[Sca-cooks] mayo questions

[Terry Decker]

The theory is based on the idea that Marie Antoine Careme would have known 
the origin of the name if mayonnaise had been created as late as 1756, ergo 
the name must be older than it appears.  Since the word first appears in 
English in (IIRC) Thackery's Memoirs of a Gormand (1841), I find the earlier 
dates a little questionable as to the origin of the name.  The most commonly 
accepted version of the naming relates to the sauce being prepared in 
celebration of the capture of Mahon on the island of Minorca.

The sauce is another matter.  A version of allioli, the Catlan garlic and 
oil sauce appears in Pliny.  The Provencal version, aioli, is made with eggs 
and is essentially a garlic mayonnaise.  If we accept the sauce served after 
the capture of Mahon in the Balaeric Islands was a local version of 
mayonnaise, then we have three points of geographic commonality that suggest 
mayonnaise is a regional sauce of Mediterranean France and Spain with a long 
history of developement that probably made it one of the first emulsified 
sauces.  !6th Century, maybe.  17th Century, almost certainly.

BTW, Mayenne was created as a department of France in 1790, replacing the 
old County of Maine, which left me puzzled as to why the Comte de Maine 
would be referred to as the Duc de Mayenne.  The title of Duc de Mayenne was 
created in 1573 for a cadet branch of the de Guise family headed by one 
Charles de Guise or Charles de Lorraine.

Bear


> So I was wondering about sauces in period and started surfing around 
> looking
> at information.  I've always assumed that mayo was/is a modern (for our
> purposes) invention and then I found this:
>
> "There is also the theory that the sauce was unnamed until after the 
> Battle
> of Arques in 1589. It was then christened “Mayennaise” in memory of 
> Charles
> de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne, because he took time to finish his meal of
> chicken with cold sauce before being defeated in battle by Henri IV."
>
> Granted it DOES say theory and I found it here:
> http://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/leftovers/mayo/info/
> So, I am wondering what everyone here has to say about mayonnaise.
>
> TA TA,
> Hedwig