Friday, January 28, 2011

Day 347- Homemade Vegan Mayo And Bear

Finally, finally I am out of the ratshack-o'-doom. Of course, all my stuff (including about 4 grocery bags full of food) is in my car, but I never have to go back to that place, ever again. Never ever.

Before I left, though, I wanted to use up some stuff that wouldn't move well, and I wanted to try out a recipe.

See, my only attempt at vegan mayo before this had been a recipe I pulled off YouTube. It required an ingredient (guar gum) that's tough to find around here, and while it's available online I *really* don't need a pound of it.

So I went googling. I found about a dozen recipes, and they all made a lot of sense.

Mayo is an emulsion. As long as you've got the basics, and enough stuff to hold the two main ingredients together, you should have mayo. You can do the same thing with eggs and oil and... um mustard, and whatever else goes into "normal" mayo, but that's using raw eggs, and I'm kinda grossed out by even the idea. If you like raw eggs then go for it.

So, in traditional homemade mayo, most recipes call for a little mustard. Not because of flavor (though it *does* help) but because it helps to hold the emulsion. I'm sure I could dig up a reason for that, but I really can't be bothered today. The dog's not gonna let me type that long.

Basically, the mustard (and maybe a splash of vinegar) helps hold the little oil molecules suspended in the "other" ingredient. In this case, that's soy milk.

I wouldn't want to try this recipe with a hand whisk, it takes about 4 minutes on high with the stick blender, I can't imagine how long it would take totally by hand. I really do recommend the stick blender, too, 'cause if you use the right container you can just blend up your mayo and put in straight in the fridge.

Most amounts approx.

Vegan Mayo-
  • 50ml Soy Milk (about 1/4 cup)
  • dash salt
  • splash vinegar
  • 1/8tsp mustard (+/- I used spicy brown)
  • Oil
Put everything *except* the oil in your mixing container. begin blending, and drizzle oil in slowly. As it firms up, stop adding oil, and blend until firm. Works best with a low-flavor oil, even slightly rancid oil will *not* work in this recipe, it'll taste foul. It works out to 1/2 to 1 cup of oil, give or take.

Mine held the emulsion just fine for two days, it might last up to a week. Made about a cup or a cup and a half. Recipe cost- less than $1. Almost deffinately doubles and triples easily. Don't know if it works with other milks, if you try one (even cow) let me know how it works out.

Ok, now the dog is looking at me extra sad-like, so I'm gonna throw the squeeky bone for him for a while. After all, he ate his *whole entire* breakfast, and only tried to crawl onto the couch with me twice last night. Or maybe I could talk him into a nap...

2 comments:

  1. You can look into using pasteurized eggs if you are worried about using raw eggs. Personally I have been using them for years for all my egg based recipes. For me I feel very confident making any meal using eggs knowing that the eggs I'm using are pasteurized and have reduce the risk of getting salmonella or food borne illness.

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  2. I forgot all about pasteurized eggs, thanks. I don't eat them (wasn't a fan even when I was in my eat-anything-animal phase) but I'm sure someone else can use the info.

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