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Aioli

Basic recipe for the classic spanish garlic mayonaisse.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Cuisine: Spanish
Servings: 1 cup

Ingredients

  • 2 egg yolks
  • olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • salt

Instructions

  • In a bowl, whisk up the two egg yolks.
  • While whisking slowly add olive oil in a continuous very thin stream. After a couple of moments the mixture should thicken.
  • Keep adding olive oil until you have the desired consistency.
  • Add the lemon juice.
  • Press in the garlic with a garlic press (or blend it in with a stick blender) and add salt to taste.

Notes

  • Use high quality ingredients, especially a very good extra virgin olive oil.
  • Let the eggs come to room temperature before making aioli.
  • If you want to dial back the garlic breath the next day, slowly roast the peeled garlic cloves in a pan with a little oil over low heat, until they are soft.
 
What if it just won't thicken? How to save the aioli:
It happened to me in the past, you whisk and whisk and add the oil and the mayo just won't thicken. If the mixture stays completely liquid, it won't thicken anymore. The reason for this could be, that your eggs were too cold, but more likely that you added too much oil too quickly.
So, set it aside and start over with a new egg yolk. Instead of using olive oil, just add the first failed mixture slowly in small drops to the fresh egg yolk until it thickens. That way you don't have to throw out the first try.