Aïoli

Garlic pounded to a cream before any oil goes near it, in a mortar rather than a bowl, with olive oil that must go in slower than usual.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

• 8 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 300 ml olive oil, a mild one
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• a little cold water, if needed

Method

1. THE GARLIC IS POUNDED TO A CREAM BEFORE ANY OIL GOES NEAR IT, and that is the difference from the mayonnaise on this site rather than a flourish. Chopped or crushed garlic stirred into a finished mayonnaise gives hot flecks and a sauce that is mayonnaise with garlic in it. Pounded first with coarse salt until it is a smooth pale cream, it becomes the base the emulsion is built on, and the result is a different sauce.
2. OLIVE OIL GOES IN SLOWER THAN FLAVOURLESS OIL. It is heavier and it splits an emulsion more readily, so the drop-by-drop stage lasts longer -- closer to fifty millilitres than thirty. A strong peppery oil also turns bitter when beaten hard, which is why a mild one is specified.
3. A MORTAR, NOT A BOWL, if you have one. The pestle does the garlic properly and the same vessel then takes the oil. A bowl and a whisk work; a food processor does not, because it beats the olive oil bitter in seconds.
4. Garlic peeled and the green germ removed from the centre of each clove if there is one -- it is the bitter part and shows in a sauce this garlicky.
5. Pounded with the coarse salt in a mortar, 3 to 4 minutes, until it is a completely smooth pale cream with no pieces at all. This cannot be hurried.
6. Yolks worked in with the pestle until the mixture is glossy.
7. OIL DROP BY DROP, stirring continuously with the pestle in one direction. Fifty millilitres like this, patiently.
8. Once it is thick and holding, the rest in a thin steady stream.
9. Lemon juice at the end, and a teaspoon of cold water if it is stiffer than you want.
10. It should be thick enough to stand a spoon in and fiercely garlicky. Tasted for salt.
11. IF IT SPLITS: a fresh yolk in a clean bowl and the split mixture beaten into it a teaspoon at a time, exactly as on the mayonnaise page.
12. Served with poached fish, boiled vegetables or bread. It keeps two days and the garlic grows fiercer overnight.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes