Discover the art of making a genuine Mediterranean aioli by manually emulsifying robust hard neck garlic with unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a traditional mortar and pestle technique. This authentic guide walks you through the unique process that unlocks aromatic flavours and a creamy, porridge-like texture, ensuring you capture the essence of classic culinary tradition in every drop.
*Ingredients*
• 4–6 cloves fresh garlic (preferably hardneck or newly harvested)
• 150–200 ml unfiltered extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fleur de sel or fine sea salt
• (Optional) A few drops of cold water if needed for consistency adjustment
*Methods*
1. Peel the garlic cloves and place them in a mortar. Add the salt to help break down the garlic fibres.
2. Pound the garlic and salt together with a pestle until a smooth, sticky paste forms. Take your time, as thorough cell wall rupture releases the essential oils necessary for the emulsion.
3. Add a few drops of olive oil to the garlic paste and work it in with circular motions. Once absorbed and stable, continue adding the oil gradually, a few drops at a time, stirring continuously to build a stable emulsion.
4. As the emulsion thickens and becomes more stable, you can start adding the olive oil in a thin stream while stirring vigorously. Monitor the consistency: the aioli should resemble a thick, slightly coarse sauce.
5. Taste and adjust for seasoning. If the aioli becomes too thick, you can add a few drops of cold water to loosen it slightly without breaking the emulsion.
6. Serve immediately as a dip, spread, or condiment for vegetables, fish, or grilled meats. Store any leftover aioli in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
• Unlike mayonnaise, traditional aioli is more rustic, thick, and slightly grainy in texture.
• Using unfiltered extra virgin olive oil adds complexity but also a more pronounced, sometimes peppery flavour. Adjust the amount to your taste.
• The pungency depends heavily on the freshness and variety of garlic used.
• Some modern recipes add egg yolk or lemon juice to stabilise the emulsion more easily, but traditional aioli contains neither.
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23 Comments
Hello my friend, Wow, what a great content 😍 Such a great channel!
thank you for sharing this wonderful video ❤
Newly subbed and will be waiting for more content !
🙋and greetings from Istanbul TURKEY 💛🤗34
This is properly made and well explained, thank you. It's been weird for me to see people adding garlic to mayonnaise and call it allioli.
BTW, the dish is actually called allioli. Double L is pronounced almost like an "i" in catalan, and if you separate it into words it literally means all (garlic) i (and) oli (oil).
I guess people started adding mayonnaise to it in restaurants and commecial settings, because this way it doesn't break the emulsion (separate the oil and garlic) so easily, if you make this condiment please don't make it hours before consumption because it'll separate again into oil and garlic after a few hours.
This condiment goes very well with another dish called fideuà (in case someone wants to discover another hidden culinary treasure).
Cheers!
I like the way this guys talks. He seems very passionate on the topic he speaks of.
Hi, native to the area where allioli was born. My trick to get a cremy allioli with an emulsion which lasts longer is to add a raw egg yolk to the garlic puree at the beginning and then pooring a little extra virgine olive oil at a time while you use your pestle.
What sort of recipes would you use this with, aside from sandwiches?
The oil he is using is clearly filtered (unfiltered oil is opaque and have slightly different color). Unflitered oil makes sense only when it's consumed fast, usually near where it's produced, because the water and plant matter left in the oil greatly speeds up the oil going rancid. So, if you are living in Asia or the USA and use oil imported half across the world, filtered oil is the only sensible choice.
BRAVO … Very happy to discover your channel.
Amazing! You should try making Toom, the vegan version with oil and garlic only (no eggwhite, mayo or such)!
好！这个我会试着做一下😊
这是要即做即吃的吗？可以放多长时间？
It's always a pleasure, and somewhat reassuring, to see young chefs doing recipes the proper way. Very few people now know how to make real aïoli with only garlic and olive oil.
This is the first video I've seen from this channel but I loved it! The way you explain how the aioli works helped me understand the process so much better, and this isn't the first video I've seen on making classic aioli. You seem like a great teacher and I'm eager to see more of your videos!
You explain things clearly and objectively, with lots of helpful real knowledge and clear illustrations. Your selection of recipes is exemplary. I will watch all of your videos so that YouTube can continue to promote you. To be honest, that is the only reason I comment. We all need to promote such high-quality channels from talented, self-motivated individuals!
Thank you!!
You are to animated.
Thanks you
If I wanted to add a squeeze of lime. Should I add it before or after the oil?
Thank you! First time I ever see the *actual* traditional aïoli made properly on the internet! 👏👏
Does require some elbow grease, but definitely worth a try for garlic & olive oil lovers.
Egg yolk, some proportion of vegetable oil other than olive oil, drops of lemon juice and/or vinegar, and even some pieces of bread crumbs, have gradually become used for several purposes: facilitate the emulsifying and make it more stable over time, decrease the pungency so that more people (including children) can enjoy it (some versions can even been made with blanched garlic for sensitive palates). Modern tools can help but whenever I have a mortar and a pestle at hand, that's the way. Unique texture.
On that basis, I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing you make the Rouille (that very specialised "version" of aïoli that we have with our Provençale fish soup or our Bouillabaisse ! 😃)
Cheers from the South of France! 👋
Like an Asian version of Marco Pierre White – love it
The emulsion is not very stable from my experience: it separates when I put it in the fridge. Maybe I missed something …
This guy is the professor every student dreams of. And the cooking skills need absolutely no comment. Sir, i thank you. I feel privileged just to hear and see this level of excellence and art for free. Every video on this channel is a masterpiece.
I heard, that the original old version is made with fish liver… what do you think about this?
Spanish olive oil. The best is from the south, not the north.