Mmm…nothing like homemade aioli. This delicious garlic French mayonnaise is best made with fresh chicken eggs. It is even better when a chicken lays an egg for you half an hour before you make the aioli. I think my friend’s chicken is telepathic; it knew I was coming and that I wanted a fresh egg to make aioli. Half an hour before I dropped by my friend’s home, her chicken laid an egg! I cradled the egg and rushed home. Got all my tools and ingredients out. Cracked and separated one fresh egg yolk from the fresh egg white, and let the aioli making began! (By the way, I used the white to make fried rice).
I remember my first time making aioli. It was the day after we had our first and only grunion run. I was twelve. My father breaded and deep-fried the grunions and taught me how to make aioli as a sauce to serve with the dish. ”You must make sure to separate the egg yolk cleanly from the egg whites otherwise you cannot whisk the yolk into aioli .” I painstakingly slothed the egg yolk back and forth between the two half egg shells trying hard to get all the white from the yolk without breaking it. Since then, I learned a neat little trick using paper towel to gently roll the yolk around to remove all traces of the white part. By the way, this is the mayo spread used in Banh Mi, Vietnamese sandwich. It is delicious on fresh baguette or any crusty bread!
makes about 1/4 cup
Ingredients
1 fresh organic egg, yolk separated from white
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil, mild flavor cooking oil or olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
To Make Aioli by hand with a whisk or chopsticks:
1. Separate the yolk from the white. Place each into separate bowls. Save the white for other uses.
2. Whisk the egg yolk a couple of times in clockwise direction.
3. Using a small spoon to add oil a drop at a time into the yolk while whisking it slowly, clockwise. Let the oil incorporate into the yolk before the next drop. As the yolk mixture thicken, increase the drop to several drops at a time. Again as it thicken, you can add teaspoonful at a time until all oil is used up. Make sure oil is incorporated into the yolk before adding more oil!
3. Add the finely minced garlic, salt, and lemon juice to the mixture. Whisk several times until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
To make aioli using food processor:
1. Place the yolk in the processor and run the machine several turns.
2. While the processor runs on slow speed, add several drops of oil into the yolk at a time until mixture thicken, and gradually increase the amount of oil as the mixture thicken again. Continue the process until all the oil is added.
3. Add in garlic, salt, lemon juice, and run the processor several turns until well blended.
4. Refrigerate aioli for 30 minutes before using.
