Aioli

The easiest way to start describing Aioli is by saying that it is a garlic-flavoured mayonnaise. This has the added benefit of setting on edge the teeth of purists, who maintain that while mayonnaise contains eggs, "le jaune d'oeuf ne devrait pas y avoir sa place dans l'Aioli." This French phrase conveys both the meaning of "there is no place for egg in an Aioli", and the disdain with which the very thought is dismissed (somehow, there's nothing quite like French for showing disdain, is there?)

In the Provence area of France it is made from garlic, olive oil, salt. Some people cheat when no one is looking and add a bit of puréed, boiled potato to cut the sharpness of the garlic, and help a bit with the emulsion of the sauce, which is a lot more work without the egg. Garlic has a small amount of emulsifying properties, but not a great deal. Many purists, when not publicly defending the absence of egg from the true recipe, will sneak in at least a tablespoon or so of egg yolk. Some people like to add a squirt of lemon at the end.

Many recipes for making Aioli will have you make it like a mayonnaise with eggs which though not strictly authentic, gives a normal person in their kitchen a better chance of success with the sauce.

Aioli plays a prominent role in the cooking of Provence and of Catalonia in Spain.
Many wild-eyed Francophiles will go on and on about Aioli being the hallmark and symbol of provence. Some even give it an exact date and place of invention: Marseille, 1774. Truth is, however, the sauce is made throughout Spain, southern France and northern Italy, and the best guess seems to be that the origin of Aioli is the Roman sauce "aleatum", made of garlic and oil.

"Aioli epitomizes the heat, the power, and the joy of the Provencal sun, but it has another virtue -- it drives away flies." Frederic Mistral (1830-1914)

Aioli comes from the Provençal aiet (garlic) and oli (oil). It is pronounced "ie-o-lee".

Also called:

Aioli, Horseradish Mayonnaise

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