Aioli Sauce, or Provence Butter

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy mortar with at least a 2-cup capacity and a sturdy pestle
• •Small spouted measuring jug
• •Folded damp kitchen towel

Instructions

1. 1

   Pound the garlic

   Set a heavy mortar on a folded damp towel so it cannot wander. Add the peeled garlic and salt, then pound and grind them against the mortar walls until no pieces remain and the garlic becomes a smooth, sticky paste. Scrape the sides often. This must be finer than minced garlic: any surviving pieces will interrupt the emulsion and leave the finished aïoli coarse.

   Salt helps the pestle break down the garlic. If the cloves keep skidding around, slice them once lengthwise, return them to the mortar, and continue pounding.
2. 2

   Work in the yolk

   Add the raw egg yolk to the garlic paste. Work it firmly with the pestle until the mixture is completely even, slightly paler, and tacky enough to cling to the mortar wall. Measure the oil into a small spouted jug, and place the lemon juice, cold water, and spare yolk within reach before you begin pouring.

3. 3

   Catch the emulsion

   Begin adding the oil one literal drop at a time while moving the pestle continuously in the same circular direction. Do not add another drop until the last has vanished. Once about 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 27 g) have been absorbed and the mixture has visibly thickened, increase to a fine, steady thread no thicker than kitchen string. If oil beads on the surface, stop pouring and keep working until it disappears. If the sauce separates into greasy curds, stop. Ça se rattrape: scrape the broken sauce into the jug, clean the mortar, place the spare yolk inside, and feed the broken sauce into it drop by drop until the emulsion catches again.

   The beginning is deliberately slow. Once the emulsion has a firm body it can accept oil more quickly, but the pestle must never stop while oil is falling.
4. 4

   Regulate the texture

   As the aïoli becomes so stiff that the pestle drags heavily, work in 3 or 4 drops of cold water, then resume the oil. Later, add a few drops of lemon juice the same way. Alternate these tiny additions only when the sauce tightens, never pour them in together, and continue until all the oil has been absorbed. The water keeps the emulsion supple; the restrained lemon sharpens it without turning a garlic sauce into a lemon sauce.

5. 5

   Finish and serve

   The finished aïoli should be dense, glossy, and firm enough to hold the track of the pestle, yet soft enough to fall from a spoon in a heavy ribbon. Taste for salt and add only the remaining drops of lemon or water needed to balance and loosen it. Spoon it generously into a bowl and serve with salt cod, boiled potatoes, green beans, artichokes, carrots, eggs, or simply cooked fish. If it separates while standing, rebuild it with a fresh yolk exactly as in step 3. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use a fresh, rounded extra-virgin olive oil rather than the most bitter, peppery bottle you own. The full cup is exposed here, so every harsh edge will remain plainly audible beside the garlic.
• •A mortar is not ceremony in this recipe. Pounding ruptures and blends the garlic into the emulsion itself, while chopped garlic stirred into a finished mayonnaise gives a different sauce entirely. The word carries the technique.
• •Serve aïoli as Provence does, with abundance rather than decoration. A platter of plainly boiled vegetables, eggs, and salt cod gives the sauce something honest to command; a dry Provençal rosé or a cool white from Cassis suits the table.
• •Because the sauce contains raw yolk, use a pasteurized egg when serving pregnant people, very young children, older adults, or anyone with reduced immunity. Keep the finished sauce refrigerated and discard it after 2 days.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the aïoli up to 24 hours ahead. Press reusable food wrap or parchment directly against its surface, cover, and refrigerate; the garlic grows stronger as it rests.
• •Take the sauce from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before serving. If it has tightened, work in 2 or 3 drops of cold water until the original heavy ribbon returns. Do not freeze it, because thawing breaks the emulsion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 34g)