Broken Mayonnaise

(Central Florida Bob ) #1

My wife and I have been making our own mayo for several years now - she has made it most of the time, I just pitch in and do it on occasion. In the last few months, though, something in the world has changed and we’ve had problems with mayonnaise breaking.

A month or so ago, we thought maybe the eggs had changed and we tried a different brand. That worked. One time and not again. I volunteered to try to make some, thinking I want to see it myself. My first batch came out fine. Then I made another batch and turned that into Caesar dressing. Also fine.

On my third attempt, it broke and if there’s anything that I thought might have been different was maybe I adding the oil too fast. One moment it was looking like mayo and going fine, the next moment it broke and turned into an oily mess. I did an internet search on fixing broken mayo, did the trick (hand whisk another egg yolk with some of the broken mayo) and it worked.

This week, my wife made a batch for Caesar dressing, then had a batch that was going to stay mayo broke and the same “hand whisk another egg yolk” trick didn’t work. So we’re both seeing far more broken batches than we had for the previous few years.

Which leads to my question. I’ve never seen it talked about but a main part of making the oil and vinegar emulsion is that the egg yolks contain lecithin that helps the emulsion to form. So since lecithin is available in whatever quantity you’d want, is that helpful in fixing broken mayonnaise? Maybe more importantly, can using a bit of lecithin powder keep it from breaking?

It would be interesting if other people were having more issues with mayo breaking, too. Maybe something in what they feed the hens has changed and it’s affecting everyone.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #2

I make my keto mayo with an electric stick blender, not a hand whisk. I have never had an issue with mine separating. I have used eggs from all kinds of sources. We had a critical shortage of eggs in my state a couple of years ago, and I could not be choosy about the source. Not a single issue no matter what the source.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

The Joy of Cooking says not to try to make mayonnaise if a storm is coming. They don’t really explain why, but I would guess it has something to do with changing barometric pressure.

Julia Child used to do episodes on how to cope when things go wrong. I definitely remember one on hollandaise, but I wonder if she might have made one on mayonnaise as well.

(Central Florida Bob ) #4

We use an electric stick (immersion) blender. We’ve gone through three or four in the years we’ve been doing this, and the only time I’ve used the hand whisk was for trying rescue that broken batch.

After doing a few batches and listening to my wife’s coaching, I think that it might come down to adding the oil too fast sometimes, but I don’t have any real proof of that. The body of the stick blender gets uncomfortably warm to hold and she thinks that’s the cause, but it’s long way from the mix being worked on and the part of the blender that’s in the jar doesn’t feel anywhere near that warm.

Along the lines of what @PaulL is saying, not barometric pressure but room temperature comes to my mind. I know that in some circles, room temperature is supposed to mean around 68F, but that’s not my planet. Most of the time that we’re working, it’s closer to 78.

I saw one reference to using lecithin in my searches here, but nothing very specific or informative.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

The scientific definition of “room temperature” is 21° C/71° F. So whenever you read “standard temperature and pressure” in a scientific text, they mean 21° and 1 atm.

Oh, come on! You know you needed to know that! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

(Central Florida Bob ) #6

That was under some neuron I haven’t poked at in years. :rofl:

Back when I was making a telescope and the optics (10", f5.6), I was reading everything on testing optics and found the reference to 20C, or 68F. They said something about “French chateau room temperature.” That neuron survived.

(Bean) #7

As a “retired chef”… it seems likely you are adding your fat too fast for whatever the conditions of the kitchen. Sometimes you really are only adding drops of oil at a time. It’s more likely to break if you add more fat than what is already incorporated into your emulsion, if that makes sense.

Some culinary people seem to think a pinch of dry mustard helped keep it from breaking early on.

(Central Florida Bob ) #8

Thanks much, @beannoise!

That has been what I’ve been thinking, based simply on observing the fact that we’ve been using the same downloaded and printed recipe since we started while the “epidemic” of breaking has been the last few months. When I made my first batch in years a few months ago, I was really careful about adding a quarter teaspoon at a time, with my wife standing beside me and saying she always adds it faster than that.

We’ve tried yolks only vs. whole eggs, which doesn’t seem to matter, different brands of eggs (same) and I think she wants to dig out the old food processor for even more speed. The answer seems to be less speed.

EDIT to add: Do you have any opinion on using lecithin? Maybe just as a last, desperate, attempt to save a batch? I’d do the experiment but I’d have to buy some and I’m a bit overwhelmed by the “how much?, what form?” questions. Yes, I saved a jar of broken mayo in the fridge.

(Bean) #9

It’s worth a try if you have some available. Do you have a hand/ stand mixer? It seems like that might be easier for a rescue batch. Report back, please!

(Central Florida Bob ) #10

Yes, I have a multi-speed stand mixer as well as a handheld kind. The stand has a wire whisk while the handheld one has two beaters.

I did a search for lecithin at the local grocery store (Publix) the website said they had it but I couldn’t find it. The online searches are hard to narrow down. Powder? Granules? Soy or sunflower? I’m ignoring the gel caps and other forms that people must be taking for some reason. I figure powder, and the finer the better, but how much? Does something bad happen if I use too much? Those sorts of questions.

(Bean) #11

If you don’t have it locally, I would think powder and from sunflower. But that’s just my reaction- I’m pretty soy-adverse because I have hashis- not anything more cooking science related.

For quantities, I would start with a pinch dissolved in a small amount of liquid. Maybe read a few vegan mayo recipes first? Some seem to use lecithin. I’m intrigued because I may not be able to reintro eggs, so I might try an animal fat version at some point.

#12

I’ve never successful made mayo, think my blender is too violent, I got the Ninja with 37 blades. Seems you need one that can go fast, but not insane and my lowest speed is insane.

That said, although this is no help to you, if you could part with your Caesar recipe, it’d be greatly appreciated. I’ve also failed at every attempt at that, and the only ones I can find (that taste good) are seed oil garbage.

(Central Florida Bob ) #13

The one that we’ve been using is here:

There’s a complication here so this isn’t exactly what we’re using. The complication is she lists one cup of Hellmann’s or one one of those “conventional” mayos. The recipe for mayo we’ve been using uses two cups of oil so it produces over twice as much as the Caesar recipe calls for.

The answer to that is simply to make a batch of mayo and then double the quantities in the Caesar recipe (while leaving out the 1 cup of Mayo in her recipe, of course).

We make the mayo in 1 quart mason jars so that when all the ingredients are whipped into that, it all fits and we don’t need to change jars.

(Central Florida Bob ) #14

A followup. Just because.

First, I made another jar today and it went successfully. My biggest difference was adding the oil more slowly as @beannoise and I both mentioned. My wife thought the issue was that the mixer and the mayo felt too hot.

The problem is those two explanations contradict each other. If the mixer is getting hot, you want to add the oil faster to get the mixer out, and if you add oil slower, the mixer gets hotter. I eventually waited until she left the area and “I did it my way” (do your best Sinatra voice for that). It worked.

I did some searches for vegan mayo and nothing I saw used lecithin. On a wild hair thought, I remembered the big bottle of xanthan gum and wondered if it would be useful. I found an article that doesn’t outright say it would work, but kind of implies it might.

(Bean) #15

I’ve used xanthan to make keto gravy. I put it in a repurposed spice container so I can sprinkle and wisk at the same time. The same method might work for your mayo?

(Central Florida Bob ) #16

I’ve used it in gravy and I think another sauce, but I use it the most in the keto ice cream I make a couple of times a week. Where I’m not really sure what it’s doing for me.

I’m not sure how to experiment with it, but it would be a minor miracle if it could fix the broken batch that’s in the fridge right now.

Tomorrow’s highest priority is hurricane preparations, but that shouldn’t take too long. We’re kind of out of the habit, but everything is where we left it. I might be able to try something.

(KM) #17

Can you divide your broken mayo and experiment on a smaller portion? You might find the answer but if you don’t, at least you haven’t ruined all of it.

(Bean) #18

Good luck and stay safe!