How do I make mayonnaise split?

Question

When my mayonnaise splits I add a little water or lemon juice to fix it. Works all the time. But this time my hand slipped and I ended up adding way to much water. I mixed everything until the mayonnaise fixed itself but now it's too liquid (looks like a soup).

I want to make the mayonnaise split so that I take out the excess oil and water and fix it in another bowl where I slowly add the ingredients back together. But I can't make it to split again :)

How do I make mayonnaise to split?

P.S. If I start making a new mayonnaise and slowly incorporate "the soup" in it will do the trick (I've done it before) but this time it's too much. I'll end up with lots of mayonnaise for which I have no use. So I need to rebuild the existing one.

Answer 1

Mayo that splits is typically from one of two things:

1. Insufficient water
2. Insufficient mixing leading to large droplets

(It's hardly ever insufficient emulsifier, as one yolk can do many cups of mayo.)

The lack of mixing can happen fairly easily with a whisk, but it won't happen if you're using a food processor, blender, or immersion blender.

You're probably normally making mayo that is on the border of insufficient water, so it's fairly easy to get it to break. When you added more water, the emulsion actually became more stable.

That explains why you can't get it to break, I have a few suggestions on how to fix:

1. Freeze it. It should break upon thawing.
2. If hand-mixed, use an immersion blender on it. That should thicken a little, by better mixing. (Assuming you're not using extra virgin olive oil, which should not be blended)
3. I'm sure there are some thickeners that could be added, but I've never tried thickening mayo like this.

Keep in mind that some flavors are fat soluble, some are water soluble, so if you discard part of the water, you may be changing the flavor balance.