this large group of nerds who just entered and have a strong desire to join them So it is with oil Trickle it into the egg yolk base slowly, and you can form a strong, stable emulsion Pour it in too rapidly, and you’ll never be able to separate it into droplets small enough, and, what’s worse, even if you’ve already formed a stable emulsion, you run the risk of breaking it This is the great difficulty when it comes to mayonnaise, and it vexes even the best of cooks Mayo breaks if you try to add oil too fast Mayonnaise is one of my favorite foods I’m not one of those folks who wakes up in the middle of the night and pulls a jar out of the fridge to eat with a spoon—at least not yet—but I’ve made a lot of it in my life Some people swear by the food processor, but the easiest method by far is the very method that I witnessed on that infomercial all those years ago: using an immersion blender By placing the egg yolks and other flavorings (usually mustard and lemon juice along with a splash of water to lighten the texture) in the bottom of a tall, narrow cup and carefully pouring oil on top, you create two distinct layers: water-based liquid with the fat floating on top of it If you then slowly plunge the head of the blender to the bottom—into the water part—and flip the switch, you create a vortex that slowly but surely pulls the oil down into it, so the oil is fed into the blended egg yolks in a slow, steady stream Before your very eyes, you see a creamy mayonnaise forming, starting from the bottom of the container and slowly working its way toward the top If you don’t own an immersion blender, get one, if only for this purpose! Foolproof Mayo Without a Hand Blender OK, you’re stubborn and you flat out refuse to buy an immersion blender What then? Well, you could make your mayonnaise by hand (it’s really, really tough), but if you’ve got a food processor, you’re in luck With enough practice, you can easily make mayonnaise in the food processor by dumping your eggs and flavorings in, then slowly trickling in the oil with the machine running Problem is, it doesn’t always work, particularly for small batches The egg yolks ride up the sides of the processor bowl, which makes any attempt to form an emulsion with them an exercise in futility But is there a foolproof way, one that ensures that the oil and the egg yolks all mix up nicely? As I was scraping down egg yolks from the sides of my ... with the fat floating on top of it If you then slowly plunge the head of the blender to the bottom—into the water part—and flip the switch, you create a vortex that slowly but surely pulls the. .. ride up the sides of the processor bowl, which makes any attempt to form an emulsion with them an exercise in futility But is there a foolproof way, one that ensures that the oil and the egg yolks all mix up nicely?... in the food processor by dumping your eggs and flavorings in, then slowly trickling in the oil with the machine running Problem is, it doesn’t always work, particularly for small batches The egg