Apple Almond Chicken Salad with Homemade Mayonnaise | PPQ

Apple Almond Chicken Salad with Homemade Mayonnaise

This week's Project Pastry Queen selection comes from Shawnda of Confections of a Foodie Bride. I've been on a short Project Pastry Queen hiatus due to all the excitement from Mendo at Home. I am so glad I waited until this week to jump back in - this recipe is seriously the best chicken salad I've ever had! The key component is the handmade mayo - but not just any handmade mayo - Pastry Queen's version of handmade mayo.



Ray and I have tried making mayo at home on a number of occassions. Sometimes successful - sometimes not. Quite a large number of eggs have been tossed in the trash because we ended up "breaking" the mayo, where the oil and lemon juice decided to separate rather than play nice with each other and the lecithin (a key component of the egg that stabilizes the mayo mixture). We've always relied on Alton Brown's recipe which uses only egg yolks and comes out to the same color and consistency as your standard store-bought mayo. The difference with the Project Pastry Queen version is the inclusion of egg whites. The result is a creamy, yellow-tinted and rather thin mayo (think buttermilk consistency) - the perfect consistency for the chicken salad. I had to add a little more sugar, salt and lemon juice for flavor but the result was super yummy - a nice tangy and creamy finish to the chicken salad that is not overwhelming to your taste buds.

The saddest thing about homemade mayo is that pregnant women, older adults, younger children and immunocomprised people cannot eat it due to the risk of infections from uncooked egg products. Per Shawnda, this can be alleviated with using pasturized eggs.


For the full recipe, please go here.