For the 19th-century Occitan newspaper, see L’Aiòli. The names mean “garlic and oil” grand aioli Catalan and Provençal.
Some versions of the sauce are closer to a garlic mayonnaise, incorporating egg yolks and lemon juice, whereas other versions are without egg yolk and have more garlic. This gives the sauce a pastier texture, while making it more laborious to make as the emulsion is harder to stabilize. Like mayonnaise, aioli is an emulsion or suspension of small globules of oil and oil-soluble compounds in water and water-soluble compounds. In Spain, purists believe aioli should not include egg, but in France and elsewhere, egg or egg yolk is the usual emulsifier. Since about 1990, it has become common in the United States to call all flavored mayonnaises aioli. The word is a transparent compound of the words meaning “garlic” and “oil”.
The English spelling comes from the French aïoli, which itself comes from Occitan. The spelling in Occitan may be alhòli, following the classical norm, or aiòli, following the Mistralian norm. The most common term in Spanish is alioli, an adaptation from Catalan, although it is also called ajoaceite, ajiaceite, ajolio or ajaceite. It is also spelt alioli in Galician. Garlic is crushed in a mortar and pestle and emulsified with salt and olive oil. Today, aioli is often made in a food processor or blender, but some traditionalists object that this does not give the same result.