I donāt usually like to put words like ārealā or āclassicā in front of recipe names, since who the hell really knows, but in the case this aioli, Iām feeling pretty confident. In its purest form, this amazing sauce is nothing more than olive oil emulsified into freshly crushed garlic, seasoned simply with salt and lemon.
It arguably the greatest cold sauce of all time. Speaking of cold, the health benefits of regular aioli consumption are legendary. Thereās not much not to like here, unless you donāt like garlic, then thereās plenty. This is pure, fiery, intense garlic flavor like you may have never tasted. Itās also a clever trick to get you to buy a wooden, or marble mortar and pestle.
Sure, if you donāt have one you can smash the garlic against the cutting board, with the flat of a large knife, and sort of do the same thing, but you donāt get the extra pulverization when emulsifying the oil. And itās all about the pulverization. Thatās what releases all those volatile compounds in the garlic, producing aioliās signature flavor. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 2/3 cup Real Aioli:
4 large FRESH garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or other course grain salt
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly sqeezed lemon juice or vinegar, or to taste
1/2 cup *light flavored extra virgin olive oil
1 or 2 teaspoons of water to adjust texture
- Note: This is best eaten fresh, but should be okay for about 24 hours.
* Since this sauce has such a sharp, hot flavor from the garlic, you donāt want to use a really strongly flavored olive oil. We donāt want anything too peppery and bitter, which will clash with the garlic. Use something on the mild side, or cut with a neutral vegetable oil.