Aioli

{{Short description|West Mediterranean sauce of garlic and oil}} {{For|the 19th-century Occitan newspaper|L'Aiòli{{!}}''L'Aiòli''}} {{Infobox food | name = Aioli | image = File:Aïoli maison.jpg | caption = | type = Sauce | served = | country = Catalonia/Occitan regions of France and Spain | region = | main_ingredient = Olive oil, garlic, sometimes eggs | variations = | calories = | other = }}

'''Aioli''', '''allioli''', or '''aïoli''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|oʊ|l|i|,_|eɪ|-}}<ref>{{Cite OED|term=aioli|id=2036785772|access-date=2026-05-26|access=free}}</ref>){{notetag|{{multiref |Provençal Occitan: {{lang|oc|alhòli}} {{IPA|oc|aˈʎɔli|}} or {{lang|oc|aiòli}} {{IPA|oc|aˈjɔli|}} |{{langx|ca|allioli}} {{IPA|ca|ˌaʎiˈɔli|}} |{{langx|es|alioli}} {{IPA|es|aˈljoli|}} | {{langx|fr|aïoli}} {{IPA|fr|ajɔli|}}}}}} 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.<ref name="Stevenson">{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Angus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anecAQAAQBAJ&dq=%22a%C3%AFoli%22+origin&pg=PA34 |title=Oxford Dictionary of English |date=2010-08-19 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-957112-3 |language=en}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Larousse |first=Librairie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvWMEAAAQBAJ |title=Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, Completely Revised and Updated |date=2009-10-13 |publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-0-307-46491-0 |language=en}}</ref>

Some versions of the sauce are closer to a garlic mayonnaise, incorporating egg yolks and lemon juice,<ref>see, e.g. {{harvnb|Reboul|1989}}: {{lang|fr|Ajoutez [...] un jaune d'œuf. [...] Ajoutez le jus d’un citron.}} {{gloss|Add an egg yolk. Add the juice of a lemon.}}</ref> 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.<ref name="reboul">{{cite book |first=J.-B. |last=Reboul |title=La Cuisinière Provençale |trans-title=The Provençal Cook |year=1989 |edition=25th |page=88 |language=fr}} See also [https://archive.org/details/CuisiniereProvencaleReboul1900/page/n33/mode/2up 1900 (3rd ed.), p. 31] at Archive.org.</ref><ref name="courtine">{{cite book |author-link=Robert Courtine |first=Robert |last=Courtine |title=The Hundred Glories of French Cooking |translator-first=Derek |translator-last=Coldman |year=1973 |page=140}}</ref><ref name="philippon">{{cite book |first=Henri |last=Philippon |title=Cuisine de Provence |trans-title=Provençal Cuisine |year=1977 |edition=2nd |page=20 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="johnston">{{cite book |first=Mireille |last=Johnston |title=The Cuisine of the Sun |year=1976 |pages=75, 229}} Johnston gives one recipe without extra flavorings (p. 75) and one with mustard (p. 229)</ref> There are many variations, such as adding lemon juice or other seasonings. In France, it may include mustard.<ref name="larousse">{{cite book |author-link=Prosper Montagné |first=Prosper |last=Montagné |title-link=Larousse Gastronomique |orig-year=1938 |year=1961 |title=Larousse Gastronomique: the encyclopedia of food, wine & cookery |section=Aioli |language=en |editor1-first=Charlotte |editor1-last=Turgeon |editor2-first=Nina |editor2-last=Froud |location=New York |publisher=Crown |isbn=0-517-50333-6 |oclc=413918}}</ref><ref name="johnston" />

In Malta, arjoli or ajjoli is quite different; it is made with galletti (a type of cracker), tomato, onion, garlic, and herbs.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Yesenia |date=2022-03-27 |title=Maltese Arjoli Dip |url=https://apronandwhisk.com/maltese-arjoli-dip/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Apron & Whisk |language=en-GB |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250418171238/https://apronandwhisk.com/maltese-arjoli-dip/ |archive-date=2025-04-18}}</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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).<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Tanis |title=A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes |isbn=978-1579653460 |year=2008 |page=102}}</ref>

==Etymology== In the form ''aioli'', the word is a compound of Provençal {{lang|oc|ai}} {{gloss|garlic}} and {{lang|oc|oli}} {{gloss|oil}}.<ref name="Stevenson"/>

The English spelling comes from the French {{lang|fr|aïoli}}, which is an adaptation of an Occitan term. The spelling in Occitan may be {{lang|oc|alhòli}}, following the classical norm, or {{lang|oc|aiòli}}, following the Mistralian norm.<ref>{{cf.}} Occitan writing systems</ref> In Catalan it is spelled {{lang|ca|allioli}} ({{IPA|ca|ˌaʎiˈɔli|pron}}). The most common term in Spanish is {{lang|es|alioli}}, an adaptation from Catalan, although there are alternative Spanish terms such as {{lang|es|ajoaceite}}, {{lang|es|ajiaceite}}, {{lang|es|ajolio}} or {{lang|es|ajaceite}}.<ref>Real Academia Española and Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2005). [http://lema.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?key=ajiaceite "ajiaceite"], ''Diccionario panhispánico de dudas''. Retrieved on 16 July 2019.</ref> It is also spelled {{lang|gl|alioli}} in Galician.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dicionario |url=https://academia.gal/dicionario/-/termo/busca/alioli |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=Real Academia Galega |language=gl-ES}}</ref>

==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.<ref name= "johnston"/>

== Serving == {{More citations needed section|date=August 2021}}

In Occitan cuisine, ''aioli'' is typically served with seafood, fish soup, and croutons. An example is a dish called ''merluça amb alhòli''. In the Occitan Alps it is served with potatoes<ref>{{cite web|title=La cucina occitana (area cuneese) |url=http://www.ecomusei.net/User/index.php?PAGE=Sito_it/ecomuseo_cucina&ecom_id=6 |language=it |access-date=2009-04-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723105032/http://www.ecomusei.net/User/index.php?PAGE=Sito_it%2Fecomuseo_cucina&ecom_id=6 |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="johnston"/> Aïoli is so strongly associated with Provence that when the poet Frédéric Mistral started a regionalist Provençal-language newspaper in 1891, he called it ''L'Aiòli''.<ref name="courtine"/><ref>Julian Wright, ''The Regionalist Movement in France 1890-1914: Jean Charles-Brun and French Political Thought'', {{ISBN|0199264880}}, p. 47-48 and ''passim''</ref>

The Provençal cuisine fish soup bourride is generally served with ''aioli''.<ref>Waverly Root, ''The Food of France'', 1958-1992, {{isbn|0679738975}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=F4k-DwAAQBAJ&dq=bourride&pg=PA360 p. 359]</ref>

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.<ref name="larousse"/> Other commonly used vegetables are beets, fennel, celery, zucchini, cauliflower, chickpeas, and raw tomatoes.<ref name="johnston"/><ref name="olney">{{cite book |last=Olney |first=Richard |date=1994 |title=Lulu's Provençal table: the exuberant food and wine from Domaine Tempier Vineyard |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lulusprovencalta00olne/page/124 124–5] |isbn=0-06-016922-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lulusprovencalta00olne/page/124 }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="170"> Image:Aioli mit Oliven.jpg|Aioli served with olives File:Allioli de supermercat.jpg|Allioli from a Spanish supermarket </gallery>

==See also== {{Portal|Food}} * {{Annotated link|Dipping sauce}} * {{Annotated link|Garlic sauce}} ** {{Annotated link|Agliata|''Agliata''}} ** {{Annotated link|Mujdei|''Mujdei''}} ** {{Annotated link|Skordalia|''Skordalia''}} ** {{Annotated link|Toum|''Toum''}} * {{Annotated link|List of garlic dishes}} * {{Annotated link|Makalo|''Makalo''}}

==Notes== {{notefoot}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Catalan cuisine Category:Creamy sauces Category:Cuisine of Provence Category:French cuisine Category:Garlic sauces Category:Italian cuisine Category:Macedonian cuisine Category:Maltese cuisine Category:Spanish cuisine Category:Tapas