aioli - what am I doing wrong?

Question

I absolutely love aioli, but after trying to make it for the third time today, I'm close to giving up. My first couple attempts were utter failures, but today I got what I thought was a perfect aioli. I stashed it in the fridge for a couple hours as we fired up the grill, and by the time I took it out again it had liquified! 

Each time I used a different recipe, but with the same general structure of egg yolk + lemon juice + mustard, and then slowly drizzling in olive oil. Once I added garlic and salt at the end, once at the beginning. I also used my food processor each time. I'm wondering if maybe I should try it by hand. Any suggestions? Does anyone know why it would fall apart after a couple hours of refrigeration?

Answer

Although I am a proponent of the food processor for emulsified sauces, if you have an immersion blender, or a regular blender, you may have more luck. Making it by hand is the most difficult method to use, although it does build up one's wrist muscles.

It really should have held it's emulsion for longer than a few hours. Emulsified sauces usually don't hold their stability because the oil is added too rapidly. Place the egg yolks, mustard and lemon in the bowl, whisk to combine, drizzle in the oil slowly as the food processor is running, or if making by hand, whisk continuoysly while adding the oil, a few drops at a time. If the sauce starts to look like it's separating, stop drizzling and whisk until it comes back together. After all the oil is added, add the garlic paste and salt. What you're doing with this and all emusified sauces is suspending oil globules and it's soluable compounds in water, which are two immiscible liquids, as you probably know. It takes an emulsifier like egg yolk, mustard or even the garlic, as well as the action of slowly whisking in the oil, to assist in creating and maintaining the emulsion.

The food processor has a small hole in the bottom of the push tube; if you pour your oil in there, it will drizzle in very slowly, at just about the perfect rate.

Did you know classic aioli was made from just olive oil garlic and salt, pounded in a mortar? Now there's a labor of love.

A broken emulsfied sauce can be repaired by slowly whisking the broken sauce into another egg yolk in a clean bowl or by whisking in a few teaspoons of hot water, until combined. 

Try it again with a slower drizzle and/or different equipment, and let us know how it works out.

Answer

If I may quote Harold McGee:
"Mayonnaise [or aioli] can be made with any kind of oil. One popular choice, unrefined extra virgin olive oil, often produces an unstable mayonnaise, one that forms properly but then separates just an hour or two later.... Two ways to avoid [instability in] mayonnaise are to use refined olive oil, and to use extra virgin oil as a flavoring, with the bulk of the oil being any flavorless refined oil."
On Food and Cooking, p 635.

Sounds like your problem in a nutshell right there. I've personally made aioli with EV olive oil but I've always used it immediately, so I can't personally confirm McGee's above statement. He tends to be right though, in my experience.

Answer

An earlier aioli thread dealing with the same issues
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/541390

Answer

If you are making a small batch of 2 egg yolks, the food processor is not the best machine. There is too much room between the bottom of the work bowl and the blade to get a good emulsion. A regular or emulsion blender would do a better job for that small amount. And with using just the yolks, it will get very thick, therefore, add a very small amount of water(no more than 1/2 teaspoon) if needed to loosen it up.
You will find if you make a 4 egg yolk batch, you will have no problem using the food processor. After drizzling in the first cup, your mixture should be quite thick. Then you can add the rest of oil faster. No need for 15 minutes for one and one -half cup of oil.

Answer

okay, I know it's been ages, but - success! I switched to an immersion blender and used half canola oil half olive oil, and got great results. Thank you all!

Answer

I only attempted it once, and followed all the rules to a t. I just couldn't get it, and went through an entire dozen of eggs as I tried to perfect it. I don't even know how much EVOO I "drizzled in". I finally gave up, in tears.

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