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Pompeian Cooked Mayonnaise
Take a half teaspoonful of dry mustard, half teaspoonful of salt, half cup of Pompeian Olive Oil and mix to a paste. Add the yolks of two raw eggs, one quarter cup of vinegar or of lemon juice and boil in double boiler. Constantly stir mixture until thick. Keep in cool place until ready to serve.
If mayonnaise is intended for a fruit salad, omit the mustard.
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A cooked dressing rather than a true cold emulsion, thickened by egg yolk over hot water. The whole thing hinges on heat control: the mixture must thicken gently and never actually boil, or the yolks will scramble and the oil will separate out.
- "Boil in double boiler"Means simmering water underneath, not boiling custard above. Keep the water at a bare simmer and take the mixture off the heat once it coats the back of a spoon, around 165-175F; past about 180F the yolks curdle.
- MeasuresHalf a cup of oil is 120 ml, a quarter cup of vinegar or lemon juice 60 ml. The proportions yield something close to a cup of dressing.
- Order of mixingMustard and salt with the oil will not make a paste in any real sense; they make a loose slurry. Whisk the yolks and acid in off the heat until smooth before the pan goes over the water, so nothing sets in lumps.
- Texture to expectThis is closer to a thin hollandaise or a boiled salad dressing than to jarred mayonnaise. It sets further as it chills, so pull it from the heat while it still looks slightly loose.
- If it breaksStrain immediately into a cold bowl and whisk hard; a teaspoon of cold water or an extra raw yolk whisked in off the heat will usually bring it back.
- Olive oil choiceA strongly peppery extra-virgin oil turns bitter and assertive when warmed with mustard. A mild or light olive oil suits the dressing better.
- Fruit salad versionWith the mustard omitted, as directed, the dressing is quite sharp. A spoonful of sugar whisked in at the end, or a little whipped cream folded through when cold, was one period way of softening it.
- Storage"A cool place" meant a larder or icebox. Refrigerate in a covered jar and use within three or four days; it will thicken and may need a spoonful of cream or water stirred through before serving.
Pompeian was one of several olive oil importers that circulated small recipe pamphlets in the early twentieth century, when olive oil was still shifting in American kitchens from an item sold by druggists and an immigrant staple to a general cooking ingredient. Cooked dressings like this one were widely used in American kitchens of the period: they used less oil than a true cold mayonnaise and did not demand the patient drop-by-drop whisking a cold emulsion requires. That a booklet selling olive oil should offer a cooked version at all shows the compromise being struck, with the brand's own product carried into a familiar boiled-dressing format rather than a French one. The instruction to leave out the mustard for fruit salads reflects the era's enthusiasm for sweet, cream-softened fruit salads served on lettuce.