Aioli

Documented in the Provençal kitchen from at least the Roman Pliny the Elder's allium oleum reference. Le Grand aïoli — a Friday Lenten dish of salt cod, vegetables, snails, and a mound of aioli — has been Marseille standard since the 19th century, celebrated by Frédéric Mistral, who recorded the word in his Trésor du Félibrige (1878–1886) and in 1891 founded the Provençal newspaper L'Aiòli named after it.

Mistral 1891: pure Provençal aioli is garlic, oil, salt — no egg. The egg version is now standard everywhere from Chez Fonfon (Marseille, since 1952) to Tian (Avignon). Use Provençal AOC olive oil — Tunisian or Spanish oils break the emulsion at room temperature.

Pale ivory to butter-yellow paste, thick enough to hold a spoon upright. Raw garlic punches first, then olive-oil weight coats the tongue; egg version is silkier and milder, pommade version sharper and more astringent. Eaten with boiled cod, snails, hard-boiled egg, raw vegetables.

Marble mortar, wood pestle. Pound peeled garlic with coarse salt into a smooth paste, then drizzle olive oil drop by drop while pestle rotates one direction only — the garlic juice is the natural emulsifier. Switching direction breaks it. Egg yolk (post-1850 Catalan-influenced version) gives more forgiveness.