Ingredients:

1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp dry mustard
4 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp water
1 cup canola oil

Method:

Mix everything except the oil in a blender for 30 seconds, then start drizzling oil in.

Results:

Complete failure to emulsify. I suspect that the problem was that I had no oil in the initial blending mixture.

I have a bunch of cold cauliflower in the fridge. I want a bit of extra taste. Here's what I did (assuming I remember correctly... I was really hungry... may have confused tsp and tbsp).

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp red pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 3/4 cup canola oil

Method:

1. Combine everything except the last 3/4 cup of oil in blender till smooth.
2. Drizzle in the remaining oil till it thickens

Sadly this time if failed to thicken, perhaps because I failed to cut the vinegar with equal parts of water. Bear in mind for next time. Nonetheless, I drizzled the unemulsified sauce on the cauliflower, and it was freakin’ awesome. I will so eat this again.

Tonight I wanted to have steamed cauliflower with aioli to dip it in. I started from the recipe in Mark Bittman's “How to Cook Everything.” My lemons were pretty old, and I didn't have any raw garlic, so instead I used garlic powder.

Ingredients:

1 egg yolk
dash of red pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil mixed with...
1/2 cup canola oil.

Method:

1. Place 1/4 cup of oil in blender with remaining ingredients
2. Blend on low
3. Slowly drizzle in the remaining oil until it turns thick.

This turned out okay. I'm not all that fond of the lemon flavor, so next time I'll use some kind of vinegar cut with water (see Bittman's book for detail). And I'll use fresh cloves of garlic.

When adding spices to scrambled eggs, I let the butter melt first, then add the spices and cook the spices for a minute or so before I add the eggs.

• Cumin (maybe also red pepper)
• Onions, cumin (maybe also red pepper)
• Onions, capers

Wow, this time it came out nearly perfect!

This morning I tried for the first time to make a perfect French omelet using the recipe from the January-February 2009 issue of Cook's Illustrated. It turned out half decent. The real trick is to believe that you can trust the very brief period of time that the omelet stays on medium high heat and then to remove it without stirring anymore, otherwise the omelet turns into mere scrambled eggs.

I'm pleased, though. The result came close this first time. I'll definitely try it again.