There is no denying that France is renowned for its cheese, fine dining, wide variety of wines and impressive desserts. As far as I can remember, preparing food for a dozen guests has never made my mum remotely stressed. It got me thinking, and trying to figure out why she is always so relaxed when entertaining friends and family.
I am not sure whether it is the same for every French family, but we use a lot of shortcuts at home. For example, the cake for a party is quite often bought at the local boulangerie (bakery) rather than being homemade. As for seafood, like mussels, oysters or king prawns, they come ready to eat or do not need more than ten minutes to prepare.
When Seafish asked me to try and encourage people to eat more fish, I thought this quick, easy recipe might be a nice incentive to try something new without too much hassle. If you buy cooked king prawns from the fishmonger’s, all you have to do is make mayonnaise, and it takes less than five minutes.
You can even make mayonnaise the day before you intend to serve it, give it a stir and check the seasoning at the last minute.
My mum peels the king prawn for my brothers because they do not like doing it themselves. Seriously!
I love a dish that has the ‘wow’ factor and requires very little effort!
My Mamie (nan) taught me how to make mayonnaise when I was a teenager. It is quick, straightforward to make, and so much nicer than shop-bought stuff.
If you have never made mayonnaise before, you should really give it a go. It is the best thing with chicken for a picnic, cold turkey on Boxing Day, potato salad, meat or sandwiches. One of my favourite things is dipping baguette in mayonnaise. I usually end up eating half a baguette just like that!
Homemade Mayonnaise in 5 Minutes
Ingredients
- 1 free-range egg yolk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard at room temperature
- 200 ml sunflower oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix the egg yolk and mustard with a teaspoon.
- Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Using a handheld mixer on low speed, add 2 tablespoons of oil until the mixture thickens and forms peaks. Increase the speed of the whisk and add 2 more tablespoons of oil.
- When the mixture starts to form peaks again, add 2 more tablespoons of oil and repeat the process until all the oil has been used.
- Still whisking, add in the vinegar.
- Adjust seasoning and voilà!
Recipe Notes
Mayonnaise will keep well in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Seafish challenged me to write recipes to encourage people to eat more fish. I did not receive payment for this post. All photographs are my own.
wow thanks so much for this Mel, husband is going to be very happy. As a Belgian, no meal is complete without some real mayonnaise! Xx
Same here my lovely! Hope you like it. x
Great recipe Mel! I made mayo a while ago and was surprised at how easy it was. The only problem was that I made too much and couldn’t eat it all!! Your recipe looks like much better quantities. Yum!
Easy, isn’t it? Sometimes we avoid making things because we think they are too much hassle, but real mayo is really worth the 5 minutes it takes to make. xx
I have never tried making mayonnaise, it looks much easier than I thought. I will have to try it now
I am glad my little recipe has inspired you to give it a go! Let me know if you do.
La mayonnaise maison , c’est mon beau frère qui la fait super bien ! C’est vraie que je ne jamais essayer, j’ai toujours peur de la raté ! Un de ces jours je me lance parce que je l’adore surtout avec les fruits de mer.
Tu devrais essayer! xx
elle a l’air bien onctueuse. moi je ne mets pas de vinaigre. Et l’oeuf, tu ne mets que le jaune?? (je suis pas sure de ce que tu as écrit en anglais: “egg yolk”???)biz
Oui, seulement le jaune. Tu mets le blanc aussi, toi? Le vinaigre ajoute une toute petite touche d’acidité et rend la mayo moins jaune. Bisou xx
Look fab hon! Home made mayo is a must in my house too 🙂
xx
Oh I always thought it would be more complicated than that. Thanks hun x
No, easy peasy!
non justement je ne mets pas le blanc. C’est tellement facile et rapide une bonne mayo maison. Pourtant j’avoue avoir un pot de “toute faite” dans mon frigo!!!
Pareil chez nous!
Mel, you make it look so easy and delicious. x
Thanks Julie!
I’ve not made Mayonnaise since taking my Food Technology GCSE at school. I remembered it being tricky but you’ve made it sound simple so you’ve inspired me to give it another go.
He he! It requires a bit of elbow grease if you use a fork or whisk, but it is really quick and simple with an electric one!
I think that was the problem. No fancy equipment in my school!!
I quite like my gadgets for cooking I have to say. My step-dad was the opposite and he always used a tablespoon to make mayonnaise!
Just gorgeous, my Mum often makes it but I haven’t myself, I will be now. Have pinned this on to my Low Carb board. Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays x
Let me know if you give it a go. xx
Now this is a proper mayo. I saw a “20 second” mayo the other day and am too cynical to try it! 🙂
20 seconds sounds incredibly quick. How do they do that?
Ooh perfect! We always make our own mayonnaise, quick, simple, delicious (and without the sugar!) – we usually use rapeseed instead of sunflower oil – not sure that it would make that much difference …I get wonderful thoughts of Swedish summer looking at this delicious treat, do your little ones get busy peeling the prawns too? We usually put a whole bowl of them on the table with homemade mayonnaise and a baguette; lots of little bowls around for the shells & everyone gets busy peeling their own 🙂
I guess rapeseed probably tastes the same as sunflower oil. I made it with olive oil once (had run out of everything else) and it was quite simply awful!
After you inspired me to give mayonnaise a try after all these years, I branched out to tartare sauce too (just published the recipe). Thanks for showing how easy it can be x
I have just read your recipe. The photos are making me crave fish & chips!