And exactly how did moms make the potato salad in your house ? You can blame us for a lot of shit, but the enthusiasm for too much mayonnaise has long been officially "black."This is, of course, false as commenter Ulysses notes:
...in our community, the condiment ingredient of potato salad is actually Miracle Whip instead of Mayo. This is nearly universal to the degree that there are entire generations who are unaware that "mayonnaise" and Miracle Whip are in fact different. Many of us, never having tasted actual mayonnaise until adulthood, find its taste off-putting but still use the terms interchangeably.Now, a quick aside. I'm always wary of essentialism, and in fact, a large point of this blog is to make fun of the whole concept of what's black and what's white. The idea of "white music" is laughable, just as "only white people eat mayo" is laughable, just as white people fucked up the world for everyone else" is...oh, wait...
And I'll never eat Miracle Whip. Hellman's is what my mom used.
ButI can take you to the hoop I believe...
have a good weekend. Let's get back to the War on Monday.
]]>Of course, I serve my potato salad warm.
]]>http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1456049
]]>And my mother, grandmother, aunts, uncles, etc. always use mustard for potato salad and cole slaw. It wasn't until I grew up that I found the joins of mayo-based side offerings. Although I've a question for the caucasian members of the audience: What's up with putting nuts and bits of fruit in your chicken salad and the like?
Here's a somewhat related tangent: I've younger siblings that currently attend Howard, and we were talking just the other day about the differences between cooking styles depending on location. One thing they've agreed upon, and I've heard before, is that something is up with folks from the east coast and making spaghetti. Say its either too bland or too sweet. Thoughts on this?
]]>I don't know much about the benefits of Miracle Whip v. Mayonaise, but I do have a friend whose mom almost disowned him for not liking frybread. Does that count?
I think on the list of things that us white people have to forgive the world for Mayonaise ranks pretty low. On the other hand Lutefisk ranks right up there with the smallpox in the blankets.
]]>Also didn't learn how to make Kool-Aid until the 10th grade, and I still suck at it (I've been told I don't use enough sugar.)
Yeah, I probably shoulda turned in my Black card along time ago, but I can actually do The Whop. So I think I'll keep it.
]]>"Of course they don't eat Lutefisk anymore," I thought. "They got refrigeration."
]]>Cliff, I'm with you, the fruits and nuts just ruin the damn salads.
]]>I prefer Hellman's now tho.
]]>I haven't eaten Miracle Whip for years, but what the hell kinda Miracle Whip are they selling up by you? It sounds... violent!
]]>Seriously those of Scandinavian descent, but especially the Norwegians, owe the world an apology for Lutefisk. They should serve it at Gitmo.
]]>I have actually managed to avoid Lutefisk, despite growing up in rural Minnesota. (And thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that the Dutch cooking appears to have died with my grandmothers...some pretty nasty stuff.)
The other thing that one of the local VFWs did was a semi-monthly Rocky Mountain Oyster feed. I avoided those, too.
]]>I'd like to say your post clears things up, but it actually just seems to muddy the waters some more. Was Trick Daddy talking about Miracle Whip? Is this a regional thing (he's from the south, you and, I imagine, the film's writers, are not). Obviously, knowing who to blame for mayo is one of those questions for the ages.
]]>My parents were Miracle Whip all the way, wasn't til college that I even tasted Mayo.
Now I like Mayo on BLTs but still prefer Miracle Whip for Tuna sandwiches. Potato salad can go either way as long as it has mustard too, people who make it without mustard are beneath contempt:-)
]]>Second, Miracle Whip is an abomination. There are many theories as to the motivations behind Max Crosset, the Kraft company and Charles Chapman, none of them reflect well on this gang of three. It is certainly not a black thing, as this disgusting goop is lapped up like manna from heaven in trailer parks all over the midwest, particularly near Chicago.
Finally, potato salad should be made without mayo and with mustard and try mixing hot sauce into the mayo for tuna salad, egg salad and chicken salad.
]]>It's typically a holiday thing now for Scandinavians living in the US. I read somewhere that Americans eat more Lutefisk now per capita than Norwegians. In my family it's sort of a badge of honor to have eaten it, so most everyone has tried it at some point. There isn't a Norwegian spokesperson, so on behalf of my people I do apologize for it. Speaking of that, if we did have one, I vote for Sig Hansen from Deadliest Catch.
I'm convinced that all Norwegian food is best with lots of butter.
]]>We need a spokesperson though Ivar the Boneless isn't cutting it anymore....
]]>When I was traveling in Europe as a callow youth, I was more shocked that in the Netherlands folks dipped their fries in mayonnaise, even more shocked than that how good it tasted (I do believe I had till that time thought Miracle Whip was mayonnaise and had only had that in egg or tuna salad--the deli sandwiches I had were slathered in mustard). Of course, all my years in No. Cal, where foodieism is de rigeur, has lead me to home made mayonnaise aka aioli, which is wonderful, especially with a bit of tangerine juice along with the lemon, on warm asparagas. I do not, however, care much for arugula.
I still don't like bad mayonnaise, and buy the expensive kinds with low fat content for sandwiches that I bring to work. My sister won't eat it at all, and when she mentions it in speech, does so with an air of disgust under her breath.
And damn if I have ever had a cucumber sandwich, unless it's between two halves of a bagel with lox or better, smoked whitefish, red peppers, red onions, sliced tomatoes, and cream cheese for lubrication--also known as da schmire.
]]>
Depending on how poor you grew up, that's a valid question...
Ha. Thanks for the giggle in the last never-ending stages of a Friday afternoon.
Re: Hellman's vs. Miracle Whip, weirdly this was always a parents vs. grandparents divide for me. My parents (health nuts) were all about the whole wheat bread, Hellman's on sandwiches, and a freakin' apple for dessert if I was lucky. Grandma's house, on the other hand, meant Wonder Bread, Miracle Whip, and Jell-O. Yahoo!
Nowadays, I almost think of them as two separate foods with separate purposes in life, sorta like delivery pizza versus the thin crust, wood-fired variation, or table syrup and the real maple deal. That way, I get my guilty, greasy pleasures and my hoity-toity elitist pleasures, too.
]]>They do still make us sing Christmas carols in Norweigan. If you think white people have no musical talent you should hear 30 of them trying to sing Christmas carols in a language most of them can speak.
]]>As for Kool Aid, I never saw the point of drinking it. When I was in college, before an exam I would put several scoops of the just-add-water powder straight into my mouth. A true recipe for success.
]]>http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/German-Potato-Salad/Detail.aspx?prop31=5
No "mayo" - but the best damned potato salad in my little corner of the world.
I've done it, but hardly ever.
My family is white as a fish's belly, and all we ate was Miracle Whip growing up, but I've given up on it. I buy Cain's Mayo now. It's a local New England brand.
Both are obsessed with mayo in their cuisine!
Thats why when I go to visit my grandma in Spain I cant eat hardly half of what she wants to prepare--I cannot STAND mayo, or any eggs for that matter
]]>
I also do a strange potato salad with jalapeno peppers and sesame seeds. It's from Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. Page 50. The recipe looks a bit exotic, and people don't necessarily take it in the first wave at a cookout. But once someone digs in and the word spreads, the stuff disappears pretty fast.
(Please start a summer cooking thread. We all could use one about now.)
It has nothing to do with being kosher, in case you're wondering. Give me a shrimp platter wrapped in bacon, but hold the mayo/Whip.
]]>This has to be a north / south thing.
I'm from Chicago and we always used Miracle Whip. When I moved to Atlanta, I managed a department. Two of the women on my staff became engaged within a month of one another, and I threw them a bridal shower at work and invited all the employees. It was salads (cheap) - tuna, chicken, potato, mixed green, etc.
Everyone was raving about how good they were, and asked for my recipes. When I told them they were all made with Miracle Whip, they were amazed. None of them had ever used anything but mayo.
Your food just won't sang, if it ain't got that tang. (doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah)
The real condiment in our household, however, was butter. Our family of five kept a pound of it in the cupboard and it never went bad. If I made a PB&J sandwich, I'd butter both sides of the bread before adding the PB or J. The best was a pat of butter so thick on crescent rolls that when you bit into it, you could see the teeth marks.
And no, none of us is 400 pounds.
]]>Just keep the drop (salted, hard liquorice) away from me. That is the single nastiest foodstuff I have ever had the displeasure of eating.
]]>I'm always too paranoid to make real mayo unless I know the eggs very well. So to speak.
]]>I was in high school before I ever tasted mayo.
LOL
I got used it, and I like making tuna, chicken, turkey salad with it...cuts down on the sweetness of these salads if done with Miracle Whip.
I hate Kool Aid though...are you gonna take away my "Black Card"?
LOL
]]>Boil and peel 3lbs of Red Potatoes
Fry 6 Slices of bacon. Remove the bacon from the pan.
Add 1/4 C of flour to the bacon grease and cook to a nice roux.
Add 4/3 C water + 1/3 C white vinegar + 2/3 C Sugar to the pan. Cook for a bit.
Assemble the sauce, bacon bits, potatoes, and add some chopped up raw onion. Sooooo good warm or cold!
And yes Miracle Whip is totally disgusting. I don't like Hellman's much either. I had homemade mayonnaise once and it was actually quite good. I think Julia Child is very proud of her mayonnaise recipe FWIW.
Definitely not lace curtain, tho'.
Hey, that reminds me: I used to butter the bread before I spread the tuna-and-miracle whip salad on it. Then I became, you know, sophisticated, and would just lay down some Miracle Whip before spreading on the tuna salad.
]]>And for the record Kool-Aid grosses me out. And I can't dance. Does this mean my black card's been revoked?
]]>I and my mom are both New Orleans born and bred and local Blue Plate mayo is in everything. My great-grandmother used to put a little of the stuff in her pound cake. My mom and dad use it to make potato salad and mom likes mayo with her popeyes. My grandmother makes apple and raisin salad with Blue Plate.
I've never developed a taste for mayo, but I know plenty of black folks that like a little Blue Plate (no other brands though) with all manner of food.
]]>Unless you ditch the white goo altogether and just eat a ham and hummus sandwich. Two great tastes that taste great together, but most of the ham eating populace doesn't overlap much with the hummus eating populace so it's rare for me to find that combo in a sandwich shop as well. The H/H combo should be everywhere, along with Miracle Whip (but not on the same sandwich). These things might actually entice me to eat a sandwich I don't make at home, or give up my chinese stir fry or pad thai lunches. (For the record, I'm white. With freckles.)
]]>@Rillion - I was once the only dark headed kid in a Norwegian Santa Lucia performance due to my best friend's dad being the pastor. I just attempted to spell the line of the carol I know for your amusement, but it would be more painful than hearing it.
]]>Also, popcorn may be sprinkled with sugar instead of salt. If you're lucky, they'll ask which you prefer, and it actually turns out to be a pretty tasty alternative (think Cracker Jack without the caramel). But if you have popcorn with sugar for the first time without knowing what's coming, your taste buds will revolt in shock. Kinda of like digging in to an innocuous looking bowl of Cap'n Crunch and finding out it tastes like pretzels.
And, again, mayo on fries . . . nuh-uh.
Dupe
]]>Old Irish-Catholic ladies who learned to cook a long time ago, anyways. The way mom has it, when she was growing up as one of nine kids, Irish-Americans didn't have "pasta." They had spaghetti or macaroni.
There was only one type, Prince's (with the famous TV commericial where the Italian mama is yellin: Anthoneeeeee! Time-a for the spaghetti!).
If the macaroni was cold, you put mayo on it with celery and it was called a salad. If it was hot you put cheese and butter on it. If you was making "spaghettiandmeatballs," you took out a jar with "spaghetti sauce" and threw some sugar in there, because you couldn't put either mayo or butter on it and you couldn't just eat that stuff straight with out something to give you the diabeetus. If you wanted any Italian cooking fancier then spaghettiandmeatballs or macaroni and cheese, you went to the North End, where the wall murals showed how in Italy everyone drives a gondola. Which doesn't explain Mario Andretti.
I didn't realize until I was grown up that *tomato* sauce was a thing you made at home, and how it was supposed to taste, and that "spaghetti sauce" is not an actual food.
So on behalf of my people, sorry for messing with your spaghetti. We knew no better.
]]>Mayo vs MH? Potato and other salads get mayo, MH for sandwiches. Except fresh tomatoes from the garden get mayo.
]]>I otherwise can't even be in the same room with tuna salad. I got into pitched battles with my grandmother over it as a child (she had memories of the Depression, and assumed that all kids like tuna salad. I hated it, but she couldn't bear letting it go to waste.)
As for the fruits and nuts in chicken salad: it's a California thing, and has to do with the fact that the produce is actually fresh here (in DC 20 years ago, if you didn't eat the produce you bought at Safeway within a day, you might as well toss it). It works when done well and when it hasn't been sitting around for more than a few hours, but when imitated with poor ingredients or held too long, it's just gross.
]]>So, well, probably not salt water, salmon do come home to fresh water. But not unconnected to the sea . . . .
]]>This rises to the level of sacrilege in somebody's book, somewhere. 'sgotta.
]]>Now I'm in far west Texas near Big Bend National Park and the Mexican border and it's Kraft mayo with lime. Great with fish and chicken salads. Not so great on a sandwich - or as they say on the border - sangwich.
]]>Not that my ancestors give me any room to talk about bad food ... The Scots gave the world Haggis, after all. Which kind of explains why you find so many people of Scottish ancestry here in America. When your world consists of haggis and sheep, going across the ocean to fight in someone else's war actually begins to look like a pretty good idea.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811833372
It's sort of the "Battle Cry of Freedom" of Potato Salad books...
I'm no fan of Waldorf Salad, or fruit in salad generally, but the chicken salad w/ (specifically) raisins or currants and nuts in it starts making sense if you use curry as the main flavoring ...
]]>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6684730.ece
]]>My lady's family is also from the South, but they used mayo and Miracle Whip interchangeably and attached no race to either.
So there you go.
]]>Other points:
1) The Mayo sandwich is also called the Wish sandwich, per the Blues Brother's song "Rubber Biscuit".
2) Being of Jewish descent, my enjoyment of mustard is a guilty pleasure. I try to atone by using mustard on one side of the sandwich.
3) My Nisei mother (2nd generation Japanese-American) made a dish that used mayo. Combine a can of Cream of Mushroom soup with a cup of mayo and soy sauce to taste (I think maybe a tbspoon), then use it to cover chicken and broccoli in a pan or caserole dish. Bake. Towards the end of the baking, cover with a layer of grated cheddar cheese. Serve with steamed rice. Comfort food at its finest.
4) Mother also got us to eat broccoli and asparagus by making a dip out of mayo and soy sauce.
]]>But then I'm Swedish, so I stick with lefse and lingonberry jam anyway. :)
]]>Creole food is best defined by the George Carlin adage that the way to end racism is to f*ck 'til we're all the same color.
Bon Appetit!
Y'all trippin'!! (:
By the way, Hellmans changed their recipe a few years back, which ruined my mother's potato salad in the most subversive way - since then I have found that Kraft Real Mayo is now the most authentically mayonnaisey of the available offerings. I learned this from a friend who's from the south tho, because we never touched anything Kraft except Mac & Cheese where I'm from.
I find it deeply ironic that Kraft created the the worst thing to ever happen to mayonnaise, and now they have also saved my mother's potato salad forever...
]]>Mayonnaise has not passed my lips in 10+ years. Only time I ever got food poisoning was because of the stuff and I'm never going there again: fever, chills, aches, puking to beat the band. Lost nine pounds in three days. Never liked mayonnaise that much to begin with, anyway. I put oil and vinegar on stuff now.
I can't dance a step, though, so I guess that means i get to keep my White Membership Card.
]]>I grew up thinking Miracle Whip was just a brand of mayo. I never had the real stuff until I was an adult. Now I totally understand when TNC says Miracle Whip has an unpleasant "twang". It does.
Also, as a Minnesotan I must chime in on the lutefisk posters. I've tried it. I've even met people who claim to like it. But I don't believe them.
]]>However, I had a friend from school days (same ethnicity, same socio-economic background) who was raised in a Miracle Whip clan and specificially touted the "twang."
It's a mad mad world.
]]>Mmmm-mmm good.
]]>I'll probably be struck by lightening for revealing this, but please quit the sugar. Use carrots instead. they add sweetness but give you some body to the sauce as well. Also, you ever find your tomatoes are bitter or give you heartburn? Add milk to the sauce(just a little) will take the edge off and no one will be the wiser.
]]>Growing up, def no fruit in your salads. Celery was as far as we went. Helmans was all we had. Miracle Whip was an extra special treat(ie once in like 5 years).
]]>Nonetheless, there are Jews that eat the stuff. But I'm a mustard guy all the way. And I'll put olive oil on anything. Of course, I am from California.
]]>Light Bread and Milk ("light" as opposed to corn bread) = tearing up white bread into a bowl of milk for breakfast, sprikled with lots of sugar, or
Rice and Milk is also a breakfast = White rice, Milk and 2-3 tablespoons of Sugar
This is what country folk eat at least
Miracle Whip is disgusting though
No one need turn in their respective membership cards for any taste preference accident of birth or for even having embraced the dark side willingly. The exception being lutefisk which is in fact a gift from Satan.
And by the way, EVERYONE can dance, cause "with the rhythm it takes to dance to, what we have to LIVE thru, You can dance UNDERWATER and not get WET..."
That's it! It think the old folks were trying to make it taste like canned spaghetti-o's.
Sticking to seafood on the Cape is STILL a good idea.
Milk? In the spaghetti sauce? Oh man, that just doesn't seem right!
]]>Apparently, he can't handle Miracle Whip because he thinks we cause too much mayo-ham. So which side are you on, mayo or Miracle Whip?
]]>