A Foodie Pet Peeve

It really drives me nuts to hear so many professional cooks calling variously flavored mayonnaises "aioli." Aioli is not just a fancy French word for mayonnaise (the fancy French word for mayonnaise is...wait for it...mayonnaise), but rather a sauce unto itself, made with garlic.

I'm not just being bitchy. The "ai" part of the word comes from the French word for garlic, ail. So if your sauce doesn't contain garlic, it's not an aioli. For instance, mayo with chipotle (please note the proper placement of the "l" and the "t" in that word) or blood orange or saffron is not chipotle aioli or blood orange aioli or Saffron aioli - it's a variously flavored mayonnaise.

To make things more confusing...aioli is also a mayonnaise. A garlic mayonnaise. If you start out making a nice garlic mayonnaise (with real, fresh garlic, not garlic powder) and flavor it with chipotle or saffron, then - and only then - is it a chipotle aioli.

Here's a nice simple recipe for aioli. Notice that it has garlic in it. Because it is an aioli.

Posted on Minxeats.com.