Why Is Mayonnaise Loved and Hated So Deeply? | Hacker News Reader

Why Is Mayonnaise Loved and Hated So Deeply?

nautil.us

34 pointsdnetesn39 comments

I still remember when I was a kid how everyone was teaching me how complicated making mayonnaise is. Years later, I was taught how to prepare it in minutes by dropping all the ingredients in a jar and using a mixer. Nobody could tell the difference.

(and yes, sign me under those that love mayo... actually I'm in the group of "can I have some extra mayo")

I can still remember the half-disgusted and half-suprised faces of my fellow students when I was eating fries with mayonaise while studying abroad in the US. As a Dutch guy, I grew up with "frietje-met" (fries with mayonaise). In turn, I was surprised most Americans eat fries with ketchup.

I grew up in Utah, where "fry sauce" is the norm: ketchup mixed with mayonnaise. Fortunately I never really liked it (I prefer my fries unsauced, except as part of poutine or doused in malt vinegar for fish&chips), but it's always amusing to hear friends and family complain about the lack of it when they visit other states.

I grew up in New Mexico, moved to Utah in high school, and have a Dutch grandfather. Fry sauce exists outside of Utah, but mostly in places with either high Dutch populations (western Michigan) or high Mormon populations. I encountered it first when I was in elementary school.

The abundance of it in commercial establishments, however, is a definitely a Utah thing. Unfortunately, the Utah product is rarely homemade and usually a mix of Best Foods and a Heinz product, and isn't anything nearly as creamy as you'd get in the Netherlands. That said, nothing beats Heinz Ketchup. If more places in Utah took just a bit more pride in the fry sauce it could be a much better product on its own.

So gross. I love mayo (extra please), travel the world and eat pretty much everything, but cannot simply understand mayo and fries. I don't understand dipping oily fried food in thick oily sauce.

I think tomato sauce (ketchup) provides a much better contrast. The acidity counteracts the oiliness and the sugar in the tomatoes and salt on the fries rounds out the flavor profile. You get nearly all the flavours in one meal. Even better with curry ketchup. Mayo, OTOH, doesn't provide a strong enough contrast. It's sweet and tangy, but still predominantly tastes like fat to me.

But enough people like it, so there has to be something to it…

some points:

* lots of people eat fries with 'fry sauce' which is mayo and ketchup mixed 1:1. i'm a fan of this. why choose?! this is popular in many western us states and i'm pretty s

* mass-produced mayo is not nearly as good as fresh mayo

* sometimes people really mean aioli when they say mayo, and oftentimes aioli has that citrusy tang that counterbalances the fried fat

* sometimes i dip my fries in mustard, which also has the tang

* same with vinegar (usually with fish & chips)

The best mayonnaise (Belgian) is slightly acidic, usually from lemon juice. Though admittedly Dutch mayonnaise does not have that and is sweeter.

Aioli is different. It is also an emulsion, like mayonnaise, but it's mostly about the garlic, and in some cases doesn't even contain egg yolk (but it usually does).

Interesting. I have a penchant for dipping my fries into mayo, too. I'm from South Africa. Perhaps my Dutch genes contributed to that...

The inevitable mixture of monkey-gland sauce with mayo when eating steak, is well, nothing short of glorious.

monkey-gland sauce?

It doesn't include monkey parts, I promise!

It's just a name for a mixture of a whole bunch of ingredients, notably onions and chutney.

Here's a recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/monkey-gland-sauce-266015

I love fries with mayonnaise !

Google Chrome Version 42.0.2311.135. When I middle click to open this link in a new tab, or use "open in new tab" or "open in new window", no tab or window seems to open.

If I press the middle mouse on the link rapidly the tabs to the left jump as though a new tab is being created and then immediately closed. The link works if I left-click it. Is anyone else experiencing this? This seems to be the only link doing this.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

Oh, looks like the popup blocker is blocking it?

Same exact issue here, first time i've encountered this with Chrome.

The article specifically talks about white mayonnaise.

I have noticed that myself, why is mayonnaise white in the US? As far as I can tell, both home-made and store-bought mayonnaise is yellow in France.

Maybe it's using only the egg white and not the yolk?

The yolk (and its lecithin) is supposed to be a key component though. And I don't think the white has any.

isnt the yolk the emulsifier?

Egg yolk is only yellow when whole. Whipped yolk is whitish.

Have you seen the ingredients list? Hellman's doesn't resemble the real stuff (they even have the gall to call it 'REAL'):

"Soybean oil, water, whole eggs and egg yolks, vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice, natural flavors"

Compare to a recipe (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jul...)

  2 egg yolks
  Generous pinch of salt
  250ml groundnut or sunflower oil
  25ml extra virgin olive, walnut or rapeseed oil
  1 tbsp mustard of your choice (or 1tsp mustard powder)
  1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)
  1 tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

The mustard, olive oil, presumably more egg yolk and mustard must contribute to the colour.

According to wikipedia, adding mustard is a French culture thing, and not in the original. I'd say the Hellman's recipe isn't that horrible, compared to standard simple recipes.

Really mayonnaise is just a stable emulsification of oil and egg. That's all that makes it mayo.

To provide another data point, I don't use mustard in my homemade mayonnaise — just oil, egg yolk, salt, garlic, and lemon juice — and when I use olive oil, the mayonnaise comes out slightly green.

"Hellman's doesn't resemble the real stuff"

That's a little exaggerated, don't you think? I'm no mayonnaise expert, but those lists of ingredients look pretty similar to me.

Let's compare the ingredients:

Guardian Recipe vs Hellman's

  2 egg yolks vs Whole eggs and egg yolks

  pinch of salt vs salt
 
  olive/walnut/rapeseed oil vs soybean oil
 
  white wine vinegar or lemon juice vs vinegar & lemon juice

  garlic vs natural flavors

  mustard vs sugar

So really not that different. Hellman's adds sugar instead of mustard and uses soybean oil vs the other three options. This isn't to promote Hellman's, but your argument that it doesn't resemble the real stuff doesn't make sense when the ingredient list is about 90% the same.

You're quibbling over details.

* They're using a different type of oil, no big deal.

* They list water, well, how strong is the vinegar? They could likely take the "water" off the list by simply using a weaker vinegar, but they probably add it at a different stage of processing to simplify flow, so, no big deal.

* I suspect there are a lot of people who feel that if they want mustard they will by god add their own mustard, keep it out of their mayo what are you some kind of food pervert?

* Garlic? Why are you adulterating my emulsion with your bits of smelly crushed plant material? Feh, I say, Feh!

* And finally, I challenge you to put egg yolks in your mayonnaise without getting any egg white / albumen in there. I suspect you're going to have to extract it with a syringe, because no egg separator is going to get rid of all of it.

You can safely ignore any recipes that suggest the use of Olive Oil. The taste overpowers everything else.

One theory is that the US is big on white, mild tasting food because people had to purchase a lot of food from strangers. There were frequently no deep family roots in most cities.

White mild foods (mayo, white bread) can't hide spoiling or contamination as well, so they were safer to buy.

Another theory (at least on this side of the pond) goes something along the lines of: After people got access to refrigerators and freezers and such it was no longer necessary to hide the taste of spoilt foodstuffs, and thus it became high fashion to make your food as mild as possible to show off your fancy new fridge.

This is probably a fine place to mention that the best mayonnaise you can get in Britain is Sainbury's own French Mayonnaise. Incredible.

(~ A mayonnaise aficionado)

Heh.. "French style", "Produced in Belgium". I'll give it a go though. Thanks!

I care not for provenance!

Likely one area that leads many to underestimate their caloric intake. It is present on a great many sandwiches served by fast and sit down restaurants. I always remember the day one of our supposedly healthy eaters declared he had purchased a market fresh club sandwich and he had them make it healthy by not putting the bacon on it. A little trip to the company's own website showed that the mayonnaise contribute more than half again the calories of the bacon.

The article did highlight just how wide spread its usage is, I am amazed of what people use it for. Pizza?

I will stick with the derivative I grew up on, Miracle Whip. For some reason straight mayo doesn't work for me.

For me, it's completely a psychological thought that makes me think it's disgusting, combined with many restaurants or sub places tending to just way to much on. I hated it as a child, then as a young adult I came to be okay with it and like it. But something along the way seriously turned me off and it really really grosses me out now. I know it doesn't taste bad but it just gets me deep down to where I've even given away or passed on food when I was hungry

I like mayo in very small doses. You can smear a very thin layer on something you will roast or toast and you will end up with a fantastic crust. Try it on the exterior of a panini.

You know the dutchies love mayonnaise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_WomCkKsLs

Guilty as charged. And I really shouldn't be using any...

Note that the "mayonaise" mentioned in the video is not actual mayonaise, but frietsaus. Frietsaus is 20% or 10% oil, water, and some binding agent. The taste is very similar to mayonaise though (I personally find mayonaise having a much fuller taste). Nowadays, only more expensive restaurants serve mayonaise.

FWIW, I've noticed mayonnaise, even the industrial one, is drastically different between countries (i.e. strong lemon aroma, different consistency etc).

Its not in the UK, its very average. We have Marmite to fill that role, which I am sure it does a thousand times better.

Ketchup better catch up!

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