mrs. Henderson's cook book.

Put the uncooked yolk of an egg into a cold bowl; beat it well with a silver fork; then add two salt-spoonfuls of salt and one salt-spoonful of mustard powder; work them well a minute before adding the oil; then mix in a little good oil, which must be poured in very slowly (a few drops at a time) at first, alternated occasionally with a few drops of vinegar. In proportion as the oil is used, the sauce should gain consistency. When it begins to have the appearance of jelly, alternate a few drops of lemon juice with the oil. When the egg has absorbed a gill of oil, finish the sauce by adding a very little pinch of cayenne pepper and one and a half teaspoonfuls of good vinegar. Taste it to see that there are salt, mustard, cayenne and vinegar enough. If not, add more very carefully. These proportions will suit most tastes; yet some like more mustard and more oil. Be cautious not to use too much cayenne.

By beating the egg a minute before adding the oil, there is little danger of the sauce curdling; yet if, by adding too much oil at first, it should possibly curdle, immediately interrupt the operation. Put the yolks of one or two eggs on another plate; beat them well, and add the curdled Mayonnaise by degrees, and finish by adding more oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and cayenne according to taste. If lemons are not at hand, many use vinegar instead.

Delmonico uses four yolks of eggs for two quart bottles of oil. It is only necessary, then, to use one yolk for a pint of oil, the egg only being a foundation for the sauce. It is easier, however, to begin with more yolks; many use three of them for a gill of oil. The sauce will not curdle so easily if the few drops of vinegar are used at first, after a very little oil is used. It keeps perfectly well by putting it into a glass preserve or pickle bottle, with a ground-glass stopper. It is well to have enough made to last a week at least. The opportunity of making it may be taken, and adding it to the Mayonnaise bottle, when there are extra yolks left after the whites of the eggs are used for other purposes, such as white cake, corn-starch, pudding, etc.

It requires about a quarter of an hour to make this sauce. In summer the process of making it is greatly facilitated by placing the eggs and oil in the ice-chest half an hour before using them.