Put the uncooked yolk of an egg into a cold bowl; beat it well with a
silver fork; then add two salt-spoonfuls of salt, and one salt-spoonful
of mustard powder; work them well a minute before adding the oil; then
mix in a little good oil, which must be poured in very slowly (a few
drops at a time) at first, alternated occasionally with a few drops of
vinegar. In proportion as the oil is used, the sauce should gain
consistency. When it begins to have the appearance of jelly, alternate a
few drops of lemon-juice with the oil. When the egg has absorbed a gill
of oil, finish the sauce by adding a very little pinch of Cayenne
pepper and one and a half tea-spoonfuls of good vinegar; taste it to see
that there are salt, mustard, cayenne, and vinegar enough. If not, add
more very carefully. These proportions will suit most tastes; yet some
like more mustard and more oil. Be cautious not to use too much cayenne.
By beating the egg a minute before adding the oil, there is little
danger of the sauce curdling; yet if, by adding too much oil at first,
it should possibly curdle, immediately interrupt the operation. Put the
yolks of one or two eggs on another plate; beat them well, and add the
curdled _Mayonnaise_ by degrees, and finish by adding more oil,
lemon-juice, vinegar, salt, and cayenne according to taste. If lemons
are not at hand, many use vinegar instead.
Delmonico uses four yolks of eggs for two quart-bottles of oil. It is
only necessary, then, to use one yolk for a pint of oil, the egg only
being a foundation for the sauce. It is easier, however, to begin with
more yolks: many use three of them for a gill of oil. The sauce will not
curdle so easily if the few drops of vinegar are used at first, after a
very little oil is used. It keeps perfectly well by putting it into a
glass preserve or pickle bottle, with a ground-glass stopper. It is well
to have enough made to last a week at least. The opportunity of making
it may be taken, and adding it to the _Mayonnaise_ bottle, when there
are extra yolks left, after the whites of the eggs are used for other
purposes, such as white cake, corn-starch pudding, etc.
It requires about a quarter of an hour to make this sauce. In summer,
the process of making it is greatly facilitated by placing the eggs and
oil in the ice-chest half an hour before using them. Sometimes, for the
sake of a change, the _Mayonnaise_ sauce is made green. It is then
called