Miracle Whip
Mon., June 8, 01:11 PM
Don’t laugh. This goes back a really long way. When I was a kid, my mother usually bought Miracle Whip®. It looks like mayonnaise, but it’s not; I think the closest thing to it is old fashioned “boiled dressing.” I always assumed she chose that because it cost less. Whatever the reason, you develop a taste for that which is always on your food — unless you really hate it!
Now, remember, I have been preparing food for nearly sixty years. I have always tried new things, I read books about the science of it all, I experimented with recipes. I have heard many people say they use only “real mayonnaise.” Okay, you do what’s right for you. I can make very good real mayonnaise from scratch; amazingly enough, there is more than one “real” recipe out there. I am less inclined to do this since the world has been screaming about Salmonella in raw eggs.
Some of those same “real mayonnaise” people qualify what they mean. “I always thin it with a bit of wine vinegar.” Or “…add a little prepared mustard.” Or “…pickle relish.” Uh huh. They are taking real mayonnaise and making it taste more like Miracle Whip®. That same stuff that the purists would never consider using. Whatever…
I happen to like Miracle Whip®. It was wonderful to be able to go to a warehouse store and buy a big jar of it. Certain dishes I make — or used to make — derive their personality from the dressing I use. My daughters like mayonnaise on some things, but they still like the way I make egg salad or macaroni salad or potato salad. Husband, of course, will accept a different taste when someone else cooks, but he will complain if I change something.
But what has happened to Miracle Whip®? The price has gone up; I can buy mayonnaise for less. The warehouse stores no longer carry it at all, let alone in the large economy size. At the supermarket I am paying twice as much as I did before. Meanwhile, mayonnaise has not gone up as much!
I think I have to write a letter to Kraft.
