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[Jacob Burton]

This homework assignment is designed to test your knowledge of basic emulsifications and to strengthen your creative abilities. 

For this assignment you are only allowed to buy these things if you don't already have them in your kitchen:

• Eggs
• Oil (Either Canola or Olive Oil)
• A Crispy Green (Romaine or Iceberg Recommended)
• Salt and Pepper (If you're out)
• One Form of Acid (Vinegar, Lemon, Lime, etc)

Your Assignment:

• Make mayonnaise using your eggs and oil.
• Use the mayonnaise as a base for constructing your own unique version of an emulsified dressing as talked about in the discussion segment of this episode. You are only allowed to use whatever you currently have in your kitchen.
  
• Create a salad utilizing anything that you have on hand, but you are not allowed to purchase extra ingredients from the store. Remember the story of Bob Cobb and Caesar Caldini, use what you already have.

Extra credit points will obviously be awarded to anyone who posts a picture of their salad creation in this thread. Good luck.

[RPMcMurphy]

Do I get extra credit for doing this assignment ahead of time? hehe.

http://randallpmcmurphy.blogspot.com/2008/08/classic-caesar-salad.html

[Jacob Burton]

I don't know...looks like pretty classic to me. But here's 10 extra credit points for being the only person to turn in their homework so far

[Tom O]

I had to buy eggs, but I had everything else on hand.  I wanted a dressing that I could use for roast beef sandwiches last night and thin out for a salad dressing tonight.  Green peppercorns came to mind as a good accompaniment to my sandwich and I've had some in the fridge for forever, so I built my mayo around them.  I whisked my egg yolk with a little brown mustard, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, finely minced onion that I had let sit in some lime juice for a few minutes to take a little edge off the raw onion, and the lime juice (from 1/2 lime).  I didn't want to add the peppercorns yet because I wasn't sure how much it would take to make it peppercorny but not overpowering.  I whisked in 1 c. of corn oil because that's what I had on hand.  I hate messing with the blender, especially trying to get thick stuff out of it, so I whisked by hand, which wasn't too arduous.  Then I started adding crushed, finely minced green peppercorns about 10 at a time.  I think I probably ended up using 1 - 1.5 TBSP of peppercorns to get their taste to stand out from all the fat.  I wanted the texture to be a little less mayo-like for my sandwich so I stirred in some sour cream then added some salt and some chopped parsley.  It was great on my roast beef/provolone/lettuce/tomato/onion sandwich.  For salad dressing I added more sour cream, salt, and milk to thin it out a bit.  My salad was boring, just iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, but the dressing was great.

[Jacob Burton]

Awesome Post Tom O. I like the fact that you used the dressing as both a sauce for your sandwich and a dressing for your salad; cross utilization is key.

Plus, there's nothing wrong with a boring salad as long as your dressing is bangin'. Good job on the homework.

[Alessio]

I finally managed to put together the salad for this homework. I am not a fun of salads in general so i decided to play it all over the dressing. I opted for making a sturdy mayonnaise, using not as much oil as usually prescribed. To impart it a richer flavour I used 1tbsp of olive oil, along with 3 of sunflowers oil (that's what I had home). I then added some lime juice and thinned it with water to a pourable consistency.
For the vinegar reduction I used 4 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and 2 shallots minced that I let reduce to 1tbsp of liquid. When still warm I added a few black peppercorns, covered the saucepan and let infuse till the whole was nice and cool. Once discarded the peppercorns I puréed the shallots mixture and passed it through a sieve. The stuff turned out pretty powerful so I decided to sweeten it down with a bit of caramel made with 1tsp of sugar.
I wanted to make more a finger-food salad so I used whole romaine lettuce leaves. To let the diner play with tastes I decided not to mix the mayo with the reduction. As a little add on, I used a few blanched zucchini tagliatelle covered in a mixture of sesame and caraway seeds and seasoned with fleur de sel and olive oil. As a garnish I decided to use some orange zest and pink pepper.

I find the overall pretty satisfactory! The orange flavour married well with the vinegar reduction and the mayo gave all the needed body to make the whole flavours linger on the palate. The crispy, watery and fresh lettuce helps clear all out, ready for a second bite.

As concerning the plating, this is how I decided to proceed. What do you think? 

[Dee]

Well here's mine...

1. I have no food processor of any kind, so i just had to make something. I made a mixer blade for an electric drill by screwing an impellor to the end of an aluminum rod. The impellor was made from the bottom of an aluminum can. lol

2. Yolk+vinegar+lemon juice,mustard,salt + slowly drizzle in oil... ====> 1 cup of oil with stuff in it.
Yes I failed  It was rather upsetting  . The only thing I could figure is that my eggs aren't real fresh. But I refused to be beat!

3. Cleaned up and started over. This time no lemon juice, just the vinegar. I went excruciatingly slowly: I made individual additions of oil, making sure each addition was absolutely accomodated. Well this time it worked  It was mayonnaise alright.. very thick. I thought "that was so cool!" It's fascinating - the emulsion will either catch or not...

4. With a cucumber salad in mind, I made an ultra-light dressing using the mayo, some 2% milk, dash of basil, parsley, and chives, a splash of old white wine, pinch of salt and white pepper, and a good dose of fresh lime juice.

5. The salad was made by laying down some dressing, then placing a stack of hollow cucumber slices, filling the inside with dressing. Then some tomatoes and cucumbers were arranged and garnished with minced shallots. Celery sprigs were placed around that. A dab of dressing on top with paprika for more color contrast. (I know I broke the odd-number guidline... hehe)

It was very good. Of course the lightness of the dressing suited the cucumbers well with a good flavor match. I would probably try half & half next time though, it was almost too light. Damn - I should have put some of the lime zest in the dressing haha, cause I was missing some "zing". A very small amount of brunoise jalapeno might have added some complexity. I was going for ultra simple, ultra light though. The shallots were essential. Overall, my salad might be kinda weird and non-spectacular but I learned a lot hehe.