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Economical Mayonnaise
Put in a small bowl, the yolk of an egg, a tablespoonful of vinegar, the same amount of lemon juice, a half cupful of olive oil, a quarter teaspoonful of dry mustard, the same of salt and of paprika. Now put half a cupful of cold water in a small saucepan and add to it gradually, stirring all the time so it will not lump, a quarter of a cupful of flour; when mixed, set on the fire, or over a spirit lamp, and stir until very thick; about three or four minutes will thicken it. Then add this, while hot, to the other mixture, beat the two together until thick. This recipe may be doubled as the mayonnaise keeps well. Very good for vegetable salad.
This is mayonnaise stretched with a cooked flour paste — half the oil of a true emulsion, held together by starch. It behaves less like mayonnaise than like the old boiled dressings, and the technique needs a little care at one point.
- The hinge: add the paste hotThe starch paste must go into the egg-and-oil mixture while it is still hot and be beaten hard immediately. If it cools it sets into a gluey lump that will not disperse, and the dressing turns grainy rather than creamy.
- Slake the flour coldStirring the quarter cup of flour into the half cup of cold water off the heat is what prevents lumps. Once it is smooth, cook it three to four minutes with constant stirring until it is very thick and no longer tastes of raw flour — a paste this stiff scorches quickly on a modern burner, so use low heat.
- Spirit lampA small alcohol burner used at table or on a chafing-dish stand. Any small saucepan over the lowest gas or electric setting does the same job.
- Build the emulsion firstThe recipe lists yolk, acid and oil together, but you get a far better texture by beating the yolk with the vinegar, lemon juice and seasonings, then dribbling the half cup of olive oil in slowly before the paste goes in.
- Egg safety and the keeping claimThe yolk is never heated to a safe temperature by a few spoonfuls of hot paste, so use pasteurized eggs if the dressing is going to children, older people or anyone pregnant. Ignore "keeps well" as written: refrigerate it, covered, and use it within three or four days.
- PaprikaHere this means ordinary sweet paprika, used mainly for colour. Smoked paprika will dominate the whole bowl.
- Yield and useAbout a cup and a quarter. It is thick enough to coat cooked vegetables, potato salad or shredded cabbage; it is too heavy and too starchy for delicate leaves.
- If it stiffens in the refrigeratorStarch-thickened dressings set firm when cold. Beat in a teaspoon or two of water, vinegar or lemon juice to bring it back to a spreading consistency rather than warming it.
"Economical" here means economical of olive oil, which in American kitchens of the period was an imported, comparatively expensive ingredient. Cutting the oil with a cooked flour-and-water paste was one of several economies — others used condensed milk, mashed potato or a full boiled dressing thickened with flour and egg over hot water — and some cookbooks of the period printed a true mayonnaise alongside a cheaper version for family use. The result belongs to the older American tradition of boiled dressing, which predates commercial jarred mayonnaise and survives in regional cooking, where a slightly starchy, tart dressing is still what is wanted for potato salad and coleslaw. The mention of a spirit lamp suggests such dressings could be mixed at the table or on a sideboard, in the era when the chafing dish was a fixture of light entertaining.