Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe ~ Tips for Perfectly Thick and Creamy Mayo!

The first time I made homemade mayonnaise it turned out perfectly; soft and velvety, creamy and smooth.  The second time I made homemade mayonnaise it turned out perfect as well.  The third time I made it.... disaster!  The emulsion broke.  The egg and oil separated into a runny and soupy mess.  After that I had some success and some failures.  It really pained me to waste the ingredients and it pained me more to continue to add additional egg yolks in the hopes of saving the mess to have it still fail. I experimented with all the variables and still only had about a 40% success rate.  It was only after I started experimenting with different machines did I get a really consistent mayonnaise.  The stand mixer and food processor usually gave me soupy mayo and my immersion blender most often gave me thick creamy mayo.  I was just getting the hang of making mayonnaise when my stick blender burned up.  I thought I was going to have to revert to buying the jarred mayo again but I was able to get my smaller hand mixer to work.  I would never guess that my cheap $20 hand mixer would work better than my large powerful Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but in this case it does.  The secret to perfect mayonnaise every time is to make sure your vessel is not too large.  The ingredients do not have enough contact with the beaters or blades to get a proper emulsification.  Using a mini food processor, an immersion blender, or a small hand mixer with a small bowl will give you the best result.




Ingredients
1 egg yolk
1 cup oil
1 T dijon mustard (or to taste)
1T lemon juice or white wine vinegar (or to taste)
salt and pepper