Another workhorse recipe for the Moorcock Inn, this started as a warm sauce to serve with wild mushrooms, tweaked a little to became mayonnaise and a perfect pairing to the crispy smoked potatoes. It is rich and decadent, I always say tastes a bit like roast chicken, a bit like miso, a lot like brioche.
Getting your hands on fresh bakers yeast may be harder as a citizen, it is usually from wholesale suppliers, comes in 500g blocks, best bet will probably be to ask a bakery if they have some you could buy or to speak to a local shop and ask them to order it in. its inexpensive.
fresh yeast is different to dried yeast and for this recipe not exchangeable.
Anything which is fermented has had its cells broken down, every time an ingredient is broken down it releases amino acids which equals umami. Yeast breaks down starches and sugars faster than most bacteria and enzymes, its easy to see why it is so meaty when used in this way.
Because yeast is so efficient at fermenting it has a lot of umami ready to use. its downfall is it will ferment nearly everything straight away, so needs to be cooked before you can use it for mayonnaise. This will leave you with a large amount of protein, which is an important tool for making emulsions. basically roasted yeast makes everything it touches become rich and creamy.
To roast yeast you will simply need to crumble it in a baking dish covered with foil and cook in an oven for about 45 minutes. make sure the dish has at least double to capacity of the yeast as sometimes it can bubble over, spill and make a mess in the oven.
Cool the yeast before using for mayonnaise. It keeps in the fridge for a month once cooked, freezes well, any leftovers are easy to utilise.
Other uses are to enrich any creamy sauce, béchamel, toss through mushrooms or roast root vegetables, added to soups (its great in pumpkin soup!), enrich gravy or a stew. really versatile.
Its best to make this in a blender as the force of the blender makes the sauce stronger. a hand blender will work too., otherwise a whisk can make a good emulsion too, it just may not be as firm a mayonnaise.
Yeast Mayo
350g cooked yeast
100g mustard
16g salt
1ltr vegetable oil
Place mustard and yeast into a blender, mix on a medium speed while slowly drizzling in oil.
Once about half of the oil is incorporated increase the speed to high and continue to drizzle in the remaining oil until thickened to a mayonnaise consistency.
You may need more oil (the yeast can be a bit inconsistent to how much water is in it after baking)
Add a splash of water and the sauce will lighten and taste smoother.
Add salt and serve.
The sauce will last 2 weeks in the fridge. It is delicious as a mayonnaise in any context. add gherkins, shallots, capers and herbs to make a lovely tartar.
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