The best mayonnaise (and tartare sauce) and it’s easy peasy too

There are far too many cookery programmes on TV these days.

This statement may surprise you, as I’m clearly somewhat obsessed with food and cooking. But cookery has become entertainment, and in my world it’s not the cooking itself that should be entertainment, but the resulting food. Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the sociability and enjoyment of cooking alongside other people, but that isn’t what most of these programmes are about. There are too many competitive cookery programmes where the point of the programme is to see people mess up, to see a souffle flop; a bread become a brick; a sauce split.

But I do watch cookery programmes, usually ones I can learn from.

And I’ve been surprised this last week to find myself enjoying The Hairy Bikers Best of British. Yesterday afternoon I learned how to make a Pease Pudding, something I’d never really thought of as a real food before, just a line in a song. So sometime in the future I’ll be making Gammon with Pease Pudding and Mustard Sauce – warming food for the winter months.

This weekend I made scampi, with tartare sauce. And ate it in front of the TV, in homage to the 70s. It was divine. The tartare sauce was particularly lush, and I share it here.

Start off by making your own mayonnaise. If you’ve not made mayonnaise before then you might have an idea that it’s incredibly tricky. It’s not. And it doesn’t take long either, so long as you have a hand held beater, or muscles like Pop-Eye and a balloon whisk.

Mayonnaise

• 2 free range egg yolks
• 1 TBsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard (smooth would be best, but my cupboards dictated I had 1 tsp smooth, 1 crunchy and it was fine)
• 1/4 tsp caster sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 150ml sunflower oil
• 50ml olive oil

1. Place the egg yolks, vinegar, mustard, sugar and salt in a bowl and start whisking. I recommend you use an electric beater. Keep whisking till the mixture is smooth
2. Keep whisking
3. Add the oil drop by single drop
4. Keep whisking
5. The oil will emulsify with the yolkie mixture, and after a wee while you can start adding the oil in a slow trickle
6. Keep whisking
7. If you’re feeling brave, start pouring the oil in (still relatively slowly, but steadily)
8. Keep whisking
9. Once all the oil is added, you should have some thick, smooth and luscious mayonnaise.

Put half the mayonnaise in a jar in the fridge and use within the next week. It is amazing on a wholemeal roll with smoked ham. Or with warm boiled new potatoes folded into it. Or on a white bread fish finger sandwich,

But you’re going to make tartare sauce with the other half that is still in the bowl.

Tartare Sauce

• Half quantity of the mayonnaise you have just made
• 2 TBsp capers, dried on kitchen roll and then roughly chopped
• 4 cornichons, dried and cut in half lengthwise and then sliced finely
• 1 large TBsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 small TBsp chopped fresh tarragon

1. Gently stir all the ingredients together
2. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste

Eat with scampi. Or fish goujons. Or go and buy a fish supper and eat it with your own fresh tartare sauce, and feel proud.

Related articles

• Homemade Mayo and then into Tartar Sauce (kraftykuddos.wordpress.com)
• Recipe: Gebackenes Gemüse mit Tartare Sauce (eatingaustria.wordpress.com)

Tags: Low-carbohydrate diet, Mayonnaise, quick supper, recipe, Tartar sauce