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First mayo post-mortem - What went wrong?

First off, let me apologize for the eww factor of the title, I couldn't resist. So I made my first mayo, the recipe follows: (followed pretty much to the letter, for a change)

Yellow from one large egg
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
3/4 cup Canola oil

Assembled in the usual way, throw together all ingredients and slow stream of oil beaten with immersion blender. The texture was pretty spot- on, no complaints about that. But the taste? Big fat "Meh." I did like that it had a cleaner mouth-feel than the preservative-laden stuff. Any alternate ingredients? What's your secret to knock your socks of homemade mayo?

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  1. I use olive oil and more acid.

      1. Smartie - Yep, salt would have helped, but it needed more of "something" But good suggestion.

        Tomishungry- I originally nixed the olive oil suggestion for fear of making it bitter. But I'll give it a shot next time. Noted, increase the acidity Thanks.

        3 Replies
        1. re: Afinekerfuffle

          I've made an all-olive-oil mayo and all-canola-oil mayo and didn't care for either. The olive oil was too aggressive (not that rich, light tang that I was going for) and the canola oil just tasted off. I would try a safflower/olive oil combo.

          1. re: weezycom

            I use 8 oz olive and 2 oz canola with one whole egg in my Cuisinart mayonnaise. Egg, salt, lemon juice (prefer to vinegar) and a Tbs of (combined) oil buzzed first, then trickle the oil in through the metering hole. Works great every time for me. I *DO* drop a peeled garlic clove into the running machine first, before adding anything else, but that's just me...

        2. Try a cider vinegar instead of balsamic. I like using grape seed oil or olive/grape seed oil blend, heavier on the grape seed just a touch of olive.

          1. I use olive oil all the time, always works for me, but i can not abide the taste of canola oil, so that may be why.

            I would also consider a second or third egg yolk (consult your doctor first) and easily twice that amount of lemon juice and probably about twice that mustard, but try a hot english instead of dijon.