Making Homemade Mayonnaise

We have made homemade mayonnaise in the past, but we were just given an immersion blender and decided to make some more using this new appliance. We've made it in a regular blender before, but the immersion blender makes it better and faster.  Just the other day Tricia made a batch of mayonnaise for us and Russ was in from college for the weekend and we decided to make a jar for him - with a twist.  Jalapeno Mayonnaise!

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of mayonnaise.  I never have been.  However, there is a local po-boy place in Lake Charles that uses jalapeno mayonnaise.  It adds a great spicy flavor to a poboy, so we decided to make some of our own.  Here are the ingredients:

• 2 medium eggs (our hens are only laying 5 eggs a day, so we're rationing the eggs now!)
• 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar (we used the vinegar from our pickled jalapenos)
• 1 Tablespoons whey (whey is the liquid that comes off when you make yogurt)
• a generous pinch of salt
• 1 cup of light olive oil

Ingredients for making (jalapeno mayonnaise)

Mayonnaise is so easy to make.  Once you have all your ingredients together, crack two eggs into a mason jar.

Break a couple of eggs

Add a generous pinch of kosher salt...

Salt

Next we added 1 Tablespoon of whey from our cows.  This was separated off when we made kefir - a type of drinkable yogurt that we make smoothies with or when we make cheese.  This earlier post about cheese-making shows pictorially how we separate whey.  Whey is a preservative.  In fact, homemade mayonnaise made like this will last for a week, but when you add a tablespoon of whey, it will last for several months.

Whey

Then we pour in 1 cup of extra light virgin olive oil.  Notice how everything goes into the same mason jar that you'll store the mayonnaise in.

Adding the olive oil

Then in a couple of teaspoons of vinegar from the jar of pickled jalapenos we made last year.

Jalapeno vinegar

Put the immersion blender down to the very bottom of the jar and pulse to blend the eggs.  Then move the blender up and down slowly to mix the entire contents of the jar.

Let's mix things up!

I kid you not - in just a few seconds... voila! Mayonnaise!

Homemade mayonnaise!

Now, here's the part that you customize.  We added pickled jalapenos, but you can make whatever you wish.  Adding fresh dill would make a fantastic herbed mayonnaise.  I was talking to a buddy today who makes chipotle mayonnaise by adding a can of chipotle peppers at this point.

Adding jalapenos to make jalapeno mayonnaise

The blender chops the jalapenos up and gives the mayo a slight greenish tinge and a nice, spicy taste that is sure to liven up a po boy, sandwich or burger.

Our work here is done

We labeled it, dated it, and put in the fridge to use.  We talked about using it to make a chicken salad sandwiches or egg salad sandwiches with a little "kick" to it!