Why is my roasted shallot vinaigrette grainy

New to the forum, with many other questions on the way, but this has gotten me several times...

 

I have made roasted shallot vinaigrette both at home with a standard blender and a work with a vitamix (vitaprep?) and for some reason within the first hour the oil separates and the shallots are not fully blending into the mixture, instead becoming very grainy and having a nasty look to them.

 

I typically use about 10 peeled and broken up shallots tossed in a small amount of olive oil with salt and either black or white pepper.  After the roasting I add about 1/4 cup vinegar (have tried several) with just enough oil to lighten the color of the mixture and actually thin it out, since the shallot and vinegar combo is quite thick on it's own.

 

Several recipes call for much fewer shallots and the addition of other ingredients (garlic, herbs, etc)  but I like the subtlety of the shallot on it's own, and so have tried to substitute these ingredients with additional shallots.

 

What is causing the graininess and separation?  Do I need a sharper blade, a faster motor, less shallot overall, less/more acid, less/more oil (usually the color lightens after 5:2 oil to shallot blend) or do I need to add a stablilizer to the mixture such as egg yolk or lecithin?

 

I have the same trouble with using a blend of highly acidic juices such as lemon or lime as the primary acid in the vinaigrette, although these tend to hold for a couple days rather than a mere hour.  Any advice would greatly help.

 

Darren

I stream oil and I am pretty sure I don't need a stabilizer, what I am wondering is if the shallots are actually breaking down enough or not. For example, a vinaigrette I made at home as an experiment was a success by making an acid base by simmering the roasted shallot in the acid, reconstituting with water, and then emulsifying, not using the shallots themselves.  This lacks body (as well as flavor depth) and I lack the time needed to make this preparation currently at work, for various reasons.

 

The shallots themselves will not emulsify fully into the vinaigrette, and so I am pretty sure the problem lies in the amount of shallots themselves.  Less than this makes it a lot easier to lose the subtlety of the flavor however, and the salad it dresses is very simple, hence the desire for a boldly tasting vinaigrette to round it out.  Simmering them in oil similarly to what some restaurants do to make garlic oil might do the trick, but again I am left with unreasonable amounts of preparations to deal with and time is not on my side. (Shallots, vinegar/acid, and oil are all very much cooled when they hit the blender, and the blender has never heated any vinaigrette I have made in the past.  The vinaigrettes in question were not hot either coming out)

 

So basically I want several whole roasted shallots to be blended into the vinaigrette, but the shallots themselves don't fully break down and so leave a grainy texture and look to the vinaigrette in a short time.  The oil seepage was fixed with a small amount of pure lecithin at work and egg yolk at home, but the graininess (scumminess?) still remains.  Should I just find the time to make a large batch of shallot oil and omit the whole shallot, or is there something I can still do, since I really want the roasted flavor and not the "simmered in oil" flavor?

 

Darren

Remembered to post... I figured out the shallots are actually too raw because I wasn't covering the pan with foil (only a 500 degree convection oven available) The outside definately cooked but the inner layers were basically warmed through. After fully cooking the shallots in the oven and then a good deglazed in the pan they pureed wonderfully and incorporated into the vinaigrette properly. Instead of mustard I used a little honey which is apparently a stabilizer, and it didn't add any substantial extra flavor. If you want a recipe, here it is: 20 shallots, roasted completely through with dry heat drippings from pan after a thrice deglaze with sherry 1/2 cup juice of an orange TB honey S&P enough oil to reach desired consistency (about 2 1/2 cups, later press olive oil) -roast shallots in a large saute pan -remove from pan and place on high heat, deglazing three times with sherry or sweet white wine -puree deglaze liquid and shallots in a robo-coupe or preferably in a vita-prep -add orange juice and honey, let fully incorporate. Should look smooth. -Stream in oil slow as possible, a useful tool is a chinois lined with parchment paper and a hole stabbed at the bottom to only allow oil to stream from the very bottom hole, so you can do other things (time again is not on my side) -season with salt and pepper, and any other spice of your desire Darren

Its my recipe, most recipes I see ask for only a few shallots, usually "confited" as you indicated.  However, to my palate their is a huge difference between simmering them in oil, oil/butter, and a nearly dry roasting.  For this occasion (frisee and lardons with fried shallot rings and market fruits/berries) I wanted the dry roasted flavor to offset the fried shallot, sauteed lardons, and raw fruit/greens.  I believe I mentioned my problem was the time I was trying to get the shallots out of the oven, and I fixed it by covering the pan with cling wrap, then two layers of foil, at the bottom front of the oven for about 10 minutes, then uncovered for about two minutes in a 500 degree F convection oven. 

 

 

I only have one oven available at work since we mainly do pizzas and salads, and it cannot ever be lowered in temperature, so my original problem was to my knowledge the raw inner shallots and a lack of a stabilizer.  I have used mustard before, but the flavor can easily overpower the subtlety of the roasted shallot (either housemade or storebought dijon did this with a teaspoon) and the honey proved to be a flavor enhancer as well as an effective enough stabilizer for reasons I still need to research.  I suppose whole mustard seed might have done the trick as well.

 

The vinaigrette didn't hold a full week as Someday indicated mustard could achieve, but overall it was a success after the shallots were fully cooked, and the deglazed juices were pureed, cooled, and then emulsified.  Thanks all for suggestions, and the constant talk of "confited" shallots is going to end up a caramelized shallot jam for a pizza special tommorow night, being Friday and we just got some farmer's market shallots and garlic (not to mention Hungarian paprika I almost had to beg for).

 

 

Darren