I didn't know this was possible, but I broke my aoili yesterday. I have made this recipe for aioli a bunch of times before with perfect, trembly, buttery-creamy results every time. This time, I got greedy. There was a point at which I knew I had added enough oil (lots of really good olive oil too), but I thought, since I was using a jumbo egg yolk, that I could maybe add a bit more. And a bit more. So greedy. I put the aioli to chill overnight.
The next day, I saw that it looked kind of sickly--whitish spots all over it, and sort of "sweating" or oozing oil. This was not good. Wendy said it would be fine, but I was unhappy serving less-than-perfect aoili. I knew I had added more oil than my egg yolk could emulsify. I thought, maybe I can put it back in the kitchen-aid and add another bit of egg yolk, and it would be fine. As soon as I started whisking it though, it liquified immediately. No longer nice and stiff like it had been before--no matter how much I whisked it, it was toast, as they say. Apparently over-whisking will deteriorate the egg. It's like the egg had just thrown in the towel and said, "Forget it! If you are going to abuse me like this, I'm not going to work for you at all." I gave up and stopped whisking. I was so sad. After letting the mixture sit for a while, all the eggy stuff had floated to the top and the oil was there at the bottom, but it was truly inedible. Sad.