Some may remember the sad story of the time I broke the aioli I was making for Thanksgiving. It was the first time that ever happened to me. Key takeaway: don't get greedy. One large egg can emulsify just about 1 cup of oil and that's it. Fin.
I redeemed myself last week by making this beautiful aioli to serve with crudite at a dinner party. What is aoili, you ask? Think of it as fancy mayonnaise - the only difference really is the addition of garlic and the type of oil you use. It helps if you have a powerful stand mixer for this one, though a regular hand mixer may work just as well. I do not recommend doing this totally manually.
Ingredients (roughly)
1 large egg yolk
1-2 cloves garlic
approx. 1/4 tsp mustard (or mustard powder)
approx. 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 c. good oil (olive, or mix of olive and vegetable)
herbs to taste
salt to taste - a little goes a long way!
I start with the yolk in the mixer and add the garlic, mustard and lemon juice before turning on the mixer. Slowly bring the mixer up to speed. Start dribbling the oil in a drop at a time, allowing it to mix thoroughly before adding more. This takes patience and upwards of 15 minutes. I like to use a relatively high speed to get a nice stiff peak to my aoili - I don't like it runny. At some point, you can probably start pouring the oil in a very thin and steady stream. Stop every once in a while to taste it and add a few shakes of salt. Be careful not to overmix or add too much oil, lest you break your aioli like I did.