For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a distaste for mayonnaise. There’s something about the texture, smell, and eggy flavor that I find unappealing. But that all changed during a recent crisis in Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen, when I was introduced to a mayo that is so yummy, I could eat it straight from the jar.
I was about to test the best panini presses when I realized I didn’t have mayonnaise to spread on the outside of the bread of my grilled cheese sandwiches. (I prefer mayo over butter because it spreads easily straight from the fridge and has a higher smoke point, so bread turns an even golden brown instead of burning.) Thankfully, senior commerce editor Olivia Tarantino came to the rescue with jars of Graza’s Garlic Olive Oil Aioli and "Original" Olive Oil Mayo. I coated a few sandwiches with each, placed them in the presses, and waited. Suddenly, I noticed a wonderfully fragrant garlic smell that I thought was coming from the stoves of BA’s recipe testers who were cooking nearby.
“Whatever they’re making smells incredible,” I thought to myself. Then I realized it was me—or, rather, my aioli-coated sandwiches.
After removing the sandwiches from the presses, I tasted one made with each style of mayo. The original version produced a nicely toasted grilled cheese with perfectly melted American singles and a hint of tang on the bread. But the aioli version took that same grilled cheese to the next level and completely blew me away. It infused the toasted bread with a slightly lemony, sweet garlic flavor that was a perfect contrast to the creamy saltiness of the American cheese. This zesty mayo was so delicious, in fact, that I began slathering even more of it onto the finished sandwich. (More mayo? Who am I?)
While most mayos found on supermarket shelves are made with canola, soybean, or even sunflower oil, Graza’s Garlic Olive Oil Aioli is a blend of extra virgin olive oil, olive oil, cage-free eggs, and real chopped garlic. If you've ever tried to make mayo with extra virgin olive oil, you've probably noticed it has a bitter aftertaste. This is because EVOO contains compounds called polyphenols that can degrade during high-speed blending, creating astringency in the emulsion. Graza uses special equipment to prevent this. “It’s incredibly difficult to create an olive oil-based mayo without that bitter aftertaste, and it came down to modifying it and using blending speeds that don’t break down the olive’s cellular structure,” Co-Founder of Graza, Andrew Benin, shared with us via email. To sum up this science lesson: This olive oil aioli has no bitter aftertaste.
That’s why this versatile condiment is the ideal one-ingredient upgrade. Mix it up with chopped celery, onion, and mustard to give a traditional tuna salad a zingy twist. Dollop it onto a bacon-and-cheddar burger with a few dill slices for a bright, savory sauce that pairs well with pickles. And, of course, use it to make the best-ever grilled cheese sandwiches. Even my colleagues at BA couldn’t stop raving about how tasty they were.
Garlic Olive Oil Aioli is available in both a squeeze bottle and a glass jar and will convert even mayo nay-sayers like me into die-hard fans. Not into garlic? Graza also has the classic "Original" Olive Oil Mayo and bold, tangy “Fancy” Olive Oil Mayo. Spread the word.