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By Steven Walsh

Hey, everyone! My name is Steven Walsh, and you’re currently reading the new WHC Food Blog. In this, I hope to show some of the recipes and techniques that I use at home and have used in professional settings. I, as well as lots of others here, love to cook and am passionate about food. Since starting at Walnut Hill College, I’ve wanted to create a forum and blog that allows people to communicate and share the things they love. As I learn more on my culinary journey, I aim to share what I like best with everyone reading. There are few things that I am not fond of, but there is nothing that I won’t try. I’m really excited to get this started, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and comments once this takes off. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

This week, I wanted to share two recipes that I use a lot at home. Despite my lack of pastry experience, this is partially a post about baking! To start though, I’ll be sharing a mayonnaise recipe that completely changed my mind about mayo.

Growing up, there were no ifs, ands, or buts, I hated mayonnaise. I didn’t like the concept, and I sure didn’t like the taste. Something seemed to be bitter or rancid every time I tried it, so I stopped trying it. As all of us do, I expanded my palate as I grew up and began to tolerate mayonnaise. It still wasn’t my preference, but it seemed like an alright substitute for butter on a sandwich. This opinion of mine would be completely flipped as I started to learn more about mayonnaise. As I began my education at WHC, I was given the task many times to make mayonnaise. Each time I made it, I liked it, but there was always that background rancid flavor. I had finally had enough and started to do some research on different oils and their properties. After playing around with different ideas, to make a long story short, I began to realize that the heat tolerance and neutral flavor of the oil was what had the biggest impact on the mayonnaise’s outcome. I wanted to test this, so I used my all-time favorite high-heat cooking oil, grapeseed oil.

“Whoa.” This was all I could think after what had just happened. It was a Saturday that I had off from work, and I was playing around in the kitchen as I often do. With the thoughts of grapeseed oil still fresh in my mind, I substituted the usual canola oil with it and made my mayonnaise. As a disclosure, I have tools at home that not everyone may have access to in a home kitchen. However, these recipes are adaptable, and I will always do my best to provide alternative methods. ????

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup grapeseed oil
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder (optional)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Procedure:

• Add ¼ cup of grapeseed oil, egg, mustard powder, and salt into food processor.
• Blend until smooth and pale (20-30 seconds).
• Add remaining oil in a continuous, thin stream while still blending.
• Once finished with the oil, add the lemon juice and blend only to combine.
• Taste and adjust seasoning as preferred.

I was instantly in love with this recipe. Food processor mayonnaise is a great way to save time and energy when making mayo. I actually like to use my whisk attachment on my stick blender to make this. I add the ingredients to a blender cup and use the electric whisk instead of a food processor. This recipe is really versatile, and I love using it for different things. I use it for cakes, dipping sauces, salad dressings, and more! One of my favorite mayonnaise recipes is my double chocolate mayo cake. I use small loaf tins for baking the cake and slice the cakes for dessert with some ice cream and fresh fruit!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grapeseed oil mayonnaise
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels (I use Ghirardelli)

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Whisk together mayonnaise, vanilla, milk, and water.
• Combine salt and sugar in a mixing bowl.
• Sift flour, cocoa, and baking powder into dry ingredients.
• Evenly mix with a dry, wooden spoon.
• In three stages, incorporate your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients.
• Fold in chocolate chips.
• Oil 4 mini loaf tins with vegetable oil.
• Cut strips of parchment paper long enough so that they hang out of the tins.
• Evenly pour the batter into the tins and smooth for even baking.
• Bake for 35 minutes or until a tester toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool and serve.

There are so many variations that can be made to both of these recipes, and I hope you get a chance to try them out. I would love to hear feedback, and pictures of cake and mayo are obviously welcome!

-Steven Walsh, Walnut Hill College Student Leader

Read Steven’s bio

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