The Role of Egg Yolk in Mayonnaise & Margarine

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Egg yolk plays a crucial role in mayonnaise as the primary emulsifying agent, allowing oil and water to blend into a stable mixture. Omitting egg yolk entirely results in a vinaigrette rather than mayonnaise, while reducing the yolk by 50% still permits emulsification but may lead to a less stable and harder-to-make product. The discussion also touches on the use of egg yolk versus artificial emulsifiers like glyceryl monostearate (GMS) in margarine. It suggests that egg yolk could make margarine taste more like mayonnaise rather than butter, which may not align with consumer expectations for margarine's flavor and cost-effectiveness. Overall, egg yolk is essential for creating stable emulsions in mayonnaise, while its absence or reduction significantly affects the final product's texture and stability.
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What is the role of egg yolk in mayonniase?
What happens to the emulsion when the egg yolk was reduced by 50% or omitted? Explain why?



Egg yolk is the emulsifying agent. Without it mayonnaise is basically a vinaigrette. If you omit egg yolk entirely your mayonnaise will not emulsify (thicken), if you reduce it by half, it will still work, but may not be as stable, or as easy to make.

There an intriguing question bugging me.
Why can't we use use egg yolk instead of GMS( glyceryl monostearate) in margarine.
I mean GMS is artificial emulsifier so it much be the same as egg yolk ? or egg yolk cannot
, too oily ??
 
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Here's a better explanation

In response to your questions, after seeing several cooking shows lately where people were creating an emulsion by whisking oil into vinegar or other liquid, I decided to look up the roles of egg yolk and oil in mayonaise since the acid and the oil by itself create an emulsion.

What the egg yolk does is stabilize the emulsion.

Both mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce are oil-in-water emulsions that are stabilized with egg yolk lecithin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion
 
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yup...eggs are good.
 
CuriousSam said:
Why can't we use use egg yolk instead of GMS( glyceryl monostearate) in margarine.

Most likely because margarine is expected to be cheap :smile:
 
Borek said:
Most likely because margarine is expected to be cheap :smile:

And fake. :biggrin: I'm not even sure if margarine is perishable, or just has to be refrigerated to keep from melting. :rolleyes:

Oh, and if you made your margarine with egg yolks, it would probably taste more like mayonnaise than butter.
 
Moonbear said:
Oh, and if you made your margarine with egg yolks, it would probably taste more like mayonnaise than butter.

And then I'm pretty sure it would stop being margarine altogether. :smile:
 

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