I’ve speculated about this before. I thought it should work, and someday I was going to just get down to it and try. But someone beat me to it. I’m still going to, but in the meantime, here’s how Ari Weinzweig does it.
From Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon
Stories of Pork Bellies, Hush Puppies, Rock ‘n’ Roll Music and Bacon Fat Mayonnaise
Ingredients
5 egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
7 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/4 cups rendered bacon fat
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper to taste
Directions
1. Chill the ingredients and utensils (including your mixing bowl) down to about 40° F. Don’t skip this step or the mayonnaise may break.
2. Put the egg yolks, mustard, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the lemon juice into a blender or mixing bowl. Beat on high for 2 minutes, until well blended.
3. Add the bacon fat (no need to add gradually if everything is properly chilled), continuing to beat until the mixture is thick. Depending on how thick and rich you like your mayonnaise you may or may not need the entire amount of fat.
4. Slowly blend in the remaining lemon juice, sea salt and pepper, whipping it pretty much continuously throughout. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
5. The mayonnaise keeps for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
Now aside from the fact that it’s surprising to see a bacon recipe — in fact a whole bacon book — from a guy named Ari Weinzweig, this looks like a winner. I’ll be sure to show you step-by-step photos of the process when I finally do it.
Thanks to Kate in Italy for sending me this. Let’s all wish her luck finding some American style bacon over there so she can make some for herself.
