On Eggplant
If you are roasting it whole to make baba ganoush, you should prick it with a fork first so it does not explode in the oven. Otherwise, no matter what you will ultimately do with your eggplant, you should first cut it open or slice it. Now salt it, put it on paper towels, and let it sweat out its toughness and bitterness. This has many implications and makes an enormous difference.
I have tahini and if I have a party I believe I will make baba ganoush.
On Mayonnaise
I made some in the blender using Fannie Farmer’s recipe. It is very easy and so much better than any you can buy, I shall never buy mayonnaise again. Look, listen, and repeat:
Fannie Farmer’s Whole-Egg Mayonnaise (Blender Mayonnaise)
This easy blender mayonnaise recipe also can be made with electric beaters.
Ingredients
* 1 egg
* ½ teaspoon dry mustard
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar
* 1½ cups olive or other oil
Directions
1. Put the egg, seasonings and ¼ cup oil in the blender and whirl until well mixed (20 to 30 seconds).
2. Pour in the rest of the oil in a steady stream. Stop as soon as the emulsion is smoothly blended.
It is an excellent mayonnaise but I suspect it would have been better with two egg yolks instead of a whole egg. If you are working with a blender, must you have an egg white? Also, my olive oil was so extra virgin that the mayonnaise is green. I do not mind, but I am warning you.
You can find Julia Child’s various mayonnaise recipes right here.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Now I’ve done it with the two egg yolks. It doesn’t get as stiff, but it works, and I think it is better.
I haven’t been using white wine vinegar, but rice and cider vinegar because it’s what I have. I should use white wine vinegar and I should also try it with lemon juice.
This really is *infinitely* better than what you can buy, y’all, *so* much less poisonous, and *so* easy to make. Don’t miss it!
P.S. With the same olive oil and the two egg yolks, the mayonnaise came out yellow. Less disconcerting than the green color of the first batch.
I use the oriental eggplant that does not need to be salted down. It’s what grows most easily here, for an added benefit.
But I make mayonnaise with exactly the same recipe as you do.
Hattie — you’re right, and I should refuse to use any other eggplant. I wonder if it would grow here … it ought to. And it’s hilarious about the mayonnaise! I still think U.S. mayonnaise should taste like Best Foods Mayonnaise, it is what we always had, but I am basically on strike against buying anything in jars if I can help it!
I used to make my own mayo by hand–it was good (and no whites, just yolks), but a major arm hurter. Thanks for the tip on the blender! (I’ve made aioli recently–it’s much better if made by hand, I think.)
Yes, by hand I would never do it regularly although it *is* better. Getting rid of the egg white is a major improvement, though.
Too late! I had an eggplant explode recently. But it was still good.
The mayonnaise recipe I’ll have to try, I am partnered with a mayo freak.