Homemade Mayonnaise

Here at Hundling Farms we have found a way to avoid the suffering of the high egg prices in the stores. Brice moved an old shed and remodeled it to be a new home for our chicken flock. So—only 15,000 more dozen or so and we will be at our break even!

When this idea was in its early phases we had been discussing trying a new breed of chicken. We have had chickens on the farm for many years, Orpington’s being my favorite for their looks and for showing at fair, Rhode Island Reds my favorite for being productive layers, but we needed to solve the problem of not having eggs in the winter. Chickens are photosensitive as well as sensitive to temperature, so the lack of daylight and extreme cold in the winter has always left our nests empty. I like to incubate our own chickens and thought it was possible if I had chickens ready to lay just as winter started - that would be key in maintaining our supply. What I did not consider was that a majority of what I hatched would be roosters. I’ll have to write about that adventure and the endless chicken soup available here next time…

Brice had talked often about Leghorns. We had looked over the years and bought a few here and there, but decided to take the leap and purchase 50 of them. The goal was to have 100 laying hens in the shed, but I did not want all of one breed, especially Leghorns. Why not all Leghorns? One, I like the look of brown eggs. Leghorns lay all white eggs. Two, they aren’t known as friendly chickens. They have little interest in human interaction (reference the photo below where the white chicken is trying to get away the minute I walked in the shed to take a photo). Three, I like to let the chicken’s free range. Leghorns are very ‘flighty’. It’s difficult enough to keep them safe from critters, and another difficulty if they won’t go in their shelter at sundown. They also tend to be noisy-but we have peacocks and guineas as well so we are used to that. However, the goal was egg production so these were certainly the way to go.

For the other 50 I opted for the ISA chicken. They are resilient to extreme cold and hot, rain and hail. And they do this without discomfort-though like any chicken a good coop with clean bedding is best practice. They are not as photo sensitive as other breeds so will maintain egg production through the winter, though do need supplemental light to do as well as Leghorns. They are more friendly, they lay brown eggs, and to me they look more like my other ‘farm chickens’. ISA chickens do not like the wind as well so a good shelter is a plus.

Sadly, with both breeds being high egg producers their life span is not as long. This was another part of our discussion before this project…what are we going to do with all these hens when their day is up? Lots more chicken noodle soup possibly! Because of this, plus the recent demand for farm fresh eggs, we have 60 more hens that hatched about 4 weeks ago in a tub in the garage until they are big enough to join the others. That way every 8-12 months we have fresh hens laying.

This shed has roll out nests, which are handy for collecting eggs. No need to reach under the hens to get the eggs, and they are usually pretty clean. So-add another 5,000 dozen eggs to the break even price to accommodate the equipment inside the shed.

I still have a second shed on the farm for ‘my chickens’. The kids literally call it ‘moms shed’. My incubator is full again from those hens production, and I always like to see what hatches out. My daughter is the expert at candling them for me, and one of our sons is the gentle caretaker. When we find out again that they are mostly roosters that are going to cause havoc in the yard—well, we will deal with that at that point.

I have many recipes to include for these eggs, we have learned to use them many ways! But my recent favorite is homemade mayonnaise. I wasn’t sure if it was like meringue and wouldn’t work with farm fresh eggs, but it certainly did.

Homemade Mayonnaise

1 large egg

1 T Dijon mustard

1 T red wine or white wine vinegar

¼ t fine sea salt

1 cup safflower oil or vegetable oil

1 t fresh lemon juice

Add egg to small bowl of a food processor and process for 20s. Add the mustard, vinegar, and salt. Process for another 20s. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Turn the food processor on then begin to slowly add the oil in tiny drops until about a quarter of the oil has been added (this is critical for proper emulsification). When you notice that the mixture is beginning to thicken and emulsify you can be a little less strict. With the process or on, continue to add it slowly, but increase to a very thin stream instead of drops of oil. When all of the oil has been added, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and process for an extra 10s. Taste mayonnaise for seasoning then add salt, lemon juice or extra vinegar to taste.

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