[Sca-cooks] mayo questions

Tue Jun 13 15:38:08 PDT 2006

According to the Penguin Companion to Food:

Mayonnaise: a famous sauce which is, essentially, an emulsion of olive oil and
vinegar (or lemon juice) stabilized with egg yolk and seasoned to taste (usually
with salt, pepper, mustard_.  There are many theories about the origin of its name.
For example, Stobart [Tom Stobart, "The Cook's Encyclopedia"] listed four principla
theories.  However, as Ayto [John Ayto, "The Diner's Dictionary"] puts it:

'the explanation now generally accepted, based on the early spelling "mahonnaise",
is that it originally meant literally "of Mahon", and that the sauce was so named
to commemorate the taking of Port Mahon, capitol of the island of Minorca, by the
Duc de Richelieu in 1756 (presumably Richelieu's chef, or perhaps even the Duke
himself, created the sauce).  English borrowed the word from French in the 1840s
(its first recorded user was that enthusiastic gastronome, William Makepeace Thackeray).'

As a French word 'mayonnaise' meaning the sauce, first appeared in print in 1806.
However, an interesting curiousity is its appearance in the phrase 'mayonnaise de
poulet' in a German book in 1804 - see Höfler [Manfred Höfler, "Dictionnaire de l'art
culinaire français"]. Certainly the word appeared as both an adjective and a noun 
since the early 19th century, and still does.  As an English noun, it has been 
prominent in the phrase 'Egg mayonnaise', a dish populare in Britain in the decades
after the Second World War.

And this is from the OED:

[< French mayonnaise /majnz/ (1804 in mayonnaise de poulet in German context in 
A. von Kotzebue Erinnerungen aus Paris I. 227; 1806 in saumon à la mayonnaise; 
also mahonnaise (1808), and magnonaise in the 19th cent.), of uncertain origin.
  Several etymologies have been suggested. Like numerous dictionaries, N.E.D. 
(1906) describes it as ‘prob. feminine of mahonnais of Port Mahon, capital of 
Minorca, taken by the duc de Richelieu in 1756’, but the lateness of the word 
in French would argue against this, as would perh. also the spelling mayonnaise 
rather than mahonnaise already in the earliest attestation.
  Bayonnaise (feminine of bayonnais < the name of the French town of Bayonne + -ais -ESE) 
is attested in the same meaning only two years later, and mayonnaise is freq. 
explained as a corruption of this word, as in the following early discussion 
(giving the earliest examples of the form mahonnaise and of bayonnaise in this 
sense):
  1808 G. DE LA REYNIÈRE Man. des amphitryons II. vi. 211 Les puristes, en cuisine, 
ne sont pas d'accord sur la dénomination de ces sortes de ragoûts; les uns disent 
mayonnaise, d'autres mahonnaise, et d'autres bayonnaise. Le premier de ces mots 
n'est pas français; et le second indique une ville où rien n'est renommé pour 
la bonne chère; c'est ce qui fait que nous nous sommes décidés pour bayonnaise, 
dont l'étymologie est dans le nom d'une ville qui renferme beaucoup de Gourmands 
inventeurs, et qui, de plus, donne naissance chaque année aux meilleurs jambons 
de l'Europe.
  However, the French chef M. A. Carême (1784-1833) preferred the spelling magnonnaise 
and an etymology from French manier to handle (see MANNER n.), explained as referring 
to the method of preparation of the sauce.] 

    1. a. A dish of fish, meat, etc., having mayonnaise (sense 1b) as a dressing.
  In the names of such dishes freq. as a postmodifier of the principal component, 
as egg, lobster, salmon mayonnaise, etc. 

1823 LADY BLESSINGTON Jrnl. 12 Aug. in E. Clay Lady Blessington at Naples (1979) 
65 From the simple cold roasted meats and poultry, to the delicate aspics, mayonnaises, 
Galantine de volaille [etc.]. 1830 LADY MORGAN France 1829-30 II. 416 The mayonese 
was fried in ice..like Ninon's description of Sevigné's heart. 1841 THACKERAY Mem. 
Gormandising in Misc. Ess. (1885) 396 A mayonnaise of crayfish. 1861 I. M. BEETON Bk. 
Househ. Managem. x. 225 For a fish Mayonnaise, this sauce may be coloured with 
lobster-spawn, pounded. 1904 H. JAMES Golden Bowl II. V. xxxix. 310 The hand employed 
at Fawns for mayonnaise of salmon. 1975 D. BLOODWORTH Clients of Omega xvi. 153 The 
partners..began to eat salmon mayonnaise off the altar.
    b. A thick, creamy sauce consisting of egg yolks emulsified with oil and seasoned 
with salt, pepper, vinegar, and (usually) mustard, used as a cold dressing or accompaniment 
for salad, eggs, fish, etc., or as the base for other sauces.
  Also with distinguishing word, as garlic, herb, mustard mayonnaise, etc. 

1845 E. ACTON Mod. Cookery iv. 135 The unboiled eggs..enter into the composition of 
the Mayonnaise. 1879 M. JEWRY Warne's Model Cookery (new ed.) 456/2 Cut the vegetables 
into pieces all of one size, add the salmon..mix with Mayonnaise sauce. 1910 Encycl. 
Brit. VII. 74/2 The mayonnaise (originally mahonnaise) is ascribed to the duc de 
Richelieu. 1923 W. J. LOCKE Moordius & Co. vi. 75 Aioli. It's the national sauce of
Provencemayonnaise made with pounded garlic. 1979 Gourmet Sept. 14/1 An attractive 
array of crisp raw vegetables served with a saffron-tinctured garlic mayonnaise. 
1987 Sunday Express Mag. 2 Aug. 39/1 If you have three different vinegars..and three 
different oils..then you've got the basis for a wide range of vinaigrettes, mayonnaises, 
and tasty flavourings. 1995 R. STEIN Taste of Sea 44 Tartare Sauce. 1 quantity Mustard
Mayonnaise... 1 teaspoon green olives, finely chopped [etc.].
    2. Contract Bridge. = GOULASH n. 2. 

1926 Work-Whitehead Auction Bridge Bull. Jan. 101/2 Mayonnaise adds this feature to 
the game: When the four players pass and the deal is, therefore, not played, the hands 
of the four players, sorted but unshuffled, are placed on top of each other, and are 
then dealt unshuffled in two batches of five and one of three to each player. 1927 M. C. 
WORK Contract Bridge 138 Mayonnaise, old name of Goulash.
    mayonnaised a., dressed or covered with mayonnaise.

1968 C. DRUMMOND Death & Leaping Ladies i. 7 A hearty trencherman himself, a victor over 
many a *mayonnaised lobster. 1986 E. M. MICKLER White Trash Cooking iii. 68 Then add your 
gelatin. Then add all the other ingredients. Then pour the mixture into a mayonnaised mold.

Huette

--- Melissa Carter <homefrogs at houston.rr.com> wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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