I always thought for some reason that making your own mayonnaise was difficult. Then recently I was in Ballymaloe Cookery School where Rory O’Connell showed us how to make it as part of his ‘How to Cook Well’ course. I couldn’t believe how easy it was and I made a promise to myself never to buy a jar of mayonnaise again. I am hoping that when you read this that you will have a go and do the same. The difference in colour is amazing, real mayonnaise is a beautiful rich yellow colour (from real eggs), not white like the stuff in a jar. It is delicious and unbelievably versatile – from the jar in the picture I have made some garlic mayo (crushed garlic & parsley) to have with steak, dill mayo to have with salmon and also added some spicy harissa mayo delicious with salad, chicken, fish etc. In all it takes about 20 minutes to make – you will need a metal whisk, pyrex jug, a medium-sized glass or ceramic bowl and of course a jar to put it into. The recipe makes approx 200g of mayonnaise.

Ingredients

2 free-range egg yolks (use organic if you can)
¼ tsp Dijon mustard
1 dessertspoon of good quality white wine vinegar or lemon juice
50ml good quality olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
175ml sunflower oil
A pinch of salt

• Place the egg yolks, mustard, vinegar or lemon juice, a pinch of salt in the bowl Place the oil in a measuring jug.
• Dribble the oil very slowly onto the egg mix while continuously whisking. Adding the oil slowly is the key to success – if you add the oil too quickly to the egg yolk the two liquids will separate and curdle.

After about 3 minutes of whisking, the mixture will start to thicken and start to look like mayonnaise however be patient and continue to add the oil slowly and cautiously to avoid the mixture curdling. That’s it! The mayonnaise will keep for up to 2 weeks in a jar in the fridge.