What is mayonnaise?

Mayonnaise is a sauce, product of the emulsion of egg proteins with a vegetable oil.
The oldest antecedents of this sauce are found in a Catalan cookbook, in which they call it “All and oli ”or“ aioli ”, prepared with eggs, oil, vinegar and garlic, widely used in the kingdoms of Catalonia and Aragon.
When in 1756 the troops of the Duke of Richelieu defeated the kingdom of Aragon, legend has it that while in the city of Mahon, the Duke asked a gardener for something to eat; The latter told him that there was only a few leftovers of meat. When the duke asked him to fix it, the gardener dressed the dish with the aioli sauce. The taste for this sauce was so great that the Duke personally wrote down the recipe and gave it to his cook, calling it Mahon sauce, in French mahonaisse. In France, garlic is removed to soften its flavor. Another theory says that the name of this sauce is derived from mayon, yolk in French, since it is prepared with the whole egg.
The basic recipe for mayonnaise consists of beating a whole egg, with a balloon or a mixer, to which a few drops of lemon or vinegar are added, to give it consistency; Without stopping beating, slowly add small jets of olive oil, until completing the sufficient quantity to create a thick but smooth and uniform sauce to the taste of the cook. This is the basic and healthiest recipe, due to the use of olive oil.

Depending on whoever makes it, other oils can be used, just the yolks, and they can add salt, seasonings, and even milk and other dairy products to change its flavor or texture. Industrially, egg derivatives, corn or sunflower oils and emulsifying substances are used.