Emulsifying, step by step
An emulsion suspends droplets of one liquid in another, held by an emulsifier.
- Start with the emulsifierEgg yolk, mustard, or the starch in pasta water.
- Add oil drop by dropThe first few are the whole battle. Rushing here breaks it.
- Whisk constantlyThe mechanical action creates the droplets.
- Speed up once thickenedThen a thin steady stream is fine.
- Loosen if too thickA little water or lemon juice.
To rescue a split one
- Fresh yolk in a clean bowl
- Whisk the broken mixture into it, very slowly
- It re-emulsifies
Everything at room temperature. Cold ingredients emulsify far less readily, and a fridge-cold yolk is the usual culprit.
Questions about the Emulsifying poster
- What’s on the Emulsifying poster?
- 5 numbered steps, with a full worked run-through. An emulsion suspends droplets of one liquid in another, held by an emulsifier. Start with the emulsifier — Egg yolk, mustard, or the starch in pasta water.; Add oil drop by drop — The first few are the whole battle. Rushing here breaks it.; Whisk constantly — The mechanical action creates the droplets.; Speed up once thickened — Then a thin steady stream is fine.; Loosen if too thick — A little water or lemon juice.. Everything at room temperature. Cold ingredients emulsify far less readily, and a fridge-cold yolk is the usual culprit.
- Who is the Emulsifying poster for?
- Emulsifying belongs to the Kitchen section rather than to a school year, because food is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning technique can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Emulsifying poster?
- Slowly at first. Once the emulsion has started, you can add much faster. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Emulsifying belongs on the wall where that food work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Emulsifying?
- Batch Cooking, Blanching and Braising sit alongside Emulsifying in the Kitchen section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Batch CookingBlanchingBraising
- Is the Emulsifying poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Emulsifying downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Kitchen section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Emulsifying poster print at?
- Emulsifying is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Emulsifying loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Emulsifying on the same wall.
Browse every Kitchen poster, or start from the full catalogue.