There can be few fridges that don’t contain a jar of mayonnaise – but the creamy stuff can do far more than just perk up a salad.
It’s no surprise that mayonnaise is high on many people’s lists of comfort foods. It is an indulgence; a pure luxury. No one needs to add mayonnaise to anything, and yet it seems to go with just about everything – from the humblest of hard-boiled eggs to a wallet-busting side of wild salmon. When Hellmann’s came up with its famous advertising slogan: ‘Don’t save it for the salad’ they were not so much suggesting new uses for its mayonnaise as acknowledging its hugely broad appeal.
The odd thing is, if you try and describe mayonnaise in words, it sounds rather unappetising. In The Oxford Companion to Food it is rather dispassionately listed as: ‘An emulsion of egg yolks, vinegar and oil’. Sounds more like a hair care product than a food, doesn’t it?
In fact, mayonnaise is more about chemistry than cookery. The emulsion is caused by binding fats in the egg yolk to those in the oil. No one is really sure where it was discovered. Mayonnaise is a French word and many manifestations of the sauce, ie aïoli and tartare sauce, seem to come from around the Med. Wherever it came from first, one thing is for sure, mayonnaise has travelled far and wide. The oddest place I came across it was in a Japanese noodle bar. I couldn’t think what it was doing there.
Food processors have seen to the wrist-aching part. So you have no excuses not to make it: it's a pure product containing just eggs, mustard, oil and lemon juice and the intense richness of real egg mayonnaise – taken to the point where it wobbles like a jelly – is unsurpassable.
Tom Norrington-Daviesdelicious. mayonnaise recipes
Mayonnaise recipe
You need to shop for the ingredients for mayonnaise with care – see our tips.
Deep-fried plaice and tartare sauce recipe
A word of warning: once you have made your own tartare sauce you will
never be able to eat the awful, chip-shop, sachet version, ever again!
If you have access to a good fishmonger he should be able to get fresh
plaice fillets. A good alternative is lemon or witch (megrim) sole.
Poached chicken and coronation sauce recipe
A world away from the frigid version you get at rubbish buffets. If you
like, you can let the cooked chicken cool and remove from its juices,
saving them to eat as a soup. But before you do that try this version
that’s meant for eating warm.
Russian salad recipe
Or, to give it the correct name, insalata russa. Spot the anomaly? This
dish is Italian, not Russian, and as far as I can make out, the name
simply refers to the inclusion of beetroot! I’d love to hear from
anyone who knows otherwise. It’s great with poached salmon or rare
roast beef.