Whisked Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise Fouettée (whisked mayonnaise) teaches the narrow border between an emulsion and a gel. The one true thing to know before you touch the bowl is this: the aspic must be melted, cool, and fully fluid, then the whisk must stop at the first sign of setting. Keep going and the sauce loses its flow; stop on time and it is pale, lively, and loose enough to cloak each vegetable without drowning it.

The original preparation assumed a copper basin set directly on ice, finished mayonnaise and clear savory jelly waiting in the garde-manger, and a quantity meant for service. For one cook, one stove, one evening, a stainless-steel bowl nested over ice does the same work, and this batch keeps the source's exact nine-to-eight volume ratio of jelly to mayonnaise while cutting the quantity for a home table. The copper and the brigade volume are scaffolding. The cold whisking and the precise stopping point are the dish.

Mix first, chill second, then whisk gently. Watch the edges, not the clock: when the sauce turns very frothy and the whisk begins to leave a faint trace, lift the bowl from the ice at once. If it firms before you can dress the salad, ça se rattrape, and a few seconds over lukewarm water will return the flow.