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Sure, you can buy your mayonnaise in a big jar, but homemade mayo is a real treat. It’s so fresh and, while mayonnaise is mostly oil, it can be considered slightly healthier when made fresh, due to the fact that you get to use fresh ingredients. It will not contain preservatives which is always nice, though that means you will have to use it up in a few days. You can also choose your oil, which may seem like a small thing, but different oils have different properties and some people prefer certain oils. The taste of this mayonnaise is surprisingly close to that of major brands. If you didn’t know it was a batch of homemade mayo, and you tasted it, you would probably think that it is just Hellmann’s or Kraft. Still, I don’t know if it is just psychological but it seems to me to have just an extra little… something. It may just be because I make it myself and I know it is fresh, or maybe it is that little bit of love that all homemade foods possess. Whatever it is, I love to make it because when i do, I enjoy it more.

Making mayonnaise is extremely similar to making hollandaise sauce. Both sauces have a bad reputation of being difficult to make, and/or scary to make at home from scratch. I think that both sauces are incredibly easy to make and most of the fear, besides fear of difficulty, is that most people think that you have to use raw egg yolk. Raw egg yolks can be use to make either sauce, but in both cases, I cook the egg yolks. Therefor, have no fear, this recipe is safe and easy!

The recipe will yield about a cup and a half of mayonnaise, and it will last about a week in the refrigerator. So make this full batch if you intend on making a recipe, such as egg or potato salad in the next couple of days. Make half a batch if all you want is a little mayo to spread on sandwiches.

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I don’t know who is spreading around those nasty rumors about hollandaise sauce but I am here to tell you that they aren’t true! In my opinion hollandaise sauce is one of the easiest and fastest sauces to prepare. It has even become one of my lazy day sauces for times when I don’t feel like putting much effort into cooking. The beauty of hollandaise is that there is basically no guess work involved. The recipe is a fairly specific formula and once you have it down you can do it with your eyes closed. You can buy imitation hollandaise in a packet but the velvety smooth texture and delicate tang of the real thing is more than worth the minuscule effort required to prepare it from scratch. Of course as with just about any recipe there are countless variations, but this is a very basic and absolutely perfect version of this classic sauce. Also, I want to mention that my preparation of hollandaise sauce involves cooking the egg yolk. Some preparations use raw egg yolk. I like to cook the egg yolk because with the method that I use, the resulting sauce is thicker than if made with raw egg yolks. I am comfortable with consuming raw eggs but I understand why people may have an aversion to it. So rejoice! If raw eggs aren’t your thing than you can still make fresh hollandaise using this recipe.

This recipe will yield about 1 cup of hollandaise sauce.