Lulu is Lulu Peyraud of Domaine Tempier. Aioli is the garlicky mayonnaise of Provence. An aioli means aioli and the assorted goodies onto which you heap it: sweet potato, carrots, artichokes, hard-boiled egg, sea snails, salt cod, octopus stew, garden tomatoes, beets and so on. For grand occasions when guests are numerous (the end-of-harvest celebration, for example), Lulu always serves bouillabaisse or an aioli.
     For some reason bouillabaise and aioli have taken on some sort of spiritual significance to me. When I eat them, I satisfy more than one kind of hunger.
     Why then did the aioli gods turn on me? For years my aiolis fell apart. No matter how careful I was! Drop by excruciating drop I would add the olive oil, turning all the while until my arm wanted to fall off, fifteen, twenty minutes, and then in a matter of seconds my precious aioli would separate into an unappetizing glop of olive oil and raw egg. In frustration I finally tried to make it in a blender. Even that fell apart!
    Zoot.
    So I sat down with Lulu, mortar and pestle, garlic, egg yolk and olive oil, and asked her to show me.
     “You add a little salt first to help grind the garlic to a paste, then the egg yolk, then you stir in the olive oil. It’s easy.” she said.
    Folks, that is exactly how I always did it, so I insisted she demonstrate.
    Well, first, there was no drip-drip-drip. Lulu splashed in a healthy glug of oil and turned it with the pestle until it firmed up, then glug-glug, another pour. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Surely it was bound to unbind.
    But, to hurry along... Lulu did have a step she hadn’t mentioned. When her aioli began to thicken too much, she added a spoonful of tepid water. Since learning the tepid water trick I haven’t lost a single aioli and my life is more meaningful. But why had no one ever explained that you don’t want your aioli to get too thick? I always thought that was the goal.
    Surprisingly, Lulu serves not rosé, but red wine with aioli. Soul food, soul wine. A young, new, cool red. The 1986 works.