f oil.

A cool room is always insisted on for making the sauce, but to the
amateur I say, oil, eggs, and bowl also, should be put in the ice-box
until well chilled, and even then mishaps may come from using a warm
spoon from a hot kitchen drawer or closet; that, therefore, must be cool
also. Of course it is often successfully made with only the usual
precaution of a cool room, but with everything well chilled it is hard
to fail.

If very little of the sauce is wanted, one yolk of egg will be better
than two. Separate the yolks very carefully, allowing not a speck of
white to remain; remove also the germ which is attached to the yolk.
_Stir the yolk at least a minute before_ beginning to add oil; then
arrange your bottle or a sharp-spouted pitcher in your left hand so that
it rests on the edge of the bowl, and you can keep up a pretty steady
drop, drop, into the egg, while you stir with your right steadily. The
oil must be added drop by drop, but this does not mean a drop every two
or three minutes; you may add a drop to every one or two circuits of
the spoon. The reason for adding it slowly is that each drop may form an
emulsion with the egg before more goes in. After two or three minutes
look carefully at the mixture; if it has not begun to look pale and
opaque, but retains a dark, oily appearance, stir it steadily for two
minutes, and then add oil slowly, drop by drop, stirring all the time.
If it has not now begun to thicken, it probably will not; but the
materials are not lost. Put the yolk of another egg into a cool bowl,
and begin again using the egg and oil you have already mixed, in place
of fresh oil. When this is all used, proceed with the oil (it is hoped,
however, that the work will have proceeded without the necessity for
beginning afresh). When the mayonnaise becomes quite thick, use a few
drops of vinegar to thin it; then more oil, until sufficient sauce is
made. Then white pepper and salt should be added for seasoning. The
vinegar used should be very strong, so that very little of it will be
sufficient to give the necessary acidity, without making it too thin.
This is especially the case when the sauce is required to mask salad. It
should for this purpose be set on ice until firm, but in all cases be
kept cold. The best mayonnaise, left in a warm kitchen, would separate
and become oily. The stirring must be steady and constant, and the task
must not be left until completed.

Mayonnaise is the basis of