Miracle Whip: The Topic

[andiesenji]

Sorry, I know better, I just didn't take the time to edit it. One of my cousins, with whom I grew up, lives just over the state line in South Coffeyville, OK. I just sent him a birthday card and now I am wondering if I addressed it correctly !!! At least I know the zip code is correct.

[joiei]

Coffeyville is an interesting little town, I do love the fact that my Amazon orders get here next day a lot of times because of the big warehouse they have there on the road up to Chanute.

Where was Miracle Whip originally developed? Where was the company originally located?

[srhcb]

Where was Miracle Whip originally developed?  Where was the company originally located?

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Miracle Whip was introduced at the 1933 Worlds Fair.

[Kim Shook]

Ooh, cool!  I'm going to Belize at the end of the month, and will look for the Salad cream.

YMMV, but I find the flavor of Heinz Salad cream very, very similar to bottled Coleslaw dressing. It might be easier for you to find than salad cream. But if you are ever near a Kroger or a Fresh Market, I ususally find the Salad Cream there.

[joiei]

Where was Miracle Whip originally developed?  Where was the company originally located?

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Miracle Whip was introduced at the 1933 Worlds Fair.

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I learn something everyday.

[johnsmith45678]

I happened upon this recipe:

Miracle Whip

    4 egg yolks

    1 t. Salt

    2 t. Dry mustard

    6 T. Vinegar

    3 cups salad oil

    3 T. Flour or cornstarch

    1 cup boiling water

    2 T. Sugar

    1/4 cup vinegar

    1 T. Salt

    With mixer blend egg yolks, 1 t. Salt., 2 T. sugar, 

    and 2 T., vinegar. Very slowly add 1 cup oil, a few

    drops at a time, and mix thoroughly. Add remaining oil,

    a little faster but be careful to blend each addition

    before adding more oil. When all oil has been added, 

    add 4 T. Vinegar. Now put remaining ingredients

    in a saucepan and cook to a smooth paste. Add this

    hot mixture to the mayonnaise and blend well.

    Pour in a container & cool in the refrigerator. 

    Makes slightly more than 1 quart. 

Anybody up for trying it?

[Kerry Beal]

I happened upon this recipe:

Miracle Whip

     4 egg yolks

     1 t. Salt

     2 t. Dry mustard

     6 T. Vinegar

     3 cups salad oil

     3 T. Flour or cornstarch

     1 cup boiling water

     2 T. Sugar

     1/4 cup vinegar

     1 T. Salt

    With mixer blend egg yolks, 1 t. Salt., 2 T. sugar, 

    and 2 T., vinegar. Very slowly add 1 cup oil, a few

    drops at a time, and mix thoroughly. Add remaining oil,

    a little faster but be careful to blend each addition

    before adding more oil. When all oil has been added, 

    add 4 T. Vinegar. Now put remaining ingredients

    in a saucepan and cook to a smooth paste. Add this

    hot mixture to the mayonnaise and blend well.

    Pour in a container & cool in the refrigerator. 

    Makes slightly more than 1 quart. 

Anybody up for trying it?

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Here are the results of making a half batch of this recipe with the immersion blender. The glob on the left is commercial light version, ours on the right. Not quite sweet enough and the oil I used must be getting a little old, because I could taste it. So with an extra 2 tbsp or so of sugar for the whole recipe I think we might have a winner.

[johnsmith45678]

Awesomeness Kerry

[MarketStEl]

I tried Miracle Whip again last night. I experienced the tanginess. The sweet-icky* component outweighs it IMO and I still dont like MW. [...]

* I dont like sweet pickle relish either - same flavor.

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Hmmmmm.

So it's a flavor profile thing.

I never ever make potato salad without pickle relish.

I don't know too many black folks who make potato salad without it either.

Since I haven't been purchasing Miracle Whip lately (and haven't made an experimental batch either), maybe I need to make potato salad with both and see whether or not that's overkill.

[divalasvegas]

First of all johnsmith45678 I think I'm still too traumatized by my hideous homemade Miracle Whip failure of a few months ago to try again. But you have reminded me that I still haven't made the boiled dressing discussed upthread; I'll have to get on it. However I'm so glad that someone took up your challenge. Kerry your interpretation of the recipe looks great! I see that you used an immersion blender. Do you think that this resulted in a better end product than using a regular blender? Also, I agree about the sugar; when I saw the original recipe, the first thing I thought was 'that's not enough sugar.' And MarketStEl/Sandy I agree 100%, it's definitely a flavor profile thang. Sweet pickle relish has always been a must for Black folk when making "traditional" potato salad, although I know that there are probably hundreds of recipes for potato salad that don't use it.

[Kouign Aman]

I know three kinds of potato salad:

vinegary/bacony (aka German) - rare

the divine roast potato version from our food service - unique

the kind with pickle relish - by far the most common,regardless of race, religion or creed.

Despite my dislike of MW, the fridge has a large jar to indulge the Tenor, who's been known to use both mayo and MW on a BLT.

[Kerry Beal]

First of all johnsmith45678 I think I'm still too traumatized by my hideous homemade Miracle Whip failure of a few months ago to try again. But you have reminded me that I still haven't made the boiled dressing discussed upthread; I'll have to get on it.  However I'm so glad that someone took up your challenge.  Kerry your interpretation of the recipe looks great!  I see that you used an immersion blender.  Do you think that this resulted in a better end product than using a regular blender?  Also, I agree about the sugar; when I saw the original recipe, the first thing I thought was 'that's not enough sugar.'  And MarketStEl/Sandy I agree 100%, it's definitely a flavor profile thang.  Sweet pickle relish has always been a must for Black folk when making "traditional" potato salad, although I know that there are probably hundreds of recipes for potato salad that don't use it.

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I don't know that it makes any difference if you use an immersion blender or regular blender to make it, I just find it easy to make that way.

The texture of this recipe is right, I think there is still room for improvment in the flavour, perhaps some lemon juice, a bit of paprica, I bet pickle juice would be the charm.

[judiu]

I know three kinds of potato salad:

vinegary/bacony (aka German) - rare

the divine roast potato version from our food service - unique

the kind with pickle relish - by far the most common,regardless of race, religion or creed. 

Despite my dislike of MW, the fridge has a large jar to indulge the Tenor, who's been known to use both mayo and MW on a BLT.

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Try the kind with NO pickle at all, just potato, onion, celery, mayo (yes, dammit, Hellman's!) sour cream and a bit of Kosher salt. Mom's best!

[MarketStEl]

I know three kinds of potato salad:

vinegary/bacony (aka German) - rare

the divine roast potato version from our food service - unique

the kind with pickle relish - by far the most common,regardless of race, religion or creed. 

Despite my dislike of MW, the fridge has a large jar to indulge the Tenor, who's been known to use both mayo and MW on a BLT. [emphasis added]

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Has he sought treatment for his condition? Sounds like bipolar disorder to me.

Regarding potato salad: The funny thing is, it has been some time since I've eaten homemade potato salad that lacked pickle relish, but I have had it. And whenever I've either bought or eaten commercially made potato salad (including the kind served in diners and "family restaurants"), it's never had pickle relish as an ingredient.

It's also usually been bland, unless I was lucky enough to find a place which used a supplier that made its salad with vinegar, in which case it at least had a bit of a tang to it--one that was often counterbalanced by sugar, I suspect, for I never saw anything else in these salads that I would consider naturally sweet (okay, carrot slivers maybe, but they're not sweet enough raw to counterbalance the vinegary bite).

[divalasvegas]

I know three kinds of potato salad:

vinegary/bacony (aka German) - rare

the divine roast potato version from our food service - unique

the kind with pickle relish - by far the most common,regardless of race, religion or creed. 

Despite my dislike of MW, the fridge has a large jar to indulge the Tenor, who's been known to use both mayo and MW on a BLT.

←

Try the kind with NO pickle at all, just potato, onion, celery, mayo (yes, dammit, Hellman's!) sour cream and a bit of Kosher salt. Mom's best!

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That sounds like a great recipe judiu. And guess what?........... I have all of those ingredients on hand! Thanks. Yes, as I have said several times in this thread, I have both MW and Mayo (Hellmann's of course) in my refrigerator all times. One of the problems is that when the people you cook for (aka my family) are used to eating a dish a certain way that's often how you end up making it--OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! I mean it's been agony just to get them to eat steaks and burgers medium well instead of well done! (Personally I prefer my steaks medium rare and my burgers medium.)

Kouign I've always wanted to make German potato salad, so if you have a tried and true recipe, I'd appreciate it.

[andiesenji]

Here is another opinion and assertive notes regarding mayonnaise and Miracle Whip.

Some of the recipes on the MW website are pretty good.

Kraft MW

I believe some are from a recipe contest from a while back.

Article regarding MW recipe contest.

Edited August 17, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[divalasvegas]

Here is another opinion and assertive notes regarding mayonnaise and Miracle Whip.

Some of the recipes on the MW website are pretty good.

Kraft MW

I believe some are from a recipe contest from a while back.

Article regarding MW recipe contest.

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Thanks for the links andiesenji. Oh how that first link has my MW saturated blood boiling! (Where's that emoticon with steam coming out of its ears?) That has to be one of the most ridiculous, condescending, piece of subjective nonsense I've read in a long time. First on her list of dopey advice she informs everyone as to which commercially mayo is "the best." Again, this is something that is dictated by personal tastes. For mayo, I usually use Hellmann's but have also used Kraft's. I find Hellmann's more substantial, thicker, eggier; I find Kraft's smoother, a little lighter in texture, and bit more lemony/citrusy. Many on this thread don't like either and prefer Best Foods.

Then she goes on to inform us that it may be too much of a financial burden to have two big ol' jars of stuff (MW and mayo) in the fridge after which she tantalizes us with this promise/threat:

I have learned to make a lot of name-brand things at home for less money. Stay tuned!

And then provides us with her genious solution:

One thing you can do, if you happen to prefer Kraft mayonnaise over Hellman's, is to add half a cup of sugar to a cup of Kraft mayo, and let it sit on your counter long enough to come to room temperature. This is close to Miracle Whip, the closest you can get without buying the original.

WTF? Uh, no Trudy, I think I'll pass on that brilliant suggestion and try to fit that $3.00 plus change into my monthly food budget for the real thing. Sheesh.

She then finishes off with:

A friend of mine used to use equal parts of mayo and Miracle Whip in her potato salad and/or coleslaw, to "slow down" the vinegar. This is another thing that only works with Kraft products. Oddly enough, if you try this with Hellman's, the two dressings cancel each other out and you end up with a tasteless blob.

Again, WTF? I make potato salad using that combination often; it's damn good and I've never, ever heard of the phrase "slow down the vinegar" in my life. In this case, when it comes to friends, I guess birds of a feather really do flock together.

It's so ludicrous that in order to justify her tastes she needs to put down those of others, even instructing people that MW is only for "common" foods. As someone wisely said upthread, "it's just a condiment people." Oy.

andiesenji you sweet little devil you!

[MarketStEl]

For mayo, I usually use Hellmann's but have also used Kraft's.  I find Hellmann's more substantial, thicker, eggier; I find Kraft's smoother, a little lighter in texture, and bit more lemony/citrusy.  Many on this thread don't like either and prefer Best Foods.

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Oops!

The only difference between Hellmann's and Best Foods is geography.

Best Foods is what Hellmann's is called west of the Rockies.

Now Duke's, on the other hand, is different. Lots of folks in the Southeast will use nothing else.

[divalasvegas]

For mayo, I usually use Hellmann's but have also used Kraft's.  I find Hellmann's more substantial, thicker, eggier; I find Kraft's smoother, a little lighter in texture, and bit more lemony/citrusy.  Many on this thread don't like either and prefer Best Foods.

←

Oops!

The only difference between Hellmann's and Best Foods is geography.

Best Foods is what Hellmann's is called west of the Rockies.

Now Duke's, on the other hand, is different. Lots of folks in the Southeast will use nothing else.

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Thanks for the clarification Sandy. To be fair, she did write Best Foods/Hellmann's. But I still think that this woman is a total boob!

Edited August 18, 2006 by divalasvegas (log)

[joiei]

Lately, though, you may have noticed if you’re a Miracle Whip person, that your sandwiches don’t quite taste the same, and your coleslaw doesn’t hold up overnight.

That’s because the old standby you used and loved for decades is no longer the same product. They’ve changed the recipe! If you look on the label, you see the first ingredient is now water, not soybean oil as in the past. Since products (at least in the US) are labeled with ingredients in order of the amount, that means there is now more water than anything else.

from this link Elementary Chef

[srhcb]

The fat content of Miracle Whip has been lowered from 4 grams to 3.5 grams. It was replaced by water, making that the primary ingredient. (As recently as 1990 it had a whopping 7 grams of fat! )

If you want to register a complaint, contact Kraft (800-847-1997)

If enough people complain, this could be the new New Coke!

[Mottmott]

Funny how much heat this topic brings! I think nostalgia is the key to our choice here. If taste were the issue, we'd buy neither and make our own mayo, adding whatever hot sour sweet and salty is needed.

For me? MW. That's what I grew up with in Philadelphia. But its use is mainly confined to potato salad and sandwiches as I've given up deviled eggs.

Truth be told, I think there's more sugar in it now than when I was a kid and ate more of it.

[emilyr]

Just throwing in my 2 cents - I eat mayo (no specific brand name, usually whatever is on sale or the store generic brand) on sandwiches and MW in salads of all sorts (especially in "ham salad" that's really ground baloney, sweet pickle relish, and MW) - except in Lent, when I have MW on my fried egg sandwiches on friday. I don't know why, I guess I just like the sweet/vinegary with the richess of the fried egg. I generally don't like MW on sandwiches unless it's getting a lot of strong mustard.

Our family always has a jar of each, since my brothers and sister won't eat anything BUT Miracle Whip (and don't like any other brand of "salad dressing").

[suzilightning]

[i never ever make potato salad without pickle relish.

I don't know too many black folks who make potato salad without it either.

Since I haven't been purchasing Miracle Whip lately (and haven't made an experimental batch either), maybe I need to make potato salad with both and see whether or not that's overkill.

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nor is it something if you grew up on the east end of long island you didn't make your potato salad without, sandy. (thought the octaroon heritage comes from my dad's side i really didn't know).

viva la mw!! once the hawkgawk is over i want to try that recipe for miracle whip. ido a boiled dressing for my coleslaw....