Aïoli
Garlic pounded with salt and beaten with olive oil into a thick, pungent emulsion.
What makes it aïoli
- A lot of raw garlic — it should be strong.
- Olive oil, beaten in drop by drop.
- Made in a mortar, not a blender, if you can.
Where it comes from
The name is simply garlic and oil in Provençal. Purists make it with those alone, pounded in a mortar; most cooks add an egg yolk, which makes it far more forgiving.
It gives its name to a meal, too: le grand aïoli, a spread of poached salt cod, boiled vegetables and eggs around a bowl of it, traditionally eaten on Fridays and at village feasts.
How it varies
- Le grand aïoli
- The feast: salt cod, snails, eggs and boiled vegetables with the sauce.
- Rouille
- With chilli or saffron and bread, the rusty sauce for bouillabaisse.
Be the first here
Start your own aïoliNo one here has made aïoli yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
Near it
ProvençalBouillabaisseMarseille's fish stew: bony rockfish boiled hard with olive oil, tomato, fennel and saffron, served with rouille and bread.No one here has made it yet
BasqueBacalao al pil-pilSalt cod poached in olive oil with garlic and chilli, then swirled until the oil and the cod's gelatine become a thick sauce.1 version here