Mayonnaise Kitchen

[KNorthrup]

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Can anyone clarify what she's describing here? It seems so improbable. Since it's from last Dec I tried a search but nothing popped up.

I have been finally catching up on whatever the folks at Newsweek do with their lives, and how many of us truly reckoned with the story they ran last December on Japan's new "Mayonnaise Kitchen" restaurants? Where one can order a "mayo fondue," and wash it down with, ahem, a "mayogarita"? The recipe wasn't given, but it apparently involves a blender, tequila, and guess who. It is reportedly the darling of mayo-maniacs throughout Japan, who are cutely known as "mayoraas"--people who adore mayonnaise.

[NeroW]

A woman I used to work with would become literally sick at the sight or smell of mayonnaise.

I love mayonnaise, myself, but even this is a little . . . off.

[torakris]

When I started reading this thread, I thought no way, how disgusting,

but sure enough a quick search has led me to their homepage.

The have two restaurants in the Kanto area, here is their menu:

http://www.mayokichi.com/menu001.html

it is all in Japanese but they have some nice pictures, according the site the #1 dish is the ishiyaki buta-kimu-mayo-don, translates as a donburi of pork, kimchi, and mayo served in a Korean dolsot (stone bowl)

[Jason Perlow]

Why are the Japanese so enamored with mayo? I see it in sushi rolls and various kinds of japanese snacks all over. What's most disturbing about it, they combine mayo with other westernized foodstuffs (with stuff like, well, pizza?) in combinations that just seem WRONG.

[torakris]

the Japanese mix mayo with anything, the often use it at a meal the way Americans would use ketchup, it is on the table to be squirted on everything. It is a common way to serve certain vegetables, especially cucumbers and broccoli, just sqirt some mayo on them.

Just last night I followed the advice of a Japanese friend and served cucumber sticks with a dipping "sauce" of miso and mayo mixed together. My family loved it, I have a hard time eating mayo outside of a tuna sandwich and didn't really care for it.

I can't eat okonmiyaki with out it though!

[margaret]

I feel like I've professed mayo hate elsewhere on this board, but I can't say it enough - sometimes the Japanese uses for mayo make me seriously queasy.

I don't like it to begin with, but can handle it on things like, as Kris said, on okonomiyaki and mixed into sauces.

Squeezing it straight out of the bottle, cold, onto cold pasta. Dipping temaki-zushi into a big blob. One friend of mine just squeezes it onto plain hot Japanese rice.

The very idea of a mayogarita does horrible things to me. Ugh.

[torakris]

Okay Margaret now I will really gross you out,

my husband sometimes mixes his rice with a raw egg, a blob of butter, mayo and some soy sauce,

I can't even be in the same room when he eats it!

[torakris]

The mayo kitchen restaurant lists 3 desserts:

mayo cake

mayo gelato

mayo-banana gratin

all eewws in my book!

[IrishCream]

Aye aye aye! It's on the table to be squirted? And I thought it was odd that in Belgium they dip French Fries in it. Why do you think with all the wonderful and some quite simple ways of saucing in Japan, mayo would be on the table? Convenience? Fascination with wierd Western foods? Neither of those make sense, do they?

[margaret]

Okay Margaret now I will really gross you out,

my husband sometimes mixes his rice with a raw egg, a blob of butter, mayo and some soy sauce,

I can't even be in the same room when he eats it!

Help.

[margaret]

Here's an article about Mayonnaise Kitchen and the Japanese mayo obsession: Enjoy

[Lyle]

"One of the problems with using mayonnaise in frozen entrees used to be that the taste would be ruined when the food was heated in a microwave oven due to the separation of oil. Since 1998 Asahi Denka Co. has been marketing a mayonnaise-like dressing for business use that does not separate when heated thanks to a proprietary solid fat. The product had the shortcoming of being more sour than the average mayonnaise, but in April 2002 the company came out with an improved product that is 20% less sour."

Oh, my.

I wonder if it is common practice to sell a variety of flavors of mayo. The pork sauteed in heavily mustard-ed mayo sounds interesting.

[Rachel Perlow]

I was about to quote that same paragraph. Scary food science at work. Ugh.

[margaret]

The Kewpie website has a recipe page - it's all in Japanese, but the pictures are nice.

Some recipes include mayonnaise fried rice, mayonnaise donburi, and "country cake" with fruits, nuts, and mayo.

There's actually a whole section on their webpage called Mayonnaise World, with history, the roots of the product, descriptions of various mayonnaise products (cheese mayo, anyone?), Q&A, etc. Interesting stuff.

[Lyle]

With that kind of consumption, is it more common in Japan to run across home-made mayo than it is stateside or is it viewed more as a convienence ingredient?

[fresco]

Sounds like the Mayo clinic might do well in Japan.

[margaret]

With that kind of consumption, is it more common in Japan to run across home-made mayo than it is stateside or is it viewed more as a convienence ingredient?

Bottled Kewpie mayonnaise (in the squeeze bottle with the red cap) is ubiquitous in Japan. I don't think making mayo at home is a very widespread practice.

Plus, the flavor of Japanese mayonnaise is different from other mayonnaises - I have never even seen a recipe for Japanese-style mayonnaise.

[Lyle]

I guess that renders my previous question about the availability of flavored mayo moot. They must add something else to the mix for even the most generic mayos. What differs? Does it taste more acidic?

[torakris]

Like Margaret said, I don't think anyone in this country makes mayo, I have never run across a recipe for it.

As to the taste, I would describe it as mild but with good acidity. Sort of like Miracle Whip, but better and with more acidity. It is nothing like Hellman's or homemade.

[torakris]

The "new" mayo on the market now is the same old stiuff but sold in a special kind of tube with a very narrow tip and used for decorating, sort of like what a restaurant would use.

[torakris]

I just ran across an interesting recipe for matcha mayo

add 1gram of powdered matcha to 100grams of mayo

enjoy!

[smallworld]

Mayonnaise Kitchen sounds horrible! But I think it's a great idea- maybe it will keep the 'mayora' out of the regular restaurants so the cooks won't surprise us normal people by slopping mayonnaise all over everything.

I'll never forget a couple of years ago, when we ordered a whole grilled squid at an izakaya. It was a chain place with the standard picture menu, and neither the picture or the name of the dish gave any indication of what was to come- a beautifully grilled squid covered with mayonnaise! And not just a little dollop on the side, but that horrible criss-cross pattern, rendering it all inedible.

[torakris]

oohh this just reminded me of a mayo dish that I love, this little izakaya by our house serves this kind of chicken kara-age drenched in ponzu sauce and then covered with a type of mayo sauce (similar to a tartar sauce).

I ashamed to admit it, but it is really good!

[torakris]

just ran across a new potato chip flavor yesterday:

spicy mayo

this of course was on the shelf next to the beef mayo flavor!

[torakris]

I made a curry last night and my husband covered it with mayo..................