How to Shortcut a Recipe

When I was first learning how to cook -- which is another way of saying "When I was first plowing my way through The Silver Palate Cookbook in 1994" -- I remember coming across a recipe for an Avocado Dip that called for a cup of homemade mayonnaise. Homemade mayonnaise? Did such a thing even exist? Apparently it did -- the ingredient list bumped me to…