I rarely use mayo but wanted to make my dad’s favorite broccoli bacon salad (recipe coming shortly!) for our Fathers’ Day cookout.  I’ve never found a brand that doesn’t contain something nasty like canola or soybean oil, so I take the ten minutes to make my own, following this recipe from Alton Brown.  I save my bacon drippings for mayo- they keep forever in the fridge- a 1:1 ratio of melted bacon grease to macadamia oil is lovely.  The batch I made did thicken up in the fridge overnight, but it was more like thick hollandaise than Hellman’s.  On the flipside, you don’t want to use too much bacon grease because the mayo will be rock hard after refrigeration.

Homemade Mayonnaise
Adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 raw egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 cup oil, (I prefer a 50/50 mix of melted bacon drippings and macadamia nut oil)

Directions

In a glass bowl, whisk together egg yolk and dry ingredients.  You can use a hand blender or food processor if you have one.   Combine lemon juice and vinegar in a separate bowl then thoroughly whisk half into the yolk mixture. Start whisking briskly, then start adding the oil a few drops at a time until the liquid seems to thicken and lighten a bit, (which means you’ve got an emulsion on your hands). Once you reach that point you can relax your arm a little (but just a little) and increase the oil flow to a constant thin stream. Once half of the oil is in add the rest of the lemon juice mixture.

Continue whisking until all of the oil is incorporated. Leave at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours then refrigerate for up to 1 week.