5 Brilliant Ways To Use Mayonnaise
Adina Steiman, photo by Penden + Munk
We tend to think of mayonnaise as an all-American condiment—the kind of thing we spread on national favorites like turkey sandwiches and BLT’s and stir into artichoke dip and potato salad. But though the stuff in your fridge might harbor familiar brand names like Hellmann’s and Best Foods, mayonnaise isn’t American at all.
Like hollandaise and béarnaise, mayonnaise is a French sauce. And though it crossed the pond to the U.S., it’s also traveled to plenty of other destinations around the globe, where local cultures adapted the creamy condiment for their own (incredibly delicious) uses. Take a cue from them and deploy your mayo in a whole new way.
Turn it into a garlicky sauce. The Spaniards bumped up the garlic quotient in mayonnaise and turned it into aioli, the perfect garnish for mild, rich tapas like the frittata-like Tortilla Española and Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes).
Combine it with raw seafood. You probably already know that the Japanese are fans of mixing finely chopped sushi-grade tuna with spicy, sriracha-spiked mayonnaise to make the addictive mixture they stuff into spicy tuna rolls. But they actually use eggy sweetness of mayonnaise as a foil for a range of seafood, from raw scallops and salmon to tangy salmon roe and spicy cod roe (aka mentaiko).
Serve the creamy seafood mixture over warm sushi rice, and top with equally Japanese seasonings like toasted seaweed, roasted sesame seeds, thinly sliced scallions, and/or julienned shiso leaves. Bonus points if you’ve sourced Japanese kewpie mayo, which comes in a squeezable baby-emblazoned bottle.
Go double-decker on the mayo. Russians love their potato salad—and their mayonnaise, and it shows in their take on potato salad, called Salad Olivier for unfathomable reasons. It’s basically a classic potato salad, spiked with diced ham, cubed cooked beets, and canned peas (yes, they must be canned).
And in the final stroke of perverse genius, they serve it coated with an additional layer of pure mayonnaise, creating a smooth, eggshell coating that they decorate with strips of red pepper, beet, and more. You’ll definitely need a shot of vodka alongside to cut through all that mayo.
Spread it on corn, of course. If you don’t already spread your corn on the cob with mayo and top it with grated cheese, cayenne, and lime like they do in Mexico, you should start right now. (Or at least when corn comes back into season.)
Make an over-the-top burger. Sure, you know that mixing mayo with ketchup and a little sweet pickle relish yields the ultimate burger condiment. But if you want to make burgers like they do in Venezuela, you don’t stop there. The rich pink sauce is the ideal anchor for bonus toppings like crushed potato chips, sliced ham, fried egg, avocado, and salsa verde.
And let’s not forget an all-American stroke of brilliance. At its most basic, mayonnaise is nothing more than eggs, oil, vinegar, salt, and maybe a bit of sugar. So leave it to old-fashioned American ingenuity to discover that it’s the perfect rich base for unforgettably moist chocolate cake.
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