What is your favorite mayonnaise?

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We've been a Hellman's family since I got married. Mom always had Miracle Whip in the fridge, rarely used mayo. Once I started running my own kitchen, it's rare to find Miracle Whip in the fridge.

About Duke's. I've brought a quart-ish jar home from Florida trips twice. Used it the same as I do Hellman's. Still preferred the Hellman's.

Now my disclaimer. I've admitted to being cheap frugal. If I can find a close substitute to one of our favorites at a significant cost, I buy and use it. I'm an Aldi shopper (she said proudly). I bought Burman's mayo at Aldi. I tested it by itself, on the tip of a spoon, with Hellman's. Himself tasted them one by one, but at the same time. Neither of us found a significant difference between them. When you figure most times mayo is used in a recipe calling for other ingredients, many of them seasonings, I go for the Burman's. I do still pick up Hellman's, though, when I can get a jar on sale for around the same price at Aldi's house brand. While the difference in price isn't as great as it used to be, Burman's is still cheaper than Hellman's by us right now.

As far as fries and mayo? I never knew that was a thing until we moved up here. Himself is a ketchup guy, I'm a malt vinegar girl. If you asked our daughter what she likes with her fries, she's pick Ranch dressing each and every time!
 
Interesting about Hellman's/Best Foods. It used to be Best Foods here on the west coast, but now, it's Hellman's.
Kewpie is very popular, but I find it too sweet. For me, mayo has to be Hellman's or homemade, with a generous spoon of dijon.
I grew up with Miracle Whip, did not like it at all.
 
Interesting about Hellman's/Best Foods. It used to be Best Foods here on the west coast, but now, it's Hellman's.
Kewpie is very popular, but I find it too sweet. For me, mayo has to be Hellman's or homemade, with a generous spoon of dijon.
I grew up with Miracle Whip, did not like it at all.

I was wondering if Best Foods on the West Coast was just a US thing. I had a feeling that we only have Hellmann's in Canada.
 
According to Alexa...

Hellmann's Mayonnaise is primarily made at the company's original factory in Ontario, with a secondary factory in Long Island City. The company that oversees Hellmann's, Unilever, also has a factory in San Francisco; the brand from that location is Best Foods, but the recipe is identical.
 
I have read and heard in videos that Kewpie mayo is sweeter than Hellmann's. I have no interest in sweeter mayo.
 
Here's a recipe for a Kewpie-style mayo from https://www.seriouseats.com/sauced-japanese-style-kewpie-mayonnaise-recipe
It's not exactly Kewpie, but it will give you an idea of how it differs from regular mayo.


• 2 tablespoons (30ml) rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20ml) malt vinegar
• 1 teaspoon (4g) Diamond Crystal Kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume or the same weight
• 1/2 teaspoon MSG powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Japanese mustard powder
• 1/8 teaspoon hon-dashi powder
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 large egg yolks (30g)
• 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil

In a small bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, malt vinegar, salt, MSG, mustard powder, hon-dashi powder, and garlic powder until hon-dashi is completely dissolved.

Place vinegar mixture in the work bowl of a food processor or in the bottom of a cup or jar that just fits the head of your immersion blender along with the egg yolks. Pulse to combine. The egg/vinegar mixture must reach the blades of the immersion blender for that method to work.If the mixture does not reach the blades, double the recipe before attempting.

If using a food processor, with the motor running, slowly drizzle in vegetable oil in a thin, steady stream until a thick emulsion forms. If using an immersion blender, pour all of the oil on top of the vinegar mixture and allow to settle for 15 seconds. Place head of immersion blender at bottom of cup and turn it on high speed, allowing it to run without pulsing or moving the blender head until a thick emulsion begins to form, about 15 seconds. As mayonnaise forms, slowly tilt and lift the head of the immersion blender until all oil is emulsified. Transfer mayonnaise to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
 
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I have never had a jar of mayonnaise in my kitchen...unless I made it myself. I read that recipe for Kewpie with interest, as some of the things in it - the rice vinegar and mustard powder - are things I put in mine, and tweaked from the very beginning, when I started making it, back in the 70s.

I have hated mayonnaise since I was 4 or 5 years old - Mom said one day, out of the blue, I just wouldn't eat it! She would separate things, like macaroni and potato salads, that always were based on mayo, and put Italian dressing on them for me, long before this was popular anywhere! I had almost a phobia about mayonnaise getting into food I was eating - there's probably a name for that somewhere! :LOL:

Later, when I went away to school, and was teaching myself to cook, I learned how to make mayonnaise! And a co-op I was in had rice vinegar, which I found out was a mild vinegar, that had a unique flavor, and was delicious in many things that stronger vinegar was not that good in. Another acid I use is lemon juice, which made this better with fish - the reason I started making mayonnaise in the first place! I was near the shore, with incredibly cheap and delicious fish, and I was looking for what was good with it.

Many recipes I found at the time would call for some dijon mustard, which I wasn't crazy about, but I had this cheap, Chinese mustard powder, from the co-op, and putting about a half tsp of that in it helped the emulsion, and gave just a slight mustard flavor. Wouldn't even have considered MSG back then - it was considered poison!

Here's the basic recipe I use:

2 egg yolks
1 tb rice vinegar
2 tb lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

In a bowl, with a whisk, or in a food processor, combine the first 5 ingredients, and mix well, and slowly add the oil, until it begins to emulsify, and it can be added a little faster, until all oil is added.

Much later, when trying to make mayonnaise with EVOO, I learned it was bitter, unless I used vegetable oil for the first half of the oil. I learned that the EVOO got bitter from oxidation from the whisking, and more so if done in a machine.
 
Summer, no sugar in that Kewpie mayo recipe?
Correct, no sugar listed in the recipe. Nor is sugar listed in the ingredients list on the package.
However, to my taste, it's sweet, though not sugary sweet. Maybe because the vinegar is milder, and has that malt flavour.


I can't say that I like mayo, and usually cut it with Greek yogurt in dressings etc.

for Japanese macaroni salad or rolls etc., I appreciate the milder flavour of Kewpie. Mayo wouldn't work as well.
 
Raised on Blue Plate....Switched to Hellman's (good stuff) Now it's Dukes for years. Tried Miracle Whip once Gave to an enemy! Kewpie is interesting but not one I would go out of the way for.
 
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