Mayonnaises are not for hot weather, at least the homemade ones made with raw egg, since this product is perishable to which special attention must be paid with the increase in temperatures. Covered only by a porous shell and with a nucleus that can be highly nutritious for germs (the yolk), the egg, with heat, is better cooked and well preserved in the fridge.
The problem is that to make mayonnaise in May, June, July, August, and September, the use of the egg may imply a greater risk as this sauce will surely spend a long time outside the fridge.
What is another season of the year would not be a problem, above 30ºC means an acceleration of the growth of enterobacteria inside the mayonnaise, which will find the perfect environment with temperature, humidity, and nutrients.
Thus, a fish with mayonnaise, some potatoes, or Russian salad, if they spend time in a non-air-conditioned environment, pose an increased risk of poisoning by the ten main food pathogens, especially by Salmonella sp.
So the best thing, as we advised in this article on how to make a healthy and safe Russian salad in summer, is to go from the egg to the mayonnaise. Although its preparation has traditionally been linked to the egg, there are other ways to prepare it.
Here are several ways to make mayonnaise without eggs, so that it is smooth and provides greater food safety to your sauces and dishes in summer.
Use milk
It seems incredible but milk can be the perfect egg substitute for mayonnaise, especially for those with an egg allergy. The base of the mayonnaise is the emulsifying mixture of the fat from the oil with the water, normally from the egg white, in which the protein of the white itself acts as a binder, while the yolk only adds color and density to the sauce.
In this case, we substitute the white protein, called albumin, for the milk protein, called casein, and it works the same way, emulsifying the water that the milk contains with the oil.
For this, we must always use two parts of oil for one of the milk and we will get a white and somewhat sweet mayonnaise due to the lactose in the milk. To compensate, we will add white vinegar or lemon juice in addition to salt. Of course, in moderation.
If we also want light-calorie mayonnaise, we can use skimmed milk without problems, but we must add a little more oil so that the sauce gains thickness. On the other hand, it is recommended to use sunflower oil due to its milder flavor and lighter color.
Use yogurt
If we suspect that we are lactose intolerant, we can use lactose-free yogurt instead of milk to make the mayonnaise. The trick is the same as in the first recipe: two parts of oil and one part of yogurt.
Then you have to be careful when adding vinegar or lemon because yogurt is already a sour product, so we run the risk of cutting the sauce by lowering the pH too much.
On the other hand, by having beneficial bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus sp., we can boast that it is a probiotic mayonnaise as well as being low in sugar. It can also last in the fridge for a long time.
Make a Vegan Mayonnaise
Yes, you can deconstruct mayonnaise down to its last atom by completely dispensing it with animal protein. What’s more, for this you don’t need to be a genius like Ferran Adrià, it’s enough to have in our hands the holy grail of vegan sauces: aquafaba.
Although its name may sound like a summer park, aquafaba is actually the draining liquid, the governing liquid of canned chickpeas and/or beans. In this way, we do an upcycling of a product that would otherwise go down the sink drain.
The liquid contained in preserves is as healthy as the preserve itself, and sometimes even more so, as it contains vitamins and antioxidants —some of them additives that are beneficial for health. Of course, with the aquafaba you have to measure the salt because this liquid already carries itself.
To make the mayonnaise, it is enough to use the aquafaba content of a jar, which will bind the protein, with an increasing amount of oil while we beat.
As the watery mass is greater than in the egg yolk, we are at greater risk of our mayonnaise cutting. To avoid this we must follow the three golden rules to avoid this phenomenon :
- The mixer should always be at minimum power, at least at the beginning
- The ingredients should never be hot, although always above 4ºC to which the fridge subjects them. The best thing is that they are between 15 and 20ºC.
- We must beat from the base, avoiding lifting or moving the mixer until the mayonnaise has set.
