What is Alioli or Aioli Sauce?
“Aioli” means “garlic and oil” in the original languages (Catalan/Valencian and Provençal). It is a creamy emulsion whose basic ingredients are olive oil, garlic and salt. Nevertheless, recipes may vary according to personal preferences or needs, although purists say Aioli has no other seasonings added.
It is a staple of Mediterranean cuisine, from Valencia (Spain) to Provence (France) to Sicily and Calabria (Italy).
Is Aioli the same as garlic mayonnaise?
Despite Aioli and mayonnaise are both creamy emulsions, Aioli is made from garlic and olive oil, while mayo is made from egg yolks and more neutral oils, such as canola oil.
Especially in Spain, some believe that the absence of egg distinguishes Aioli from mayonnaise. However, in other countries like France, cooks use eggs or egg yolks as an emulsifier when preparing Aioli, because using only garlic as an emulsifier requires thoroughly crushing it and adding oil drop by drop, so excess oil does not "cut" or “break” the Aioli, what makes its preparation such a laborious task that not everybody would like to embrace, and gives Aioli the fame of being such a difficult recipe to prepare.
At the end, the result may look almost the same, but both sauces have quite different flavors.
What to eat Aioli Sauce with?
You may use Aioli as a substitute for mayonnaise in every preparation you make and give a special boost to your dishes.
Aioli is commonly served with seafood such as crab or certain kinds of fish like salt cod or canned tuna. But you may use Aioli as well as a salad dressing (coleslaw, macaroni, American potato salad, etc) as a dip for raw vegetables like carrots, celery or fennel, prepared artichoke, French fries, crispy potato, beet or sweet potato fries or chips... You should try it as a sandwich spread -like in our delicious Cuban Sandwich- or even on top of your Bratwurstinator, hot dogs or in your hamburgers… applications are endless, so it is a must have in every kitchen!
Ingredients for a creamy Aioli Sauce
Why does the Alioli get “broken”, “cut” or “cortada”? Why such a terrible aspect?
As explained at the beginning, Alioli is an emulsified oil. Therefore, since culinary art is based on chemistry science, it is likely that the mix had one of the following mistakes.
Incorrect order of ingredients: remember this is chemistry, not math. So, the order of the elements does affect the result. The yolk, and the fat it does contain, works as the emulsifier. By rule, you have to add the oil to the emulsifier and not the other way around, because if you do so, the molecule bindings are not going to work as expected in the recipe, providing you a solution more liquid than it should, where the oil is going to contain small particles of the emulsion.
Excess oil: when you add more solution to the chemical capability of the emulsifier, you saturate the solution and the result is, again, an oily and liquified solution with suspended bodies of emulsified mix.
In other words, it is very likely you add too much oil into your preparation and therefore, it just saturates itself and is not able to emulsify much more oil, obtaining a very undesirable aspect for your Alioli. If this ever happens to you when preparing your Aioli, don’t worry! Not everything is lost...
Tips and Tricks to prepare a delicious and versatile Aioli… and repairing some common mistakes
It's not that often to find the most traditional version either in restaurants or homes, because as we said, it's labor intensive and breaks easily (a "broken" or “cut” emulsion is one in which the droplets of oil have fallen out of suspension, leaving you with a greasy, separated sauce).
The first and most important trick for a perfect and creamy aioli, is measurement. Yes, is a plain chemistry solution, so measurement is paramount in this solution for a perfect emulsification of the oil.
You could add more or less flavor and tones to this sauce by playing with the oil you used. Every single olive oil will provide a very distinctive flavor to the Aioli. Virgin extra, Virgin, Lampante Olive Oil, or Pomace Oil. As all fruits, the soil and processes for obtaining the olive oil is going to be determinant for the result in flavor, aroma and color.
The solution for the “cut” or “broken” Aioli? it is quite simple and you don’t need to throw it away!
Add an emulsifier component, and start all over again by adding the “cut” mix into the blender to have it emulsified by the mechanics shacked of the mix.
In plain kitchen language, add a yolk, and start the blending process by adding the oily solution, to have it emulsified.
Since the volume increased, please keep in mind you might need to add some more lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
Aioli is served at room temperature. So, remember to take it out from the fridge if you prepared it in advance.
We always recommend preserving this kind of sauce in glass containers, with proper lids. Due to the ingredients, it is better to prepare small quantities.
In the Latin American culture, garlic is a major flavor, and for us, the Alioli is definitely the base for all and each one of the mayonnaise/aioli based sauces described in our Recipes Book. So, mark this recipe, because you´ll need to make it over and over again! We hope you enjoy it so much as we do every time you savor it!
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