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I followed all steps I saw online but the mayonnaise looked good at first but spoiled the next day. What would also cause the oil to separate from it??

I seperated the eggs first, putting the yolk in a mixing bowl. I added vinegar,lemon juice and water.. Then I heated for about 2 minutes, I removed and cooled. I added dry mustard,salt and cayenne pepper Then I mixed together. Slowly, I added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency.

I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors. But there was a slight oil seperation, and water separation at the bottom of the jar. Then followed by a characteristic foul smell hours later.

Cindy
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Emann
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  • Not enough information. Emann you need to tell us exactly what ingredients you used, what steps you took to make it and how you stored it after it was made. link to the the online recipe if you can. what do you mean exactly by spoiled? – Alaska Man Mar 22 '17 at 09:23
  • Ok Sir.. I seperated the eggs first, putting the yolk in a mixing bowl.. I added vinegar,lemon juice and water.. Then I heated for about 2 minutes, I removed and cooled.... I added dry mustard,salt and cayenne pepper... Then I mixed together... Slowly, I added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency – Emann Mar 22 '17 at 09:31
  • I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors... But there was a slight oil seperation, and water separation at the bottom of the jar... Then followed by a characteristic foul smell hours later – Emann Mar 22 '17 at 09:42
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    Hello Emann and welcome! I edited the information in your comments into the body of your question. This should help you to get better answers. As you are a new user, I suggest that you take our tour and visit our help pages. Both can be found under the help dropdown at the top of the page. – Cindy Mar 22 '17 at 11:17
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    @Alaskaman sometimes a _small_ amount of water is included, but I've never seen a recipe that calls for heating the yolks. – Erica Mar 22 '17 at 13:02
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    @Emann "I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors" what do you mean indoors. Mayo must be refrigerated ( kept cold ) Also can you post a link to the recipe. **this does not seem right for a mayo recipe**. Water? and Heating? are not usually involved in mayo recipe's. Mayo is really just egg yolks and oil emulsified with some flavoring. Two minutes mixing does seem sufficient to emulsify. her is a link to Martha Stewart's recipe. http://www.marthastewart.com/340597/basic-mayonnaise – Alaska Man Mar 22 '17 at 13:09
  • @Erica yes but no oil? – Alaska Man Mar 22 '17 at 13:10
  • "added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency" – Erica Mar 22 '17 at 13:10
  • @Erica i missed that, thanks How many teaspoons I.E. How much oil. and mixed slowly? generally you need to whisk vigorously. – Alaska Man Mar 22 '17 at 13:18

1 Answers1

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Mayonnaise - unless made by a recipe that is explicitly designed to yield a shelf stable version (as many commercially made mayonnaises are) - is not a shelf stable food. That means the common standard of unrefrigerated storage time of 2 hours max, or 4 hours if immediately consumed, is to be applied. So spoilage after room temperature storage of 8 or even 48 hours does not seem to be a surprising behaviour.

rackandboneman
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  • Good answer. I've seen recipes, like Alton Brown's, that call for leaving the mayo at room temps for a while right after it is made to allow the acidity to kill off pathogens. – Sobachatina Mar 22 '17 at 15:32
  • “unless made by a recipe that is explicitly designed to yield a shelf stable version (as many commercially made mayonnaises are) ".... Can u explain specifically please?? – Emann Mar 23 '17 at 07:07
  • If you buy a jar of mayonnaise, it can often be stored (unopened, or in some cases opened) at room temperature. Because it is made to a recipe and in a process that caters for that. It has to do with controlling acidity, pasteurizing or omitting the most spoilage prone ingredient (eggs), packaging hygiene and other factors.... – rackandboneman Mar 23 '17 at 08:47
  • @Emann some recipes produce shelf-stable food, for example recipes for pickled cucumbers. There are also recipes which produce shelf-stable mayonnaise. Such recipes are rare, and typically you will know if you are using one of them (because the recipe will say so). If you follow a recipe which is not meant to produce preserved food, the rule is 4 hours at room temperature from the creation of the perishable ingredient to consumption. If somebody else handled the ingredient before you did (e.g. meat from the supermarket) the time is reduced to 2 hours. – rumtscho Mar 23 '17 at 17:00
  • This answer says the exact opposite of [this other highly-upvoted answer](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/33331/39928). Which is right? – Maximillian Laumeister May 11 '18 at 05:53