the big cook-off.

EGG MAYO

Two members of the delicious. team duel over a classic dish. But whose version will you be using to fill your sandwiches?

TRAD

TWIST

TEAM TRAD

Egg mayo shouldn’t be messed with. It’s already perfect – a soft, pillow y, creamy showcase of just how incredible eggs can be. Piled on toast, dolloped on a buffet plate, eaten with a spoon straight from the mixing bowl; it’s a classic for a reason. Most of us, however, consume ready-made egg mayo, in supermarket sandwiches or premixed tubs. Make it yourself and it comes into its own. HEAD OF FOOD TOM SHINGLER

ALL ABOUT THE RATIOS

Developing recipes for simpler things is trickier than you think. It’s easy to make a good egg mayo, but how do you make a great one? It took a little fiddling with ratios, vinegars and timings, but after exploring every aspect of egg mayo engineering, I finally made my best-ever batch.

HOW I DID IT

With just a handful of ingredients, there’s little room to hide with an egg mayo. You want really good eggs, a proper homemade mayo and the correct mayo-to-egg ratio. Most important, however, is to season the mixture well. The eggs and mayonnaise both need a lot of salt to really sing, and a proper hit of acidity (which I think is best served via a healthy splash of malt vinegar) cuts through all the richness.

White pepper is made for eggs – the cleaner, brighter heat is zippier than the earthier spice of its black counterpart. I also add a little pinch of smoked paprika to the mayo, to give it a subtle devilled egg flavour and amp up the colour. Orange-yolk eggs don’t taste any different to yellow, but they look great.