Bitten Word readers cooked every recipe in the September 2013 Bon Appétit magazine. Here's their take on Ham O' Day with Rye Aioli.
Suzzanne: Thanks for the fun challenge. I live in Iowa, which is known for its pork, so I decided to feature La Quercia prosciutto. I served this for supper, assuming (correctly) that our just-in-from-the-garden potatoes would be delicious dipped into the aioli. I invited my husband to join me outdoors to eat, taking advantage of the light for photos. We ended up having a lovely light late summer picnic. I enjoyed the flavor of the aioli, but it broke. I questioned the technique, but since have found recipes using bread and/or hard cooked egg yolks to help emulsify the sauce. The online recipe calls for 1 cup mustard while the printed recipe says 1/4 cup mustard (which is plenty). I was wondering if there was a mistake in the directions, thinking it might have worked better to run the flavored oil through the sieve, not the finished sauce. If you are having friends in for drinks, this would be a great last minute appetizer using good quality cold cuts on bed of flavored mayo ( I would skip the homemade aioli) - just don't forget the mustard dust to impress!
Pam Burke: There was a lot of kitchen/time involved in making the aioli...to much time for a fairly ordinary appetizer. If I were to make it again I'd use stone ground mustard, it would make a better "flake" than the whole grain variety. A fun exercise tho.
Pam: I used a pre-prepared aioli and jumped in at the step of browning the rye pieces and caraway seeds, with less oil than called for. Added lemon juice and salt in the food processor. Loved the mustard powder, and used a good prosciutto. Overall, a great brunch dish with hard cider to accompany.
Hans and Becky: We had a hard time with this recipe. We couldn't get all the oil into the aioli and yet it still separated after we put it through a sieve. As written, it was awkward to eat since the recipe called for long strips of prosciutto placed over the aioli. It was difficult to break it up easily into bite sized pieces. We've never made aioli before and that might have hurt us here. We'll try again with more aioli practice and some smaller pieces of prosciutto.
Aaron: I do enjoy a ham sandwich with mustard on rye, and as promised, this deconstructed, reimagined version brings all of those flavors. It was my first time making an aioli, and while it did taste like rye bread, it turned out a bit too oily and not smooth enough for my liking. I'd just prefer actual bread texture-wise. As for the crumbled mustard, it took a couple tries to make without burning, but it was a neat trick to incorporate that flavor. All and all, it was an interesting dish, but I think I'll stick to the original.
Erin: For close to a year I've been subscribing to Bon Appetit magazine. I really enjoy the layout, design, photography and content of this publication but have rarely actually cooked from it (a start contrast to the usefulness of my Everyday Food subscription R.I.P.). Much of what is published is interesting and inspiring, but I do struggle to apply it to my daily life as a busy working family who doesn't entertain nearly as much as we wish we did. However, I found the perfect excuse to try something new from the latest September 2013 issue. The Bitten Word blog asked for submissions to publish the entire issue of recipe trials. I jumped at the opportunity and was assigned an appetizer, Ham O' Day with Rye Aioli. I was immediately thrilled being assigned this dish because, being pregnant, my desire to eat sandwiches is constant & overwhelming. This recipe is a play on the idea of a ham and dijon sandwich on rye. However, it took me a while to wrap my head around the concept of this dish. Only after it was complete I realized it's not really comparable to anything, it's just delicious.
Many everyday ingredients go into this dish so it was easy to shop for. When it came time to make it, that was a little bit of effort and gave my blender quite the workout. I think what was (and still is) the most challenging and confusing part of this dinner is the 'aioli'. It begins by toasting caraway seeds then warming oil and tossing in rye bread. I ended up with some very nice and toasty pieces of bread, which is what you'd expect to happen. From there you blend the toast in your blender until smooth. Mine resulted in a crumbly powder. From there the recipe continues to refer to this this mixture 'rye oil' where mine looked like 'bread powder'. I read and re-read the recipe confirming I did everything according to instruction so I'm not sure what gives. I did continue along with the recipe according to plan and as I worked to make the aioli it eventually formed into a bread paste. I use a Cuisinart blender, so I'm left to wonder if a culinary grade blender might just produce a smoother mixture. The finished plate wasn't exactly what I had envisioned but the flavour was delicious. We didn't have any trouble enjoying it despite the fact I'd characterize this recipe a fail (for me) and won't be making it again any time soon.
Get the Ham O' Day with Rye Aioli recipe at Bon Appétit