Recipes

*not make your own

ingredients:
Soybean oil
Water
Whole eggs and egg yolks
Vinegar (often distilled vinegar)
Salt
Sugar
Lemon juice (or lemon juice concentrate)
Calcium disodium EDTA (used to protect quality)
Natural flavors

It's way too easy and cheap to make your own.

Local to me the preferred mayo is Hellman's, with a lot of others in a tie for second. Over time, to me, Hellman's has lost its clean taste; it tasted sour. I tried Duke's for the first time around the beginning of the year and it tasted the same to me, sour. I have not bought any mayo since the beginning of the year and have not eaten anything with mayo since the beginning of the year, either. I wanted to try making my own, as I no longer want to waste money on product from any mayo manufacturer, where it seems that the supply of product comes from the same farms and goes to various company's factories.

" Also FWIW, I'm seeing a blender as being a reliable option and that can also be used for more than just mayo as well."

I have a fancy Blendtec, which blends without a sharp blade. It makes okay mayo, but, again, even at the lowest speed you have to drip in the oil if you don't want it to break. That doesn't happen with the Mason jar technique.

However, if I'm extra lazy, I buy Sir Kensington mayonnaise, which is almost as good as homemade.

Not sure if it's just an NE thing, but the only mayo the Mrs likes is Cains, though she will use Dukes if she can't can't Cains. Cains has become harder to find at times even in our area and when doing our east coast road trip, we couldn't find it.

FWIW - Mayo was stupid expensive while in Fla. Also FWIW, I'm seeing a blender as being a reliable option and that can also be used for more than just mayo as well.

I use the immersion blender a lot, but I also cook a lot. A food processor isn't going to make very good mayonnaise, because of its speed, even at the lowest setting. I also almost never use mine unless I need to grind meat or process a lot of veggies, because a knife is almost always faster and more uniform in its results than a food processor, even a high quality model.

Sounds about right for pricing.

The blenders, food processors, food dehydrators all were in a price range of $3.00 to $20.00 for the cheaper ones and $50.00 or so for the good quality items, when I was at a second hand store a few days ago. I was looking for ideas of those type of appliances.

Wife said she got our immersion blender at a 2nd hand store for $10

I'll have to find the webpage I viewed of how to make your own mayo. It showed both food processor and immersion blender method. When I find the webpage again, I'll post it.

My thoughts on both a food processor and immersion blender were that I would currently have no other use for an immersion blender than making mayo, but could use a food processor for a multitude of things. That is why I mentioned a food processor. Besides, I have the time on my hands to play around and see what works with the ingredients that I would use and the quantity & quality of ingredients.

What @molly said. You need a whurer mixer. (The sound it makes) Wife makes small batches all the time

"a mini food processor at thrift stores to play around with...making my own mayo."

Don't bother. You need a stick blender and a quart mason jar. Mayonnaise is super easy to make that way, because the low speed of the stick blender won't break the mayo. You don't even need to slowly add the oil for the emulsion to happen. I just put oil and egg together, with the stick blender at the bottom of the jar and start moving it up when about half is emulsified.

The only other trick is to not use strong tasting oil.

I used to attempt small batches of mayo, but it's tough to get it to fluff up like commercial mayo, most of the time you'll end up with a thick liquid that kinda works for things like tuna salad or various salad dressings, but totally fail for spreading on a sandwich. Plus, it breaks down quickly when stored so it's best as a one or two day condiment.

The only commercial mayos worth a damn were the old Trader Joe's stuff in the jar with the yellow label, and Duke's. The TJ mayo was great, a lot more tang to it than anything else, but they discontinued it a few years ago for some reason. They said it was a cost issue, but I rather suspect that it was something else. Duke's is barely acceptable, but still better than any other mass market commercial mayo. I imagine that there's probably some regional types that are superior, but I've never seen them in Cali or Texas.

"I have been looking into the idea of making beef jerky and separately, mayonnaise at home. I am looking at possibly buying a food dehydrator, an air fryer and a mini food processor..."

We don't have any of those appliances. We have no interest in making mayonnaise but I've made jerky for years using the oven.

"For years"- starting when I was about 13 or 14 and made my 1st batch in a school home economics/cooking class.

Jerky and caramel rolls were 2 of my favorite public school lessons.

Melvin - Jerky usually comes in at around $20/lb for the commercial stuff (i.e. Jack Links) and more for smaller custom batch places. Considering the cost for even the cheapest cut of beef is over $5/lb these days, how much you lose in weight from the original meat weight, and the labor involved in actually making the jerky as well as the marinade, it should come as no surprise as to why it's so expensive.

I actually used to have a website on making jerky and at one point thought that I may even do that as a side business, but the costs involved make it more a labor of love than a viable business that can make decent money, for a number of reasons.

Jerkied meat... Really, really good and one of the greatest snacks foods. But, very expensive for the amount that is net weight in the package.

I have been looking into the idea of making beef jerky and separately, mayonnaise at home. I am looking at possibly buying a food dehydrator, an air fryer and a mini food processor at thrift stores to play around with stir fry beef strips & various seasonings and try making my own mayo. Store bought mayo just doesn't taste right anymore, no matter the brand purchased. Of course, all machinery parts would be scrubbed and made sanitary before putting any food product into it.

calcanfun2 - "They also make awesome old school jerky, the kind that is hard and tough how it used to be."

A lot of that is determined by how long they dehydrate the meat. Longer dehydration will preserve it longer naturally, but becomes more expensive. This is because jerky is sold by the pound. The less chewy stuff probably weighs close to half what the original piece of meat weighed, but the chewy stuff can be closer to 25% of the original weight.

I also think the market may be bigger for the less chewy stuff, but the risk is that it can spoil easier than the chewy stuff. It is also easier to eat and gives you more jerky/lb than the drier jerky.

Oh, Ravens. Good to hear they're still around. That was THE spice mix for Tri-Tip when I was going to high school in Hanford back in the late 70s-early 80s.

Ok, Heffer Dust is now transplanted to Templeton, CA upon further look. Well, good spices follow Tri-Tip turf I guess. lol

I've been trying to avoid the forums lately, but I wanted to point people in the direction of two "secret spices" I've been using a lot on the grill leading into summer. The first is Raven's original blend from Armona, CA. This is one of the most known and best seasonings you can have at the grill for BBQ Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip. Widely known as the go-to in these parts. They also make awesome old school jerky, the kind that is hard and tough how it used to be. Not like the soft urbanite stuff most offer now. The second is Heffer Dust out of Fort Worth, TX. Great flavor and last time I ordered they sent me some extras they make to try out. Good people. Both are amazing. Both you can buy online. Give them a try. Google search of each should be easy.

I am retired, but like you, don't tend to eat bread. The Mrs does though and buys sourdough bread all the time.

I was really only referring to the science part of it and an assumption you'd dig it. You have a demonstrated keen mind towards detail and exploration of figuring out the unknown (another assumption, but think I'm right on that one). Right up your alley. I'll ship you a starter if it strikes your fancy. Just let me know. :)

I don't make a lot of bread (because then, I'd eat it) and I've never attempted sourdough. Maybe in my retirement.

But I'll definitely look up what you mentioned.

Not a sourdough starter guy? Damn. You're so precise and knowledgeable with everything I would have taken you for that (that's a compliment, btw). For sourdough starter people, I use a sourdough discard pizza dough recipe from Tastes of Lizzy T. Super easy and never fails.

If you've never made homemade pizza dough before, here is your starter. This is super easy and IMO really reliable. It's my modification of Roberta's pizza (a recipe wildly shared online).

YES you need a pizza stone and a peel. They are often sold together on Amazon.

YES you need a kitchen scale that reads in grams. C'mon guys get with the 21st (or even 20th) century.

This is for one 12-inch pizza. Multiply by 1.5x to make a 14-inch pizza.

Mix 153 g bread flour (the kind I use is 12.7% gluten) and 6 g of salt.

Mix 100 g lukewarm water, 6 g olive oil, and 1 g yeast. Stir it and leave it for a couple minutes.

Dump the liquid into the flour/salt and mix with a large spoon.

Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes, adding flour as necessary to make it so it isn't sticky.

If you've made a double or whatever, divide it out.

Put the dough balls in containers with loose lids and let them rise. Either in the fridge overnight (take out 30 minutes before making a pizza) or on the counter (ambient temp around 74 degrees for 3-4 hours.

Preheat your oven/grill to 550-600 degrees.

Form the dough balls into rounds. This takes some amount of practice. I recommend you put a little flour on your work surface and smooth it out with your hands to a round about 8 inches across, and then put your hands up the middle and toss/spin in until you have a decent crust.

Put a light coating of corn meal or masa (find it in the Latin section) on the peel. Put the pizza crust on the coated peel. It should slide around if you shake the peel. If it sticks, you don't have enough.

Brush your dough with olive oil. Seriously don't go light on this. Then add your sauce, cheese, and toppings.

Launch the fucker with a quick motion onto the hot stone. This also takes some practice and I fucked it up the first couple of times.

Keep an eye on it. It'll cook in maybe 10 minutes. Then get it back onto the peel (I use a large grill spatula for this). If it's not cooking evenly you should rotate it.

Good luck.

Look up coconut aminos... i posted a reply but it is no longer. Also Edame and Mung Bean noodles is gluten-free.