Proper Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise. Aka awesomeness in a jar. I know, I know, if you're a fat phobic, you've conditioned yourself to hate it. Or make do with mayo "light".

But once you've learned the neat little trick of reading and understanding the list of ingredients, you start reconsidering what Heinz et al so frivolously label mayonnaise. It should be called inflammation in a jar. Or perhaps allergy in a bottle? Citric acid. Stabilisers. Antioxidants. Anonymous vegetable oil (could be corn, could be soy, who knows?). Excuse my French, but all that is really random shite that has no business in your food. Apart from making the manufacturer a load of money and you less healthy.

As a conscientious consumer you obviously abandon the store-bought stuff and make your own. Because once you do that, you realise just how easy it is. And cheap.

And just because you can, you take it to another level and ditch the vegetable oils altogether (being all inflammatory and stuff) and make it with... ghee. (And before I forget, this recipe is based on the recipe from Ryskadockor). So here it goes:

1. Make ghee.

Grandma's hankies come in handy

2. Assemble a stilleben of eggs, melted ghee, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and stick blender

Kitchen art

3. Make a mess: mix 2-3 eggs, 2 tbsp of vinegar/lemon juice, salt & pepper, then slowly, slowly add the melted ghee (the equivalent of half a kilo of butter) until the mixture thickens.

Eat with spoon

4. And if you're feeling adventurous, add garlic and other spices. Enjoy!

Ghee Rhymes with Pee ( and Kind of Looks Like It Too)

When I realized that I may not tolerate great amounts of dairy, I eliminated most of it pretty quickly. Although hard to say no to when presented with it at a dinner or party, it proved to be pretty simple to ignore in the supermarket when shopping. So far so good.

What I struggled with was how to find a decent substitute for butter to fry in. The answer was ghee. Although still dairy, most of the offending proteins and sugars are eliminated when preparing it, making it an excellent cooking oil that tolerates heat like few others (my lovely olive oil never comes close to my frying pan...).

Get your workhorse to fetch some organic, grass fed butter.

Dump it in a large saucepan. Turn on low heat.

If you're bored, watch it simmer and skim off the white gunk on top. If not, let it sink to the bottom and go have breakfast (you might want to check in on it after 20).

Once all the water has evaporated (no more water vapors wafting up from saucepan) and the proteins are starting to brown on the bottom of the pan, turn off heat and pour through a hanky into clean jars. Yes, it looks like something the nurse will collect as a sample.

But this is the end result. Creamy, almost caramel-like in texture and flavour. Delish.