Professional Secret
of Creating Aioli Recipes

Aioli (eye-oh-lee) is a wonderful garlic mayonnaise sauce that hails, it is said, from the Provence region of France and is as natural on the dining table there as butter or salt and pepper.

Pair it with crab cakes, shrimp, scallops, crudités (vegetable nibbles) and artichoke leaves, and you'll see why. In fact, the French don't stop there but eat it with all manner of fish, eggs, pasta, meat, potatoes, bread, and chicken salad as well. Can't blame them.

The Basic Aioli Recipes

All true aioli recipes start with egg and olive oil as a base, which is essentially mayonnaise, so you can use readymade mayonnaise as well. (I think I hear the French gasping.)

Fresh minced garlic, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper are the other basics. But most often, other seasonings are added, such as cumin, thyme, rosemary, coriander, curry, and Dijon mustard, as well as a hot ingredient like cayenne or horseradish, and that's where you can really get creative.

Once you know how to create your own aioli you will never need a recipe again, but here are the basic recipes anyway to get you started:



Egg and Olive Oil Aioli

This makes about 1 1/2 cups of aioli; that's a lot of expensive olive oil. Consider cutting the recipe in half until you have the hang of making aioli from scratch.

6 fresh garlic cloves
1 large egg or 2 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the garlic cloves in a food processor or blender and mince. (Or you can do it by hand, then transfer to the processor.) Add the egg and process briefly.

With the processor running on low, very slowly pour in half of the olive oil. Add the lemon juice. Gradually pour in the remaining olive oil and process just until the mixture thickens and emulsifies.

Transfer to a small bowl; add salt, pepper, and any other seasonings of choice. (Salt, pepper, and cayenne is excellent.) Cover and chill well.


(Readymade) Mayonnaise Aioli

1 cup mayonnaise
6 fresh garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Note: You can serve your aioli after chilling it for about 30 minutes, but it's better if you allow several hours for the flavors to meld and mellow. Any mayonnaise product should be kept refrigerated and served chilled.

Create Your Own Aioli Recipes with this Professional Trick

Here's an easy, professional trick to creating aioli recipes, and most any other type of sauce, that boast a perfect blend of ingredients.

Let's say you decide that you want to create an aioli sauce with horseradish and sage in a mayonnaise base. Your ingredients are:

Mayonnaise
Horseradish
Minced fresh garlic
Fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Sage

Gather your ingredients, then just add and taste.

After your base, mayonnaise, start with the most "violent" flavor, horseradish. Add a little at a time to the mayonnaise until it is flavorful, but not overpowering. Do the same with each of the remaining ingredients, ending with the delicate sage. The sage should balance the overall flavor of the aioli.
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Soon, you'll find, just thinking about aioli recipes will make you start the water boiling for artichokes.

Liane

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