Mayonnaise: No Oil? No Lemon? No Problem!

by Miche Genest

One of Suzanne’s big challenges is going to be condiments. She’s nailed the ketchup, and maybe her mustard plants will yield enough seeds for homemade mustard.

But what about mayonnaise? Fresh eggs she’ll have in abundance; oil is going to be a problem. The solution is surprisingly easy. Hollandaise!

The familiar, creamy, buttery sauce we love slathered over Eggs Benedict is very much like mayonnaise once it’s chilled. Same basic ingredients: egg yolks, acid, fat. But in the case of Hollandaise the eggs are cooked and the fat is melted butter.

There is another stumbling block though — one of the key ingredients in Hollandaise is lemon juice. Not to worry. The sharp, slightly-stringent flavour of crushed juniper berries, combined with a splash of homemade rhubarb vinegar or rhubarb juice, do a great job of brightening the sauce’s flavour and cutting through the butterfat.

> Click here to view recipe for Northern Hollandaise Sauce