For salad dressing I never buy. Always make. It tastes much better imo. Not so artificial. Mayo, on the other hand, I almost always buy. I've made it lots of times but I prefer the more acidic (organic) bought version. Salad dressing is the work of moments. Mayo takes longer.

No recipe for salad dressing. I just eyeball it for vinaigrette and any other kind. If I do bother to make mayo it's just 125ml of oil per egg yolk and mustard and vinegar to taste.

I make my version of remoulade sauce. Mayo, enough katsup to turn pink, add dried Cajun seasoning to taste. Better if sets awhile.

Wow, you don't ask the small question! So mayonnaise needs emulsifiers, of which egg yolk is a given--it's basically egg + oil--and mustard is the usual second fiddle. You don't need t use enough mustard powder to taste it, but a spoonful will reinforce the stability. I prefer to use a light oil, like safflower or sunflower or a little more viscous Lite Olive. EVOO and some plain olive oils are just too strong tasting, as are sessame and peanut, unless you're making olive dressing, or whatever. Remember that it's hard to make an emulsion in unstable weather. If you must, use a food processor.

The simplest version is add your mustard to a yolk, start whisking (a baloon whisk works best) and slowly add the oiled whisking it briskly to start the emulsion. It's said that one yolk can emulsify a swimming pool of mayonnaise. You can adjust the thickness by how much oil you actually use. Your choice. You can mak "light" mayo by slowly whisking in the eggwhite at the end, slowly and carefully not to break the sauce (or use the FP and drizxle it in), Season as you will. It's easier to distribute in the beginning, but if you're not sure how much you'll need, season near the end, but stir and whisk really well to distribute. I have specific proportions save in the computer, but this way, which I think I learned from Islay (my own version of it anyway), is freeing.

One you have mayonnaise, you can turn it into all kinds of things. Remember a couple of years ago when the kids on Reddit and other platforms learned that their favorite bottled sauces that had eggs and oil in the ingredients, were all flavored mayonnaise? Duch a scandal for the cooking-ignorant!! Add (not all together!) prepared mustard, herbs, wine (just a little, not to break the emulsion), lemon juice, spices, etc., to make different flavors.

Vinaigrette means with a little vinager. Ususlly not more than 8:1 oil to vinager, but I use more. Vinegar makes me cough, but I want the sharpness if I'm going to use it. You can use an emulsifier, like mustard, but it'll break if it sits, just like the jars in the grocery stores, which need to be shaken. For the sharpness, I also like Pompeian for this rather than "better" vinagers. You can add anything. I usually mad scientist it, adding whims and fancies as I go, but just whisk it up with a fork in a custard cup, just enough for the moment. Same with flavored mayonnaises. More fun than trying to keep it emusified longer, and no storage issues. If I need more for a pot luck or big party, I'll do the same, but in a reused jar, to have more than enough, and save or toss the leftover as seems right at the time.

Condiments like ketchup and hoisin sauce, I'd rather buy than develop a recipe just to make more work for me, exception being if I think I can highly improve on it.

I grow and make my own horseradish if that counts. I've also made Annie's Salsa many times. Chipotle ketchup is pretty easy if you have enough tomatoes.

Top tip for vinaigrette. Make it in a jam jar. Shakeable and storable. Takes two minutes. I make a jarful at a time. It keeps well and if you stick a garlic clove in you get a delicious pickle after a few days. Easy to remix if it separates. But it usually doesn't.

Be careful if you put a galic clove in oil (or any anaerobic situation).

From Michigan State University: To reduce the risk of botulism, the garlic in oil mixture should be refrigerated and used within four days. Garlic in oil should always be discarded after two hours at room temperature, even if salt and acids are present.

Well, I didn't know that. Seems I've been lucky. The garlic from the salad dressing is a treat I've eaten for years. Though it isn't pure oil. There's vinegar in there too so it is acidified.

It's the anaerobic environment that's the problem, which is why the above warning says that salt and acids don't prevent it. If you've been keeping it in the fridge, that might prevent the botulism from growing., but yes, you've been lucky. I just checked, and it says there's botulism in the soil there, too. Please be careful!

Well, the odds are in my favour. There's been one food borne botulism death in the UK in the last 25 years it seems, and that not related to garlic. But I'll take care not to keep garlic in the vinaigrette for too long from now on.

Most of our garlic is imported so botulism in the soil here isn't really relevant.

We messed around with mayo recipes and finally settled on these proportions. DH adds a little drip of chia oil to keep it thick and stable.

1 lg fresh egg

3/4 tsp dijon

2 tbsp vinegar

3/4 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 c oil (we use avocado)

Everything at room temp, it makes a difference. Use a stick blender and a wide mouth pint jar and slowly draw the blender up from bottom.

Q: Does home-made mayo taste anything like store bought?

@KatieC...Looks like you use the whole egg? Even the white?

Nicole, mayonnaise has no flavor on its own. Maybe a faint whiff of mustard if its used as an emulsifier. But it's fat, and blank, and therefore a terrific vehicle for flavor. Most has a little vinegar for tang. I like tang a lot, but a lot of vinegar makes me cough, and more vinegar will break the emulsion. Salt, of course. Often lemon juice, again, judiciously with the vinegar so as not to break. Some use lemon juice concentrate for all the tang and less breaky water. Duke's uses ACV and paprika. Beyond that, you can use anything you like, especially if it's not watery, like onion powder, white pepper, coriander. The trick is to use enough of whatever to be tasty, but not enough to be salad dressing rather than mayonnaise flavor. Most of these, in commercial mayonnaise, are small enough quantities not to show on the ingredients, but rather be grouped as "spices" or "natural flavorings". If you want it to taste like a particular brand, look up imitation recipes. People spend a lot of time and trial on making matches, and you might as well share in their expertise. A big flavor source, of course is the oil. The viscosity differences between oils will also show in the texture. And this is specifically about natural mayos. Some have stabilizing chemicals and preservatives, which do affect the experience of the mayo.

Whether Katie did or not, you can use the whole egg. It's easier, especially if you're using a whisk rather than a blender, if you start with the yolk, but the standard way to make low fat (and what Best Foods do too) is to use the white. It doesn't break the emulsion, but has lots of protein rather than fat.

@plllog...I'm so hesitant to make mayo. Afraid it will be a flop. We really like the store-bought variety...yet...I make pretty much "EVERYTHING" from scratch....and it's better! You know how people compare boxed mac 'n cheese to homemade.....we've tried both... I see what they mean! (I do have several blenders. Went through a fruit smoothie craze)

What do you have to lose? Just start small. First time, use a balloon whisk for more control,. You can finish with a stick blender, if you have it, to put more "muscle' behind the emulsion. Drizzle in some neutral oil. Whisk. Add a little acid. Whisk. Add a little flavoring. Whisk. Try a dab. Adjust. Try again. Oh! And start with a new bottle of oil and smell and taste to make sure it's not even a teeny bit rancid. IME, people who don't like homemade at all use slightly rancid oil. Many people prefer store bought, including me most of the time, but I make good mayonnaise when I bother. If you don't like the result, throw it out and try again, or hide it in a cake or a wet rub for meat.

Go for it!

Nicole, I do use the whole egg. I was a Best Foods snob, and I think homemade is better. We started with the most un-fussy recipe we could find and worked from there.

Go for it. There's all kinds of things you can do with loose mayo.... sauces, and like pillog says, cake. Mayonnaise cake is good. I throw some ketchup in it and a little relish and call it 1000 Island lol.

Katie, I just looked at your recipe with awake eyes and noticed the avocado oil. I'd bet that makes for a thicker, mayo with more body. I'm going to have to try that... Thx!

OK....good advice...I'll try it. Just know I'm struggling with the high altitude baking. My PERFECT Peanut Butter cookies rose up, flattened out...and don't look the same. 🙄

Well maybe not cake, then, but you an use it in a rub or marinade instead of oil. So sorry about the cookies. Maybe start with shortbread and other non-rising ones. Try a neighbor's recipe for a rising sugar cookie or snickerdoodle, and adapt your favorites using a successful one as a pattern. Do the peanut butter cookies taste right? Are they softer or crisper? Do they taste oily? Grainy? is it just that the bubbles popped, or did they go all wrong?

ETA: I've had lunch at your elevation, but never cooked. I was looking for an explanation specific to your cookies and found this easy list from Whirlpool. The need to reduce leavening because it rises too fast sounds plausible. Also if the sugar melts too fast and well, it could make them too wet. You probably already have these tips, but I found them clear and interesting: https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/kitchen/high-altitude-baking-cooking.html

When it comes to bread or pizza dough....no change. If I use a brownie mix or boxed sheet cake ....all is well. Quick breads like cornbread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread...no problem. The moment I use a tried and true cookie recipe...it's a mess.

The peanut butter cookies tasted OK, the texture was off, the dough was too wet. Then they rose up, sort-of balloon-like, fell flat. Then covered the whole cookie sheet. My bran muffins were fine, but they do have an abnormal amount of creases on top. That probably means something, but it's not a problem.

Thanks for the link for high altitude baking...I froze most of what I baked....good for awhile. Hard boiled eggs take a LOT longer.....🙄

The crab salad I make will be next....surimi with mayo....

What you say makes sense. Cookies are the most difficult recipes to change things up in. So do try some of the high altitude suggestions. And congratulations on getting so many of your recipes to work!

Are there any other condiments you want to try? I made dijon mustard once, but too long ago to remember. It was pretty easy, IIRAA. I read an interview with local chefs, from several restaurants, who moaned about being required to make house ketchup because they thought Heinz was better, but Annie makes catsup, so it can be done (though probably not like Heinz). A lot of people here, over the years, have favored the mustard sauce recipe that comes with Coleman's dry mustard powder. Hot sauce is dead easy, as is salsa picante, no real recipe needed, but let me know if you want directions (there's an infinity of recipes on the 'net, and it's hard to go wrong). Herb sauces, like pesto and chimmichuri are also easy, especially with a blender. Techinah sauce is also easy, especially if you buy the techinah, though with patience and a good blender you can make your own. And really, it might be easier to grt it to rough, make the sauce and put that through the blender to fully liquify. "Burger sauce" has a mayo base, and is just a bunch of other condiments and a bunch of salt added. Relishes are easy in small quantities, or you can look into canning. (Is canning doable up there?)

I'm dieting. 🏋️‍♂️So I'll be eating in VERY limited quantities for the next month. My husband is trying to gain muscle weight. He's putting on 2lbs a month so far. So I'll be cooking chicken breasts with white sauces, chicken burgers with mashed garbanzo beans, wild blueberries + Organic Oatmeal, salads, salmon, yogurt - protein shakes.....

In a month I'll resume regular meals and regular sauces/condiments. Stay tuned. 🏋️‍♂️ 🏋️‍♂️ Thanks everyone.....I'll post the crab salad + mayo in a few days.

'White sauces'? Do you mean made with a roux and milk? If so they're not particularly good for losing weight.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK....I'm eating light...husband is trying to gain weight. I have to continue to cook for him even if I'm eating a salad. 🍔 🐻

For just calories for gaining, rather than targetted, the best pack 'em on I know is a goodly scoop of quality ice cream topped with a large splash of liqueur. ;)

😆@plllog....He has rules I have to follow. No sugar. It has to be lean protein. He has a narrowed esophagus. Meat will stick, he'll choke, if there isn't a generous amount of sauce on it. He won't eat BBQ sauce or ketchup. He's a gym rat.

Edited to say: He did commercial remodels. He needed to be able to lift materials on the job & work alone. We did side jobs together. He retired a few months ago.

Aha! That makes sense of the white sauce; lubricant for the meat. No sugar and lean protein, as you know, is good for building muscle. :) You'd mentioned the gym before, so I didn't really think he was in the fudge ripple and Kahlua club (good for slugging heft back on after illness), but like Floral, I was a little stumped by the white sauce. :) Perhaps, as a retirement workout, he might like to spend a building day at Habitat for Humanity or a similar program. The great thing about volunteering is you get to walk away, and lifting boards and blocks is more rounded and natural than pumping iron.

We, together, just spent 6 years volunteering as "Head of Landscaping". Digging up tons of broken sprinkler pipe. Planting huge trees. Carrying hand sprayers walking miles to spray "Woolley Mullens". We just stepped down in August. The people @ the gym have become friends. Working for FREE people see you as "Low-end-scum" they can boss around. There's a weird shift when you offer FREE LABOR....we have found.

Before: (a half circle flower bed full of weeds & a non-working sprinkler that was buried we found)

After: (Red bark mulch w/ weed cloth, clumps of Red Day Lilies)

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Stone work we repaired......and a foot bridge we rebuilt.....

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13 years ago, I quit MY job and started purchasing houses. Remodelled them, put them up for rent...or sold them. DH would take off from his job for 4 months in the slow Winter months to assist me. When COVID hit, I retired.

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A noon nap on our deck, in the sun, with the cats is more our style right now.

Wow! Excellent work! So weird about the attitudes. In my own experience, volunteers are valued and treated well because they can just walk off. I only mentioned it because real work is often a better workout. I totally get why you may feel done!

I have a tried and true recipe from Paleogrubs that I make when I am eating clean. It’s always good, I am just lazy sometimes.

Homemade Ketchup with a kick

1 12oz can tomato paste

1 cup water

2 Tbsp vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

This recipe makes approximately 32oz of ketchup, or 64 1tbsp servings.

1. Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer while stirring frequently until flavors have blended. (Add more water for thinner ketchup, add less for thicker)
3. Transfer to a glass jar and cool before serving.

I make dressings a lot, seasoning mixes. Sometimes mayo, but not often. Hubs is a Hellmanns guy, and I like Kewpie. I make tartar and coctail sauce, comeback and tzatziki sauce. Mustard. Every couple of years I'll hit the Ball book and make chili sauce, steak sauce, occasional tomato ketchup. If pesto counts, I make pestos for the freezer. I do a lot of various pickled things, fridge and canned.

I made ketchup for close to 60 years from an old recipe in a Farm Journal Cookbook. At 80, I'm not sure I'll continue to do so, but it made absolutely delicious ketchup from my garden tomatoes.