Hellman's!

Too funny, Oakleyok! I think we must be twins separated at birth. I grew up with Miracle Whip and would never use mayo. I'd also use only sweet pickle relish and never, ever at a cheeseburger with ketchup on it . . . until I got pregnant with DD. Suddenly, my tastes changed and I started liking all sorts of new things. I guess you can "teach an old dog new tricks" . . . if she's just willing to try them once ;^D
Lynn

Hellmans...the only kind my family likes.

But Miracle Whip on a grilled Cheese sandwich? I've never known anyone to do that. We use butter (lots), bread and cheese.

Oakley, you goof! A mayo convert? Not YOU!!! LOL! MW on grilled cheese? Where do you put it? I like bacon and grilled onions on my cheese sandwich but I just butter the outside.

MW is very sweet but you Southern peops seem to like sweet stuff. Do you sweeten your ice tea? As a kid, I remember going to my relatives and they ALL sweetened their tea. In California, most teas are unsweetened, unless you buy the bottled/canned stuff. DH is totally hooked on Tejava. Waaay better than soda. No calories and no sugar. Just micro-brewed black tea.

In my DH's family, mayo is a nasty word. You should hear them talk about mayo... Like they wouldn't even like anyone who likes the stuff! They wouldn't consider MW either. I love sneaking Mayo into recipes, then listening to them praise the food - never telling them that the recipe contained the dreaded Mayo. They only use mustard on sandwiches. It must be an Italian thing. It cracks my DH and I up.

Mona, I've never heard of anything but butter on grilled cheese either.

Oakley, Blue Plate and Duke's are both good southern mayos. I like Hellman's too.

Oakley, LOL! What a riot :)

I truly believe my husband is personally responsible for keeping Hellman's in business & profitable because there can't be anybody that eats as much mayo as he does. He claims he can tell how fresh the jar is.

The sons, of course, think mayonnaise is, well, ICK. #1 son was appalled by the recipe for mayo chocolate cake on the Hellman's jar. "That's sooo disgusting!" he said. Well, my mother used to make it, and it's an excellent recipe. In fact I think I'll make it for our Memorial Day block party. The boys will be shocked when they find out they're eating & enjoying the infamous mayonnaise chocolate cake, heh heh!

Here is a link that might be useful: Hellman's chocolate cake

It's gotta be Blue Plate at this house. Or possibly Duke's. Yes, we are Southern, and yes, the tea is most certainly sweet :)

Great story, Oakleyoak! But that is one road you won't get me to take. I HAVE had tuna made with mayo, have had potato salad and other things with mayo, and I just don't like it. Too greasy.

The mayo chocolate cake is a classic. It is my understanding that the Portillo's restaurant chain uses that recipe for their very delicious and popular chocolate cake.

If you want a great grilled cheese, use the MW in place of butter on the OUTSIDE of the sandwich. Browns beautifully,and has the richer taste with the spices, etc.

Miracle Whip may have less fat, but it has a lot more sugar. If you want a really good mayo with zero carbs try Duke's.

Welcome to the Dark Side, Oakley! LOL Try a 50-50 mix of sweet and dill pickle relishes in things like tuna salad sometime, perhaps with a tiny dab of Dijon mustard. I find the dill pickle alone to be a bit "puckery" but sweet alone is too sweet, although I do up the proportion of sweet in ham salad to balance the increased saltiness of the ham. (I just use canned ham, in the tuna section. It's not really popular so it's cheap, and it is fairly strong-tasting so it stretches. I love to make a sort of "tuna melt" idea with ham salad and Swiss on those little cocktail rye bread squares, run under the broiler... yum.) We use a lot of those dried minced onions for tuna/chicken/ham salad too - they add a nice crunch, and are the only kind of onions DH's innards can tolerate anyway. I buy them by the pound, both plain and toasted, from Penzeys. :-)

It's a Hellmans household here. Not an acquired taste for either of us, unless perhaps acquired in utero... *chuckle* Back in the 70s my grandmother bought her Hellmans mayo in the huge commercial gallon containers, she went through so much of it. (Coastal Mainers, BTW.) I told a dietitian once that she could take anything else away from me but real mayonnaise and real butter. Fakes of either are sins against humankind! I'm awful picky about my butter, too - DH has learned never to bring home generic butter. Ever. LOL

Mayo/MW instead of butter/margarine (yikes) on a grilled cheese sandwich or other griddle-toasted bread item is an old diner-cook's trick. My dad used to make them for me about 30 years ago. My stepmother was from New Jersey and had to have her MW while Dad and I had our Hellmans, people used to comment on the two jars side by side in the fridge.

Les, one problem you may be running into WRT the mayo is that most people use WAY TOO MUCH in their sandwich spreads, potato salad, whatever. IMO the main ingredients should just barely be coated with the dressing, while a lot of people glop it on so thick the whole thing becomes a greasy, sticky mess.

Mmmmm....grilled cheese and mayo sandwich sounds good to me! Never had it, but, must try it.

In the West it's Best Foods...same company as Hellmans. I have never, ever cared for MW. It's just sooo sweet. I remember my mom making our Saturday salami sandwiches with MW...ugh...horrible combined with genoa salami.

As kids my brother and I would make mayonaise sandwiches on Wonder bread.

I use only dill pickle relish in my salads, but MIL uses sweet. DH is starting to prefer mine better. He's also one who glops that stuff on, me a thinnnnn line, just enough to moisten the bread.

Never heard of mayo/MW on grilled cheese. I could see that it'd do a nice finish, but the taste? Not sure I'd be game.

Oh, and speaking of potato salad, my mom always used half mayo and half sour cream. DEEEEVINE.

One time my MIL made us grilled cheese sandwiches and I've been hooked on the MW ever since. You put the MW on both sides of the bread on the inside, next to the cheese, and butter on the outside to grill it. Just like a regular cheese sandwich.

Sometimes when I fix salad, instead of salad dressing my husband would put a dollop of Helmans on his salad. I almost ran from the kitchen to go puke. I kid you not. lol. Now I can see why. There's a subtle taste to it, maybe salt?

Oh, I've been on a deviled egg binge lately, and I use Helmans too instead of MW. What a difference it makes. Yummy! Love deviled eggs in the summer with tuna/chicken salad sandwiches!

How about the word 'bummer'? DD's MIL uses it frequently and I cringe! Recently at a get together, a woman was talking about how hard it was trying to make it on her small part-time job and SS check. When she finished telling her story, 'C' chimed in with her usual 'bummer'~I was floored! She seems to use this word even at the most inappropriate time, and I would like to somehow 'give her a clue', but not in a hurtful way. Ideas??

Hellman's/Best Foods.....there *is* no other! ;o)

I love real Hellman's mayo and Dukes, but I always buy Bama light, well...because...I'm fat. No, just trying to lose some weight is all.

Tomorrow if you want some real good southern tea try making Sweet Mint tea.

Make a large pitcher!

Make your tea as usual and then put in a heaping cup of sugar. Put the sugar in when the tea is still hot (that is the secret for disolving sugar) Then add a big bunch of fresh mint (the more the better) and leave it in the tea. And add lemon and lime if you like. It's so good and oh so fattening.
I always use Louisanne tea bags, got to stay true to the south. (lol)

.....Jane

Pesky - I don't like mayo or mw although I do use them in recipes. Just waving the knife over the bread for a sandwich is enough for me LOL. I also dilute mayo with sour creme or yogurt sometimes. The yogurt/mayo combo is really good in a chicken salad I make, I also use poppy seed in the dressing.

Jane - I am going to do that tomorrow! Where is my head??!! We have mint growing like crazy just outside the kitchen and I have not used any yet this year! I love iced tea with mint. I also love it with lemon, lime and or orange slices. I also use Luzianne or Tetly decaf tea.

I can't remember who asked about the sweet tea - but yes, here in the South we do sweet tea. Not that we necessarily use sugar - I normally use the splenda half/sugar blend if we are having others, but hubby and I usually do just regular splenda. And I don't make tea as sweet as some southerners do - say like my grandmother LOL.

We grilled tonight and yes, enjoyed a pitcher of SWEET ice tea. LOL

tina

Newdawn, that's how I used to make sweet tea, mint and sugar until we both got Type 2 diabetes. My husband is a HUGE tea drinker, and the sad thing is, he's thin and still got diabetes!

So now it's either plain tea or Splenda. I miss sweet tea but I know if I drank it now it'd be way too sweet.

At the doctor yesterday my diabetes numbers were nearly normal. Yay! I think I'll fix a cake. :)

Oakleok and Newdawn......

I've always been a Hellman's gal, and never could tolerate MW. My aunt used to use it and on the days we visited her and she fixed our sandwiches, I'd slip mine down to the dog.

Living in the south for the past 35 years, I've found that Dukes Mayo is the closest in taste to Hellman's, and will always do as a substitute.

Newdawn, if you love Hellman's but are worried about the fat content, try Hellman's Low Fat Mayo with the GREEN lid. I have a chronic illness that prevents me from digesting fats sufficiently so I've had to switch to Hellman's Low Fat Mayo, which has only 1 gram of fat content instead of the typical 10 grams. I'm talking about the Low Fat label, though, NOT the Hellman's Lite Mayo or Diet Mayo, (which are both grossly sweet and awful). Just look for the green lid, and you'll know you've got the right one. It tastes just as good as the regular fully loaded variety.

Good idea, Jane--I'll go grab a bunch of mint and make some tea right now. My mint has gone crazy this spring. I need to find ways to use it up!

Oak, thought of you when I read this thread tonight.

Here is a link that might be useful: what do you put in your tuna salad sandwich?

Thanks Natal, I'll check out the different variations. It's only 7:30 a.m. and I'm getting hungry for a toasted tuna sandwich with tomatoes!

This is funny. The other night I got the MW out to make a grilled cheese sandwich. It's been in there unused for months but I figured it was still good. I was clumpy! I used Mayo instead but it wasn't as good. Guess I need to buy small jars of MW just for my cheese sandwiches. lol

I'm still amazed how I changed over those two considering I'd almost run from the room when I'd see my dh putting globs of Mayo on his salads!

I really do think it's an acquired taste.