No. 607

Mayonnaise Sauce a la Bayonnaise

Sauce Mayonnaise a la Bayonnaise

Lay five egg-yolks in a bowl with a quarter of a gill of water, half an ounce of salt, a little pepper and a little cayenne, then beat it up and incorporate slowly into it two and one-half pints of oil and one gill of vinegar, stirring it unceasingly, and when the sauce thickens add to it more vinegar, and continue pouring in the oil and vinegar till they are both consumed. It must be of a high consistency, of a white color, and of a good flavor; it is preferable to use a wire whisk in place of a wooden spoon for this purpose. Add to this mayonnaise half a pound of lean Bayonne ham, cut in squares, some powdered Spanish peppers, and some chopped parsley.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's mayonnaise is built at restaurant scale — five quarts of finished sauce is not a home quantity. The ratios hold up, so scale down and the method works as written.

Scale it downTwo and a half pints of oil is five cups, yielding roughly five to six cups of sauce (about a quart and a half, not the five quarts stated in the introduction). For a household batch use 1 yolk, 1 cup oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 teaspoon water and about 1/2 teaspoon fine salt — one-fifth of the original.
GillsA gill is half a cup. A quarter gill of water is 2 tablespoons; the gill of vinegar is 1/2 cup, and the recipe expects you to add more beyond that as the emulsion tightens.
Half an ounce of saltAbout 2 1/2 teaspoons of fine salt, or 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of coarse kosher. Correct for the full five-cup batch, and remember the ham brings its own salt.
The hingeOil goes in drop by drop until the emulsion has visibly taken, then in a thin steady stream. Adding vinegar as it thickens is not a flavour note but a technique: the extra liquid gives the emulsion room to accept more oil without breaking.
Raw yolksNothing here is cooked. If you are serving anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised, use pasteurized eggs in the shell or pasteurized liquid yolk, which emulsify normally.
Bayonne hamA dry-cured ham from the Adour basin in southwest France, salty and lean rather than smoky. Prosciutto di Parma or Serrano cut in small dice is the closest supermarket stand-in; half a pound suits the full batch, so use about 1 1/2 ounces if you have scaled down.
"Powdered Spanish peppers"Most likely pimentón, Spanish paprika, sweet or lightly smoked. Start with a teaspoon per cup of sauce and taste; the effect seems to be colour and warmth rather than heat, which the cayenne already supplies.
Whisk, and temperatureHis preference for a wire whisk over a wooden spoon is sound; a blender or food processor works too, though it gives a stiffer, paler sauce. Have the eggs and oil at room temperature, since cold oil breaks emulsions.
ServingA garnished mayonnaise of this kind is a dressing for cold poached fish, boiled chicken, hard-boiled eggs or a composed salad, not a sandwich spread. Keep it refrigerated and use it the day it is made.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its cold-sauce chapter reads like a catalogue: a base mayonnaise followed by a run of numbered variations, each defined by what is stirred into it. The name of the sauce puns on its garnish. Mayonnaise itself has a contested etymology, one account placing its origin in Menorca, though Bayonne and the French manier (to handle or work) have both been proposed — and Ranhofer's version leans into the Bayonne reading by adding the ham of that city, along with Spanish paprika. That a New York kitchen could call for Bayonne ham at all says something about the period: by the 1890s European cured meats were within reach of a first-class American restaurant, and the sauce assumes a brigade with the arms to whisk a substantial batch of it by hand.