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Mayonnaise Dressing
Yolks of three eggs beaten, oil added gradually until quite stift - melted butter can be used instead of oil if preferred-a little salt, the last thing add the whites of one or two eggs beaten very stiff. This dressing is very nice for chicken or lobster. A few tablespoonfuls of vinegar I think an improvement.
This is an uncooked egg emulsion, and the way it is built puts it outside what can be recommended today. The points below explain where the specific problems lie rather than how to rescue it.
- Raw yolks, never heatedThe dressing is never brought to any temperature at all, so nothing in the process addresses Salmonella in the yolks.
- Raw whites folded in as wellBeaten raw whites at the end add more uncooked egg and aerate the dressing, giving it a looser, foamier structure that is less likely to hold.
- The acid is optional and comes lastIn a modern emulsion the vinegar or lemon juice goes in at the start, both for flavour and to lower the pH of the yolk. Here it is an afterthought the writer merely "thinks an improvement," so the dressing may contain no acid whatsoever.
- Melted butter will not behave like oilButter is roughly 16 percent water and 80 percent fat, and it sets solid when cool. Substituted for oil it is more likely to separate, and the dressing will stiffen in the refrigerator rather than staying pourable.
- Intended for chicken and lobsterBoth suggested partners are cooked proteins served cold, and a raw-egg dressing that may contain no acid is a poor pairing with them.
- No quantities for the oil"Oil added gradually until quite stiff" is the only guidance given. Three yolks will carry anywhere from three-quarters of a cup to well over two cups of oil, so the recipe cannot be reproduced consistently even setting the safety question aside.
- If you want mayonnaiseUse a current recipe built on pasteurized eggs or a cooked yolk base, with the acid added at the beginning.
Mayonnaise reached American cookbooks in the nineteenth century by way of French cookery, and its name is generally traced to Mahón in Menorca, though the derivation has never been settled. Nineteenth-century versions vary enormously: some are close to modern mayonnaise, others are thickened with cream, boiled starch or, as here, beaten egg whites, which made the dressing lighter. The offhand tone of the whole entry, with its "I think an improvement," may be typical of the community and family cookbooks of the period, though the recipe itself gives little context.