When I started looking around for how to make all of my foods myself, one of the earliest finds was mayonnaise. Mayonnaise looks like a really special kind of sauce. A little sour, completely opaque, I could not imagine the top secret process that must have been required to create it in the Hellman’s hidden laboratories. I think I accidentally came across a YouTube video of it when I found YouTube a few years ago. It’s crazy how easy it is to make mayo. It’s where the idea for my Facebook Group came from, actually.

Here is the actual video I found on YouTube.

Finding out how to make mayonnaise led me to other crazy-easy things. Ranch dressing is just mayo and buttermilk and spices. Makes me laugh every time I see ‘Buttermilk Ranch’ on a lable. There is no other kind. Russian dressing is just mayo and ketchup. Only. Matter of fact, one of the very best salad dressings is just a tablespoon of mayo all by itself, if the mayo is the one I made at home. There is no way to make mayo low-fat. If you see a low-fat mayo I will tell you what you are looking at. It is a product that uses an oil that is inedible. Watch the video and you will see why I say that. Mayo is an emulsion of oil and egg. Just two ingredients, and you can’t cut down on the oil and come up with the same amount of emulsion. Don’t by low-fat mayo, it really does come out of a secret lab somewhere.

Today in the New York Times Magazine, Mark Bittman has compiled seven easy to make sauces. Probably every one of these recipes also has a corresponding YouTube video of how to do it. They all are so easy to make. None of the ingredients will be robbed of their nutritional value by having been dissassembled where they are grown, broken into their component parts, dehydrated, shipped around the world, rehydrated and reassembled at a food factory where they are bottled and labled ‘natural ingredients’. You will use real food. You will use minimal processing. The nutrient loss will be minor. In exchange, your product will taste better and be better for you and your family. Unfortunately, (?) your product will not last for several years on the shelf, or six months in the fridge without spoiling. Come to think of it, is that a disadvantage?

Here is Bittman’s article.

A rare Sunday blog post, but so useful my normal Sunday routine had to suffer. Enjoy your day. Go Chiefs!

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