Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, Salad Dressing, and Aioli, What's The Difference?

 There seems to be a bit of confusion when dealing with mayonnaise and other such sauces.  I know that growing up, there was never any mayo in the house.  My mother might write mayo on the shopping list but everyone in the house knew she meant Miracle Whip.  It wasn't until I was in my late teens, I learned that there was a difference between Mayonnaise and Miracle Whip.

I also thought salad dressing was just Miracle Whip with relish added to it and no one in my house had ever heard of Aoli.  When I finally heard of it, I just thought it was mayo with garlic but that is not quite right.

As you know from Monday's column, mayonnaise is really just eggs and oil mixed together and flavored with lemon juice or vinegar.  The eggs help emulsify the whole mixture including the vinegar or lemon juice.  If it didn't have eggs in it, the oil and lemon juice would separate and you just have an oil and vinegar type dressing.

Miracle whip has undergone an interesting history. Apparently, in 1926 Kraft wanted to begin selling mayonnaise so rather than starting from scratch purchased four regional mayonnaise companies and marketed those under it's own name. They did well until the depression hit when people began making their own mayo rather than buying the commercial variety.  So rather than selling the product at a cheaper price, they created their own recipe so that it was better than regular mayo and could be sold at a lower price.  They figured they could go back to selling mayo once the depression ended.  It became quite popular.

Miracle whip is not a mayonnaise even according the federal government.  In order to be classified as mayonnaise, the mix must have at least 65 percent vegetable oil by weight but Miracle whip has less than that amount in the mixture.  In fact, Miracle Whip is made out of eggs, vinegar, oil, and water but the exact amount of oil is a secret.

One other difference between mayonnaise and miracle whip is that the first is uncooked and the second is cooked with water being it's primary ingredient.  Miracle whip is classified as a salad dressing.  In addition, we often refer to certain things like Thousand Island dressing as a salad dressing because it has a base of mayonnaise with additives to be used on salads.

Finally there is Aioli which is a mayonnaise type condiment that isn't really a mayonnaise.  To begin with, Aioli is from the Provence region of France.  It begins with pulverizing several cloves of garlic in a mortar and pestle.  The garlic paste is then blended in with egg yolks, olive oil, lemon juice, and mustard.  Although you can pretty much use any oil with mayonnaise, many recipes call for Canola while Aioli recipes use olive oil for it's fruity flavor.

Traditionally, Aioli is a sauce made of an emulsion of garlic and oil with a bit of salt. Because the garlic and oil do not have natural emulsion properties, it takes a bit of elbow grease to create the mixture. This is used in quite often in cuisine of both Provence, France and Catalonia, Spain.

So know you know more about the differences among, Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, Salad Dressing and Aioli.  let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.