Sometimes you get strange ideas that you just need to make to see if it work. I am not sure how this one turned out. On the one hand, I love it. On the other hand, I am not sure.
The strange idea I got was basically, burnt lemon and mushroom fried in butter which I then add to a sort of homemade mayonnaise. I then serve it with some pork steak strips. It was rich, very rich, and complimented the steak strips so well.
But it was very rich. Maybe If I served something more acidic with it, something like lemon-infused rice or quinoa, it would have been better. I did not have time to make something besides the pork and mayonnaise sauce. This dish could really use something like that which can break through the richness.
But the overall experience of this dish was top. I loved how well the burnt lemon went with the mushrooms. This mayo would be out of this world on a smash burger, which I really need to try out! I hope that this post inspires you to make it as well.
Follow along with me as I show you this very simple dish and how to make your mayo game better!
Recipe/Ingredients List
For this recipe I used the following simple ingredients:
- 1 lemon (zest/rind and juice),
- 2 brown mushrooms,
- 1 small egg's yolk,
- 200g pork rump steak,
- 1 clove of garlic,
and the following stuff which I forgot to add for the photo:
- 1 small-medium onion,
- 2 tbsp olive oil, and
- 2 tbsp butter.
Method/Process
This recipe starts relatively simple. I always render the fat out of pork steak fat cap. This will be valuable for this recipe so as to add lots of nice pork flavour.
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Whilst the fat slowly renders out, I begin by chopping the onions into as small pieces as I can. The key here is to make them so small that they would begin to melt when we add the small mushroom cubes.
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I use the technique where you separate the onion layers after you quartered them you slice the quarters lengthwise and then across to create really small cubes.
After this, I cut the mushrooms and garlic, also as small as I could. And I also zest the lemon, because when the mushroom and onions are done, I will "burn" the lemon.
As soon as all of the fat has rendered out of the pork, I add the onion, garlic and mushroom to the pan that is still hot. I cook this until the onions and mushrooms are very soft.
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When this is done, and cooked, I take it out of the pan, and I add the lemon zest to it. The pan might still have some residual oil in it. Do not scoop this flavourful out!
Now the pan is empty, with only the oil remaining. I cut the lemons in such a way that a lot of surface area is exposed. I then put the lemons in the very hot oil (watch out for splashing) and "burn" them. This will happen relatively quickly so be on the lookout so that you do not really burn them. The goal is to achieve some charring, just to intensify the sweetness in the sour lemon.
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Making the mayo starts now!
There are many ways to make mayo, there are better and worse ways. There are also many opinions about it, with some people not liking the idea of raw egg, and so on. You do you, as the experience of food is intimately linked to what you like. If you do not like raw egg in your food, do not use raw egg! Do not let other people dictate how you cook or what you eat.
In any case, I started out with one egg yolk, mustard powder and smoked paprika. I lightly whisked them together. I then added some of the burnt lemon juice as well. When I finished this, I slowly added the warm oil from the pan I used to "burn" the lemon. Depending on how much oil you added to the pan, you might need to add more oil to the egg to make the mayo. But key here is to slowly add the oil while you whisk constantly. (I could not photograph this stage as my hands were a bit tied!) If everything went according to plan, you will have an emulsified sauce!
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The final step is as simple as adding the mushroom/onion mix with the mayo mix! Then you will have the perfectly sweet/sour umami mayo.
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As I said, I would love to have this on a smash burger! Or on some crunchy cucumber. But this time around, I added it to some steak. So the next step is to cook the steak as you want.
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I then sliced it into thin strips which I placed on top of the mayo sauce experiment! As I noted, I would have loved to have some acidic starch, like rice, with this just to cut through the extreme richness of the sauce. But overall, I would say the experiment was a great success. I really like the fact that this dish can be paired with so many things. Rice, salad, pasta, the opportunities to explore are almost endless.
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As always, the tried and tested method to find out if the dish was successful or not is to ask your girlfriend what she thinks, and she loved it as well. So there you have it, girlfriend approved!
Jokes aside, I hope that you will try this dish for yourself and experiment with different flavours and textures. It is really something special with the burnt lemon (which would have been even better with rice, as lemon and rice go hand in hand). So if you make this for yourself, try it with pasta or bread, or rice!
Happy cooking, and keep well!
All of the writings and musings and the recipe are my own creations. The photographs are also my own, taken with my iPhone.