Published May 8, 2004

I’m never buying mayonnaise again. Not that I buy it much, what with the artery-clogging side effects and all, but never again am I spending my money on the jarred variety again. Because, on a lark, I made my own, and it was easy, tasty and cheap.

Making the mayo was a lark. I had a leftover egg, and what does one do with one egg? I’d made some chicken and needed a dipping sauce, and, suddenly, mayo came to mind.

So I beat an egg yolk, a tablespoon each of vinegar and mustard, and a cup of olive oil (polyunsaturated fats!). I split that into two portions.

One added hot sauce, cayenne pepper and cumin, for a smoky, spicy flavor:
(the hot sauce really made the mayo a bit thin, so I’ll have to figure out how to counter that in the future)

The other added dill, salt, and pepper, to make a nice flavorful spread for my weekday sandwiches:

Total time to make all this: maybe 15 minutes. And, without the saturated or monounsaturated fats, milk solids or by-products, food starches, preservatives, etc., that one finds in the commercial mayos. Plus, it only lasts for a few days to a week, so I can’t stuff myself with homemade mayo for too long, so my arteries are safer than ever.