WEBVTT - What is mayonnaise? 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.600 Welcome to brain Stuff from house Stuff Works dot com 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:14.480 where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question, 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:18.840 what is mayonnaise? And this question comes up because lots 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.319 of people have no idea what mayonnaise is. You know, 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:23.360 if you look at butter, most people know that you 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.360 can make butter out of cream. And if you look 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.360 at catchup or something like that, most people know that 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.240 it's made out of a thick tomato sauce. But mayonnaise, 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.520 what what is it? Is it made out of milk 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:37.000 because it's white? Is it some other substance? If you 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:38.800 look at the label, you can see that it has 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.239 a lot of fat in it. Some mayonnaises have as 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.319 much as nine fat. So let's take a look at 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.120 where this stuff comes from. It turns out that mayonnaise, 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.879 and here we're talking about real mayonnaise, the kind of 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.000 mayonnaise you could make at home if you wanted to, 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.600 is made out of at least three things, and those 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.680 are oil, a lot of oil, egg yolks, and some 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.240 kind of acid, either lemon, juice or vinegar. There might 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.959 also be some kind of seasonings in there, like salt, 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.520 and maybe something else. But mayonnaise itself is just the 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:13.360 three things oil, egg, yolks, and lemon juice or vinegar. 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:15.840 The obvious question is, how are you going to get 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:19.880 oil and lemon juice to mix together? Because lemon juice 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.040 is water based and oil is oil based, obviously, so 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.479 when you try to mix them together, they're not going 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.960 to mix. Oil and water don't mix. And the magic 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.840 of mayonnaise and mayonnaise really is kind of magic, is 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.880 that the egg is there to act as an emulsifier 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.240 and to make those two things that normally wouldn't combine 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:43.680 able to combine together to create the unique taste of mayonnaise. Therefore, 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.959 we say that mayonnaise is an emulsion, which is a 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:51.960 mixture of any two liquids that normally can't be combined chemically. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.840 Mayonnaise is also known as a colloid. A colloid is 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.520 a mixture composed of tiny particles that are suspended in 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:05.920 another or immiscible or unmixable material. These particles are usually 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.880 larger than molecules, but less than one one thousand of 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.400 a millimeter in size. Small particles like this don't settle 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.200 out or don't rise to the top, depending on their nature, 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.960 and they will pass right through filter paper. One really 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.440 good example of a colloid that we see all the 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.720 time is homogenized milk. In homogenized milk, they've taken the 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.600 cream and they've broken it up into such tiny particles 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.880 that it remains mixed in with the watery milk. And 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.919 it's the size of the particles that allows that to happen. 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.600 So that's a mechanical colloid, a colloid that was created 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.880 mechanically by breaking those cream particles up into such small, 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.720 tiny spheres. Chemically, you can also create an emulsion, so 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.440 you use chemicals of some sort to break the particles 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.160 up and get them to suspend in a liquid. So 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.520 to make mayonnaise, you start with the lemon juice and 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.480 to that you add some egg yolk eggs, which contain 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.840 an emulsifier called less than bind the ingredients together and 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.840 prevent them from separating. So you add the eggs and 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.639 the lemon juice, and those are going to combine together fine. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.800 Then you add the oil in a tiny bit, like 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.520 just a few drops at a time, and whisk that 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.720 together with a fork or with an actual metal whisk 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.200 to get the oil and water emulsion started. If the 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.560 chef messes up with this initial mixing step, the whole 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.440 batch isn't gonna work. You have to start very slowly 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.200 with the oil and get the emulsion to start, and 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.640 then you can add more and more oil more quickly 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:48.520 because the process accelerates as the mayonnaise thickens. Then, if 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.800 you want to add in any seasonings to make flavored mayonnaise, 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:53.840 you add them in at the end of the process. 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.839 Since homemade mayonnaise isn't cooked, you need to be sure 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.560 to use the freshest eggs possible, and you need to 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.120 be pretty sure that they're free from salmonella. You also 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.520 want to use it quickly. You can store it in 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.200 the refrigerator for two or three days, but after that 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.400 you really should throw it out rather than letting it 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.360 hang out for a week or two. Commercial mayonnaise, which 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:16.320 is the kind of mayonnaise you buy at the store 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.200 in a jar, will last up to six months in 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:24.599 the refrigerator. It contains by US law at least oil 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.520 by weight, except for reduced fat and fat free mayonnaises. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:33.200 The standard of Identity law also requires that all commercial 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:38.799 real mayonnaise use only egg as the emulsifier. Reduced fat mayonnaise, 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.720 which isn't considered real mayonnaise anymore, usually contains modified food starts, 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:48.240 cellulose gel, and other thickeners and emulsifiers. Once you have 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.919 your mayonnaise, you can use it straight up on something 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.760 like a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich, or you can use 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.000 it as a base for other sauces like tartar sauce 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:02.200 or a Thousand Islands salad dressing. Be sure to check 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.360 out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.960 how staf work staff as we explore the most promising 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.920 and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The hou stef Works iPhone 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.880 app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.