# Help with oil in mayonnaise, alioli etc - oily taste



## oddwine (Sep 10, 2017)

Hello!

I am struggling alot with oily taste in all mayonnaise, alioli etc i make. Im wondering if its my unlucky choices of the wrong oil, ive tried different kinds, sunflower, olive, grapeseed.
Ive alos tried different things to remove the oily taste, adding more lemon, more garlic and even tried sugar, but when the oily taste is gone ive used half a lemon, and it becomes more like a lemon sauce than an alioli sauce. What am i doing wrong?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Homemade mayo does have a more oily taste than commercial Mayo generally speaking. 

Most recipe speak about seasoning to taste and in mayonnaise oil is one of the seasonings. So you can use less oil. Taste as you're working along until it tastes right to you and then stop adding oil.


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## oddwine (Sep 10, 2017)

But the classical french way is 140-150ml oil to each yolk, if its worked worked, proven and classical recipe why should diviate from that? i belive its just finding a better oil


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Because taste varies.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

what kind of oil are you using?


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## lagom (Sep 5, 2012)

Well I usually add more than 140/150 ml per yoke, more like 240ml. To the point of breaking. Salt, vinegar, I like white balsamic, a bit of dry mustard, 

I use rapé oil for the neutral flavor but sunflower and canola work fine. 
Homemade mayo, without all the industrial process and additive will usually be different than commercial products.


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

1. Use a very neutral oil, like canola. Smell it before using: you'd be surprised how many home cooks are using slightly rancid oil, and if it's already a hair off it will get more so with vigorous beating.

2. If you're using a machine of any kind, don't: do it by hand. A machine will warm the mixture and again accelerate rancidity.

3. Buy the very best quality, freshest eggs possible, preferably from hens that have been running freely and digging up bugs and whatnot. Most factory-farmed eggs don't have much taste, and are easily overpowered by a mild oil flavor.

4. Don't skimp on salt. It brings out desirable flavors.

5. Don't try to cover flavors by adding things: it never works.

Mayonnaise is about purity: at base it's supposed to taste like egg yolks at their finest. Every other flavor there is supposed to support that, not mask it. 

If you do it super-pure like this you'll find out what mayonnaise really tastes like. You just might find you don't like it, which is no sin. But you can't be sure until you've gone to the purist extreme. (The same is true of Hollandaise, incidentally, which should taste of butter and a little egg, with just the faintest hint of lemon to cut the fat and bring those pure flavors forward.)


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## oddwine (Sep 10, 2017)

chrislehrer said:


> 1. Use a very neutral oil, like canola. Smell it before using: you'd be surprised how many home cooks are using slightly rancid oil, and if it's already a hair off it will get more so with vigorous beating.
> 
> 2. If you're using a machine of any kind, don't: do it by hand. A machine will warm the mixture and again accelerate rancidity.
> 
> ...


1. is canola oil more tasteless than grapeseed oil, and is canola the best flavourless oil especialy for mayonnaise? How long does it take before the oil becomes a little hair rancid?

2. Yes i do it by hand.

What is the most flavourless oil you can get? and when smelling it, is it supose to smell like water, or nothing, or is the oily scent unavoidable?

Also what im suppose too look for in the store store, in terms of flavourless oils? and which ones too pick

Thanks evry much!


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

Canola, grapeseed, any of those will be fine. Time isn't the issue: it's exposure to air and light (and to some degree warmth) that kill oil. 

Really fresh oil should smell exactly and only of what it's made from. Olive oil should smell like sweet, fresh olives, for example. Canola oil should basically have no smell whatsoever. What you're calling an "oily" smell is probably an indication that the oil is at least slightly rancid.

Note that a little bit rancid oil is normally not a disaster. It just means that it's reacted with oxygen a little bit, giving it a stronger smell, a very slightly lower smoke and flash point, and so forth. No big deal. The problem is when the taste of the oil starts getting in the way. That usually happens with subtle, fresh things involving raw vegetables and such, where rancid virgin olive oil (which goes rancid in a heartbeat, by the way) masks rather than complementing the flavors of the vegetables. But mayonnaise is one of those exceptions.

I suggest that you just buy a small brand-new bottle of basic canola or similar oil. Check the sell-by date, of course, and buy the one furthest out. You needn't throw away your current oil bottle unless it's making other foods taste funny.


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## oddwine (Sep 10, 2017)

So basicaly its no way off telling if the oil is flavourless or not? or is all grapessed oil, canola etc flavourless? I find oils very confusing


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Are you sure you are making it correctly and not breaking it? Broken mayo is separated oil and water/yolk, so if you are just tasting oil than you might have broken your mayo. It shouldn't taste "oily" or anything, it should taste like lemon/vinegar and slightly of egg. 

I'm guessing you are making it wrong/it is breaking.


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## Pat Pat (Sep 26, 2017)

You either added the oil too fast or you beat it too much after the oil was already properly incorporated.

Mayonnaise is an oil-in-water emulsion, but if you did what is stated above, it could turn into a water-in-oil emulsion, and this will taste oilier than when it's oil-in-water.

If your technique is correct then it's also possible that you didn't add enough emulsifiers (mustard and yolks), which will result in a mayonnaise that is partially separated after a while. The separation may not be significant enough for you to see with your eyes, but just enough for you to be able to taste it.

By the way, you can use whatever oil you want. You will taste the oil's flavour if it's not neutral, but the flavour has nothing to do with the oiliness you taste; they are two different things.


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## oddwine (Sep 10, 2017)

I was not aware of the importance of correct whipping, and not too overwhip it. I followed the videos, and it looked pretty much the same, consitancy wise. But i will try not to over whip it


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

I still say that your mayo isn't properly emulsified. It's either that or it is really really flat and needs lemon/vinegar, salt to pep it up.


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

If you'd like to eliminate the emulsion question, buy a bottle of liquid soy lecithin at a health food place. It's cheap. Add a teaspoon or so to the oil and stir well. Then proceed. At that point, you can basically emulsify the oil into plain water if you really want, so breaking won't be an issue.


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## Pat Pat (Sep 26, 2017)

Egg yolk has plenty of lecithin. No reason to add any more in the form of soy lecithin.


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

Pat Pat said:


> Egg yolk has plenty of lecithin. No reason to add any more in the form of soy lecithin.


My point was that if you're having trouble with it, you can eliminate one variable by adding a little extra lecithin.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

oddwine said:


> So basicaly its no way off telling if the oil is flavourless or not? or is all grapessed oil, canola etc flavourless? I find oils very confusing


This is just IME so take it or leave it.
You cannot taste the internet.
My best last suggestion is to see food taste food.
The housewives in the markets gasp when I eat a grape.
I give them the hairy eyeball and let them know if they are worth the price lol.
When I walk in someone from produce will spot me and walk around with a knife to sample whatever I ask about.
They sometimes bring my attention to new things and will graciously bring fresher stock from the back if I ask.
HEB (Central Market) has the best employees.

mimi

Funny story...a few years back SAMs was handling the BEST PEACHES EVER!
By the case.
I would stand there for as long as it took mixing my cases with the best of the best.
Heft, color, ripeness and perfume.
Had a little class for whoever asked....
Had a great time 

Moral of story...food is expensive and it is not against the law to choose the best from a display as long as you respect the overall packaging.

m.


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## Pat Pat (Sep 26, 2017)

chrislehrer said:


> My point was that if you're having trouble with it, you can eliminate one variable by adding a little extra lecithin.


Then it's better to add the lecithin in the form of extra yolks. Not a good practice to eliminate a problem by introducing an extraneous ingredient.


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