Miracle Whip: The Topic

[dinwiddie]

I guess it is what you grow up with. I love Miracle Whip because that is what I grew up with (remember Sandwich Spread?) but my wife refers to it as YUCK! since she grew up with Mayo. I don't mind mayonaise, but give me good ole Miracle Whip if I'm making a sandwich. Good thing is, she won't eat it so I have it all to myself.

[Jaymes]

divalasvegas, your strength and courage have inspired me. Come Christmastime, I'm gonna start a thread for people that like fruitcake.

[MarketStEl]

Y'know, that line gets a little fuzzy west of the Mississippi.  Nebraska wasn't even around when the Mason-Dixon line was.

Use Interstate 70 as a proxy. This gets tricky somewhere around Lawrence, Kan., but it works okay otherwise. (I guess once in Kansas, you should use Interstate 35 instead.)

But tomatoes with anything other than hamburgers or salt and pepper?  Blasphemy.

What about mixed lettuces and field greens with a Dijon vinaigrette?

(Now to debase myself further: I make a "Catalina"-type dressing using olive oil, rice vinegar and bottled chili sauce.)

MW on warm, tender roast beef is great, though.

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Hmmmm...I've always been partial to horseradish there.

[Kouign Aman]

Wow. I personally have hated MW everytime I have tasted it, because of the sweetness. But I seem to have missed the tanginess so many are loving. Since the Tenor loves MW in his tuna salad, we have a jar at home. I will re-taste. Perhaps I will be converted.

It seems to me that the sweetness might work well in a BLT as Marlene mentioned, with a fairly salty bacon.

Im there for velveeta (chili con "queso" aka "comfort food" to the Tenor) and fruitcake too. Gentlemen*, Start Your Threads!

*and ladies

[Toliver]

I grew up eating Mircale Whip in my food and enjoy it. My mom's tuna salad, potato salad and deviled eggs just don't taste very good unless she uses MW.

My brother, unfortunately, married into a mayo family. For awhile, my SIL refused to let MW into their house. She now allows a small jar of MW in the fridge to placate my brother.

[Jaymes]

My brother, unfortunately, married into a mayo family. For awhile, my SIL refused to let MW into their house. She now allows a small jar of MW in the fridge to placate my brother.

You know, that's the thing I don't get -- the condescension factor.

So some people like one thing, and others another. What is it about that that causes this haughty superiority among the 'mayo only' crowd. As I've said elsewhere, we always had both in the fridge, along with an array of homemade mayos, thinking that each had their place in a varied cuisine. When I married and left to set up my own kitchen, I took that philosophy with me.

I was quite stunned the first time I was treated rudely at a luncheon when everyone asked for my recipe for deviled/stuffed eggs and I repeated the recipe that had been passed down to me. It included -- gasp -- Miracle Whip.

The MW-haters spoke up quite quickly and loudly and unpleasantly.

For years from then on, when asked about the recipe, I always said "and mayo, and only Hellman's (or Best Foods, depending upon where we lived at the time) will do."

Then I got a little respect.

Except that the eggs didn't taste as good.

And I'd invariably get a phone call -- "I made the deviled eggs according to your recipe, but they don't taste quite like the ones at the party. Is there something you left out?"

I began to notice that while the mayo crowd didn't mind being rude and insulting, the MW folks just kept quiet. But then later, they'd come up to me and in conspiratorial tones, whisper their confession: "Didn't want to say anything, but I use Miracle Whip too."

Odd, really.

As though one's choice of condiments makes one a better person.

[jsolomon]

Condescension with mayo vs miracle whip is nothing like the condescension mrs. jsolomon gives with respect to Treet vs Spam. Now, that's a funny turn of events.

[K8memphis]

I love Miracle Whip. I love it on saltine crackers (?) This is one of the ultimates in comfort food for me.

I love it on fresh soft white bread with sliced tomatoes and swiss cheese and a little bit of salt--to die for good.

However, my days of delighting in Miracle Whip are few and far between. I've kept my 40 pounds off for over a year. Took off another ten pounds from that --that I currently need to take off again

Raspberry balsamic & oil is as risque as I can get these days

[BigboyDan]

You can also use Miracle Whip to grease the lugnuts on your 1975 Pinto, if and when it's not up on blocks in front of your double-wide; y'all take care, tornado season be-a-comin' - and do somethin' with those kid's teeth, will ya'? Good Lordie...

http://www.wackyuses.com/miracle.html

[MGLloyd]

Both my parents were born and raised in a college town in NE Arkansas and are MW devotees, but I was born and bred in the Seattle area. My wife was born and raised in Iowa, and she thinks MW is the Spread of the Devil.

Sign me up as well as being in the camp of fruitcake and Velveeta. You cannot make a good Southern pimento cheese spread without Velveeta and MW. And I have tried many a dry and hideous fruitcake that could have benefited from some MW in the batter, much like those recipes for chocolate cake that call for mayo.

Edited for Miracle Whipitude. And accuracy. Can't forget the accuracy.

Edited June 6, 2006 by MGLloyd (log)

[divalasvegas]

You can also use Miracle Whip to grease the lugnuts on your 1975 Pinto, if and when it's not up on blocks in front of your double-wide; y'all take care, tornado season be-a-comin' - and do somethin' with those kid's teeth, will ya'? Good Lordie...

http://www.wackyuses.com/miracle.html

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Why howdy thar BigboyDan. I jess wanna say that's vury nayborly of you to point out all of them thar fine uses for our beloved Miracle Whip. Being a Christian woman, I thought it only fair to return the favor. Behold:

The "I Can't Believe all the Crazy Shit they use Mayo for" Link

Y'all come back now, yah hear!!!

[Jaymes]

Condescension with mayo vs miracle whip is nothing like the condescension mrs. jsolomon gives with respect to Treet vs Spam.  Now, that's a funny turn of events.

Treet vs Spam? Okay, now that's hilarious. Which is supposed to be the "upscale one," and which the pate of the trailer parks?

[Jaymes]

You can also use Miracle Whip to grease the lugnuts on your 1975 Pinto, if and when it's not up on blocks in front of your double-wide; y'all take care, tornado season be-a-comin' - and do somethin' with those kid's teeth, will ya'? Good Lordie...

http://www.wackyuses.com/miracle.html

Hey, Boy, thanks for making my point. That was darn neighborly of ya.

[BigboyDan]

I'm even more specific about my choice in mayo: Hellman's.

Actually, my first job as an apprentice in a French kitchen (Pantry, I was 18) was to make the condiments from scratch - mayo, mustards, steak sauce, salad dressings.

[divalasvegas]

Which is better as an emergency personal lubricant: Mayo or Miracle Whip? Discuss.

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Well MGLloyd like I already done said I be a God-fearing, church going woman so I wouldn't even know about such thangs--Hell we ain't even allowed to even think about stuff like that, but I reckon that durn BigboyDan sho'nuff wuld. Afterall, the man's nickname is Bigboy ain't it?

Edited June 5, 2006 by divalasvegas (log)

[BigboyDan]

Bigboy is a nickname I got from my uncle because he said that my early teenage personality reminded him of the lead character, Big Boy Matson, in The Hi-Lo Country by Max Evans - no other reason for it.

[joiei]

I have to finally get in on this discussion. I grew up south of I-10 in the Florida panhandle (that does not leave a whole lot of space) and we were a mayo family. My aunt who lived down the road was the MW person. My personal preference is for the Hellmans

Mayonesa - with lime juice. Fifi is the one who turned me on to the Mayonesa.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Which is better as an emergency personal lubricant: Mayo or Miracle Whip? Discuss.

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Mayo. Don't ask me how I know.

The lugnuts on my '74 Vega were fake.

Only on eGullet can a Miracle Whip thread degenerate into discussions of Big Boy Dan's name and Mrs. jsolomon's fondness for Treet.

Jaymes: Ditto the egg-recipe seekers. They ask, you tell 'em, and they think you're trying to pull a fast one. (I always get a grin out of people who swear they can tell the difference between Duke's and Hellman's ... when the difference is between Hellman's and MW.)

[pamjsa]

The geographical component to this discussion has been really interesting. I always assumed mayo/Miracle Whip was more of an east/west divide, mostly because I grew up eating MW in the west (as did most of my friends) and didn't know anyone who used mayo as anything other than a recipe ingredient until I moved east for graduate school.

All my friends who grew up in New England are mayo people who eschew Miracle Whip with the fiery passion of a thousand Bigboys.

[Jaymes]

The geographical component to this discussion has been really interesting.  I always assumed mayo/Miracle Whip was more of an east/west divide, mostly because I grew up eating MW in the west (as did most of my friends) and didn't know anyone who used mayo as anything other than a recipe ingredient until I moved east for graduate school. 

All my friends who grew up in New England are mayo people who eschew Miracle Whip with the fiery passion of a thousand Bigboys.

Well, I guess it's good to get worked up about something, although one would think there are surely worthier causes.

As for the geographic thing, I'm no help there. I've lived 37 places -- Florida to California, Alaska to Panama, Hong Kong to Germany, and all points in between.

Can't even begin to say which one of them might be responsible for my open mind regarding all things condimental.

[MarketStEl]

Condescension with mayo vs miracle whip is nothing like the condescension mrs. jsolomon gives with respect to Treet vs Spam.  Now, that's a funny turn of events.

Treet vs Spam? Okay, now that's hilarious. Which is supposed to be the "upscale one," and which the pate of the trailer parks?

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In this part of the country, we don't even get the chance to engage in such fine class distinctions, as it's all but impossible to find Armour Treet in Philadelphia-area supermarkets.

But FTR, Treet is the impostor and Spam the genuine article.

I've already donned my flameproof suit for the inevitable ripostes.

[BigboyDan]

Mmmmmm, birch bear, soft pretzels, hoagies; friendly people. Oops went to far...

Edited June 5, 2006 by BigboyDan (log)

[MarketStEl]

I should note one more thing regarding divided loyalties: The split ran right through the middle of my family.

I grew up with Miracle Whip in the house. When Mom did the food shopping, that's what she bought. (She was born in Omaha and raised in northeast Kansas, in a small town called Horton, about 30 mi NW of Kansas City and 30 mi NE of Topeka.)

Whenever I had sandwiches Grandma (on Dad's side) prepared, they were slathered with Hellmann's mayonnaise. (My dad's family tree traces its male line back to before Missouri was a state, but Grandma was born in Lufkin, Texas, and headed north up the Kansas City Southern line.)

Have fun sorting this out, folks.

[MarketStEl]

Mmmmmm, birch bear, soft pretzels, hoagies; friendly people. Oops went to far...

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Not according to the editors of Condé Nast Traveler, you didn't.

(The travel mag ran a survey a few years back in which they had their staffers ask random strangers for directions, get recommendations for nightlife and attractions and leave wallets with ID and cash in a public place in six different cities. Philadelphia was pronounced the friendliest of the six in a cover story based on the survey. It probably helped that the locals apparently returned the wallets with the cash to the "victims.")

But yes, this friendliness comes with a healthy side of addytood.

[andiesenji]

One thing that has puzzled me, not just here on eG, but for many years, is that people who turn up their noses at MW wil eat hot dogs, frankfurters, wieners, or whatever you call them........

with the ubiquitous yellow mustard in the gallon pump jar, slather on chopped onions that comes in a 5 gallon bucked and the relish, ditto.

Incidentally, the French chef from whom I took my first "classic" cooking class, had worked at a restaurant in Memphis on his way west (after a stint in London and New York for the Hilton people) and developed a taste for a peanut butter sandwich spread with MW and topped with sliced bananas.

He said the first time he ate one it was on a dare and he thought "merde" -- then thought "not terrible" and then he began to think "this grows on one" .......

This had all started when the kitchen help were discussing the favorite foods of The King... (this was the mid-60s and Elvis was in Memphis for a benefit concert.

In our discussions about preparing mayonnaise and the various commercial varieties, he said that if one couldn't get good, fresh olive oil, one would do better to buy the stuff in the jar, assuming it was a premium brand, and he said Miracle Whip had its uses also, than set out a homemade mayo made with inferior oil. Hey, this was the early 70s, before the advent of the enormous variety of "gourmet" oils we have today.