RD201904

Breakfast would take a terrible hit, egg

dishes aside: No true waffles, pancakes,

or French toast. There are plenty of in-

gredients you could remove from the

human diet without fundamentally

altering culinary tradition. But remove

me, and you’ve blasted a smoldering

crater right in the middle of the kitchen.

I’m more than just the perfect culi-

nary companion. I’m also as close to

a perfect source of nutrition as you’ll

find in nature. My yolk is replete with

antioxidant plant pigments called

xanthophylls (the very same ones that

make the leaves yellow in autumn)

and a payload of nutrients: protein, fo-

late, B12, choline, and selenium. And

then there’s my cholesterol. For years,

the thinking was that humans should

avoid it. No longer: Experts now say a

yolk’s dietary cholesterol doesn’t nec-

essarily translate to high cholesterol

levels in blood.

My superlative nutritional content

is no accident. Unlike meat or plants,

which were living their lives until you

decided to make them food, I was de-

signed to be food. Not for you: I am

sustenance, as well as the respirator

and security system, for a chick, every-

thing it needs to go from a single fertil-

ized cell to a chirping fuzzball.

Start with my shell. Despite ap-

pearances, it is porous, filtering out

carbon dioxide and letting in oxygen

for the baby chick. For this reason, I’m

likely to absorb strong smells. That’s

why chefs will maximize their pricey

truffles by placing them in a container

HOMEMADE MAYO

SIX EASY WAYS

basic: Using a blender or a food proces-

sor, blend 1 large pasteurized egg with

1 medium clove garlic, 1 tablespoon

fresh lemon juice, and a large pinch ko-

sher salt until smooth. With the machine

running, drizzle in 1 cup vegetable oil in

a thin stream until a thick sauce forms.

herb: Add 2 to 4 tablespoons chopped

fresh chives, parsley, dill, or tarragon to

the Basic recipe before blending in oil.

mustard: Make the Basic recipe, adding

1 tablespoon of mustard before blend-

ing in the oil.

extra-garlic: Make the Basic with 2 or

3 cloves of garlic rather than 1.

horseradish: After blending the Basic,

add preserved horseradish 1 tablespoon

at a time until desired taste is reached.

chili-lime: Replace the lemon juice in the

Basic recipe with 1 tablespoon lime juice

and add 1 tablespoon sriracha chili sauce;

add more chili and lime, if desired.

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