Aioli, allioli, or aïoli () is a cold sauce consisting of an emulsion of garlic and olive oil, in the cuisines of the northwestern Mediterranean.
The names mean 'garlic and oil' in Catalan and Provençal. It is found in the cuisines of southeastern France (Provence, Languedoc, Roussillon) and eastern Spain (traditionally Catalonia and to a lesser extent the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, Murcia, and eastern Andalusia).
Some versions of the sauce are closer to a garlic mayonnaise, incorporating egg yolks and lemon juice, while other versions omit egg yolk and contain more garlic. The garlic gives the sauce a pastier texture, making it more laborious to produce as the emulsion is harder to stabilise. There are many variations, such as adding lemon juice or other seasonings. In France, it may include mustard.
Like mayonnaise, aioli is an emulsion or suspension of small globules of oil and oil-soluble compounds in water and water-soluble compounds. Many older recipes do not include egg, but nowadays, egg or egg yolk is the usual emulsifier.
Since about 1990, it has become common in the United States to call all flavored mayonnaises aioli. Purists insist that true aioli must contain garlic and no other seasoning (except salt).
Etymology
In the form aioli, the word is a compound of Provençal and . In Catalan it is spelled (). The most common term in Spanish is , an adaptation from Catalan, although there are alternative Spanish terms such as , , or . It is also spelled in Galician.
Basic recipe
thumb|The sauce is traditionally made with a mortar and pestle
Garlic is crushed in a mortar and pestle and emulsified with salt and olive oil.
Today, aioli is often made in a food processor or blender, but some traditionalists object that this does not give the same result. boiled with salt and bay laurel.
In Provençal cuisine, aioli or, more formally, le grand aïoli, aioli garni, or aïoli monstre is a dish consisting of various boiled vegetables (usually carrots, potatoes, artichokes, and green beans), poached fish (normally soaked salt cod), snails, canned tuna, other seafood, and boiled eggs, all served with aioli. This dish is often served during the festivities on the feast days of the patron saint of Provençal villages and towns. It is traditional to serve it with snails for Christmas Eve and with cod on Ash Wednesday.
The Provençal cuisine fish soup bourride is generally served with aioli.
In Spain, particularly in Catalan cuisine and Valencian cuisine, allioli is often served with arròs negre, arròs a banda, fideuà, with grilled snails (cargols a la llauna), grilled meat, lamb, rabbit, vegetables, boiled cod (bacallà a la catalana, bacallà amb patates) and comes in other varieties such as allioli de codony (allioli with boiled quince, not the preserve) or allioli with boiled pear.
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Image:Aioli mit Oliven.jpg|Aioli served with olives
File:Allioli de supermercat.jpg|Allioli from a Spanish supermarket
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