Chef Darian’s Blog

Mayonnaise – not a mystery

I recently taught a cooking class that was all about fun and simple summer salads. I mentioned that I really liked to use homemade mayonnaise when making potato salad (and of course what BLT would be complete this time of year without great Mayonnaise and fresh from the garden tomatoes!) This brought on some questions about how to make mayo – since it has a mystery about it. It is not nearly as hard as you might imagine and I thought I would pass on this fool-proof recipe. I should add that I like to use flavored vinegars to give whatever dish I use it for – that extra special touch. For instance, Cuisine Perel has some wonderful vinegars. I have two favorites – Spicy Pecan Vinegar and Black Fig Vinegar. You can find these at your more upscale gourmet shops. I get mine at The Cooking Depot whenever I am in Cuero, but you can find it at Central Market and some of the more upscale HEB’s.

Mayonnaise

(all ingredients must be at room temperature)
3 Egg Yolks
3 to 5 Tbsp Vinegar
1/4 tsp Dry or Dijon Mustard
2 cups Canola Oil (can use Vegetable or Corn Oil)
Kosher or Sea Salt

In the very clean and dry bowl of your food processor (I find this to be the easiest and safest way to make Mayo), add the egg yolks and pulse till they are thick and sticky. (Make sure they are broken up and one homogeneous mass) Add the vinegar, a pinch of salt and the mustard. Pulse a few more times to combine well.

Now you can add the oil. The best way to do this is through the hole in your Cuisinart Food Processor. Cuisinart makes the plug for the chute in the lid with a tiny hole in the bottom. This is not a design flaw, but a clever design perk that lets you slowly add oil to your dressings. It does wonders for allowing you to create an emulsion – which is what we are going for here. Back to the oil – so keep adding oil to the plug (or plunger) in the chute until all the oil has been incorporated in the mayonnaise.

Now is the time to check for salt. You might need a little more – it is up to your taste. If it needs more, add a pinch or two and pulse a few more times, then taste again. And there you have it, mayonnaise!

Please make sure that your eggs are fresh. The mayonnaise should keep for several days in the frig. After one week I would toss it.

I hope you have success with this recipe and feel free to email me with any questions at darian@chefdarian.com!

Go Texan

This past weekend I worked with The Dining Diva at the Sip and Stroll for the Grand Wine and Food Affair in Sugar Land, Texas. We were promoting all food Texas! I learned some interesting things and thought I would share them.

1. Buy local – buy Texan. When you sit down to dinner and look at the food on your plate tonight – realize that your food traveled about 1800 miles just to get there. When you buy local it wont travel that far. Think about the carbon footprint that leaves. How much energy is wasted when you could just get what grows in your own state. So when you go to the grocery ask them for Texas meat and produce.

2. Keeping your neighbors employed and in their homes. A red fish farmer explained it this way; his neighbor is a shrimper. When people by the cheaper – inferior shrimp for Asia they are helping to put the local shrimper out of work. If he loses his job he might lose his boat and his home. If the home is left vacant from lack of renters or foreclosure then the neighbors property values go down. Crime might pick up in the neighborhood. We all know that homes left vacant in your neighborhood are an attraction to teens and the homeless. So when you go to the Seafood Department ask for Texas Fish and Shrimp. It might cost you $0.50 to $1.00 more a pound, but just skip Starbucks one day and make up the difference.

Did you know that we produce so much food here in Texas – year round due to our weather? The valley is filled with citrus fruit – when was the last time you bit into a Rio Star Grapefruit? Who could say that they never had a good Pecos Mellon? We have a huge organic tomato farm outside of Austin. Fantastic tomatoes that you can get at Central Market. I have been there and I can tell you that they don’t taste like a greenhouse grown tomato. We export more Striped Bass then we consume here in Texas. And Texas Striped Bass is so mild and easy to cook – why buy from somewhere else? There is a huge mushroom farm just NW of Houston. To know if you are buying Texas produce, fish and meats just go to the website www.gotexan.org and get all of the details on what and where to purchase! Also, look for the GoTexan symbol on food packaging!