2. Add one gill of vinegar between the time.

Store

  1. Set the sauce in a cool place and use when needed.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

87Calories
6 gProtein
5 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Tea + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Vinegar + teatop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Egg + teatop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together821 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks contain lecithin, which emulsifies the oil and vinegar into a stable, thick sauce.
Olive oil (in the method)
Forms most of the sauce as tiny droplets, giving it richness and a thick, smooth body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps keep the emulsion stable.

The step that matters

Incorporate the oil slowly while stirring constantly. Oil must be dispersed into the yolks as very fine droplets. Adding it too fast overwhelms the yolk's emulsifier, so the sauce can separate and fail to thicken.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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