Culinary Advisor
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Egg Mayonnaise and Cress
Created by Chef Thomas
Eggs mashed with good mayonnaise and a streak of English mustard, buried under a tangle of peppery cress. The kind of lunch that needs no explanation and no apology.
Cress in a punnet. Eggs in a bowl. This is the most British lunch I know how to make, and I mean that as the highest compliment.
There is nothing clever about egg mayonnaise. That's its virtue. You boil eggs, you mash them with a fork, you stir through enough mayonnaise to make them rich and enough mustard to make them interesting, and you pile cress on top until it looks like a small green hedge. It takes ten minutes. It feeds you properly. It tastes like a Tuesday afternoon in a kitchen where someone is paying attention.
I come back to this whenever the fridge is bare and the shops feel like too much effort. Four eggs, a jar of mayonnaise, a punnet of cress from the corner shop. We're only making lunch. But a good egg mayonnaise, made with decent eggs and real attention to the seasoning, is a quietly splendid thing. I wrote it down in the notebook years ago: eggs, mustard, cress, Wednesday. That was enough to bring it all back.
The cress matters more than you think. Without it, you have egg mayonnaise, pleasant and pale. With it, you have something that bites back, the peppery sharpness cutting through all that richness like a sharp word in a quiet room. Buy it in the punnet. Snip it with scissors. Be generous.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary AdvisorIngredients
free-range eggs
Quantity
4 large
good mayonnaise
Quantity
3 tablespoons
homemade if you have it
English mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lemon juice
Quantity
a squeeze
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
garden cress
Quantity
1 punnet
good bread
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| free-range eggs | 4 large |
| good mayonnaisehomemade if you have it | 3 tablespoons |
| English mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| lemon juice | a squeeze |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| garden cress | 1 punnet |
| good bread | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium saucepan
- •Fork
- •Kitchen scissors for the cress
Instructions
- 1
Boil the eggs
Lower the eggs gently into a pan of boiling water. Not simmering. Boiling. Set a timer for nine minutes if you want the yolk just set with a faintly golden centre, ten if you want it fully cooked through. I like nine. The yolk stays a shade softer, a little more generous when it meets the mayonnaise. When the time is up, drain the eggs and run them under cold water until you can hold them comfortably. Peel while still warm. They're kinder that way.
Eggs straight from the fridge crack in boiling water. Let them sit on the counter for twenty minutes first, or lower them in with a spoon if you forgot. - 2
Mash the eggs roughly
Put the peeled eggs in a bowl and break them up with a fork. Not too fine. You want some texture here, pieces of white you can see and bite through, the yolk crumbled but not paste. Egg mayonnaise that has been blitzed smooth has lost its character. Keep it rough. Keep it honest.
- 3
Dress with mayonnaise
Add the mayonnaise and the mustard. Fold it through gently. The mustard should be English, the hot kind, and a teaspoon is enough to put a quiet warmth behind the richness without announcing itself. A squeeze of lemon juice lifts the whole thing. Season with salt and pepper. Taste it. If it needs more of anything, add more of it. Your kitchen, your rules.
If your mayonnaise is homemade, you'll need less of it. It carries more flavour and more body than shop-bought. Start with two tablespoons and see where you are. - 4
Finish with cress
Spoon the egg mayonnaise onto good bread, or pile it into a bowl, or spread it between two slices of soft white and call it a sandwich. Cut the cress from the punnet with scissors and scatter it generously over the top. The peppery bite of the cress against the cool, rich egg is the whole point. Don't be shy with it. Eat immediately, standing at the counter or sitting at the table. Both are equally valid.
Chef Tips
- •The eggs make the dish, so buy the best you can. A good free-range egg has a yolk the colour of a late afternoon in September, deep gold and full-flavoured. Pale, watery yolks from battery hens will give you a pale, watery result. You get what you pay for.
- •English mustard, not Dijon, not wholegrain. English mustard has a clean, sharp heat that belongs here. It doesn't compete with the egg, it wakes it up. A teaspoon is plenty. You should feel it at the back of your throat, not on your tongue.
- •If you have the time and the inclination, make your own mayonnaise. An egg yolk, a slow stream of oil, a squeeze of lemon, and five minutes of patient whisking. It's a different thing entirely from what comes in a jar. But a good jar is no disgrace. We're only making lunch.
- •Eat this on the day you make it. Egg mayonnaise that has sat overnight in the fridge loses its brightness. The cress wilts. The edges of the egg go rubbery. It wants to be made and eaten in the same hour.
Advance Preparation
- •The eggs can be boiled and peeled up to a day ahead and kept refrigerated, but the mayonnaise should be mixed and the cress added just before eating.
- •This is not a make-ahead dish. Its charm is in the freshness of the cress and the just-dressed quality of the egg. Assemble it when you are ready to sit down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
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