What is It with the Chinese and Mayonnaise?

[aaglo]

Originally posted by Drogue

What's so bad with that? I don't like vinegar, but it's a brit tradition, fish 'n' chip shop chips with salt and vinegar. Though I just have salt, and occasionally mayo or tommy ketchup.

Nothing's wrong with that.

I just wanted to point out, that while americans think using mayo with fries is strange, so do many european think the same way on some american eating habits. The vinegar and fries was just a convinient example.

I have tasted the fries&vinegar. It was quite delicious, but at first it seemed a bit silly

[Dis]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
"memories of seaside resorts in Devon or Cornwall out of season than the taste of chips fried in beef fat, then liberally sprinkled with salt and moistened with malt vinegar."

Interestingly the use of vinegar on fries in Maryland is particularly associated with oceanfront, especially Ocean City - "Boardwalk Fries". An english connection, or something natural about vinegar fries/chips by the salt air?

You're from Maryland? Where in marlyand? I have a lot of relatives that live in maryland. You're not one of my relatives are you?

As for the composition of Maryland, I'm not sure. My mom's side of my family comes from there. Their last name is British- although much of their ancestory goes to a german/french town- it's currently under french control now. But of course it was a catholic state. I'm not familiar with Baltimore- where did he come from?

[laurentius]

Hey! I have relatives living in Maryland too(Baltimore). Small world eh?

And I just love chips and vinegar, mayo tho, is a big no no, very big no no

[alva]

I like to dip fries in a mixture of ketchup and mayo. Combines the lycopene of ketchup with the deliciousness of mayo.

That's coctail sauce.
Now if you really want to make this taste good, add a little bit of Cognac(brandy) or scotch.

[Imran Siddiqui]

you should be aware that even skinny people may come from a family with an inherited predisposition towards coronary infarctions.

But I don't . My family is pretty good on the heart thing .

How is your cholesterol level?

Don't remember the numbers, but the doc said I was pretty good about that last time I saw him (about a year ago).

[mindseye]

Re: What is It with the Chinese and Mayonnaise?

Originally posted by DaShi
Everytime I go to a store and ask for something that they don't have, they always recommend mayonnaise instead.

Perhaps we should start calling them Chinnaise.

Oh DaShi, so true! My favorite horror is ordering a salad in just about any restaurant. You never quite know what you will get (cabbage? kiwi fruit and tomatoes?) but whatever it is, it's bound to be completely covered by a thick, gooey mountain of mayo. UGH!

Sometimes the mayo is topped with a criss-cross pattern of ketchup. UGH x2!

I'm not kidding here, a small salad might be slathered with 1/2 - 3/4 cup of mayo, sometimes sweetened mayo here in Shanghai, where the locals prefer sweet, bland food (even things like corn can arrive at the table in sugar sauce). Many is the time I disgustedly shoveled the mayo off a "salad" to try and discover what kind of vegetable was buried deep beneath the gloppy morass.

[Spiffor]

Re: Re: What is It with the Chinese and Mayonnaise?

Originally posted by mindseye
Oh DaShi, so true! My favorite horror is ordering a salad in just about any restaurant. You never quite know what you will get (cabbage? kiwi fruit and tomatoes?) but whatever it is, it's bound to be completely covered by a thick, gooey mountain of mayo. UGH!

One of my biggest shocks when I lived abroad was that the salads were not covered by a subtle vinaigrette like I was used to at home. It was either dry or covered with a highly fat and dense blob.

Now, it is evil to compare the Germans with the Chinese when it comes to cuisine

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Dissident


You're from Maryland? Where in marlyand? I have a lot of relatives that live in maryland. You're not one of my relatives are you?

As for the composition of Maryland, I'm not sure. My mom's side of my family comes from there. Their last name is British- although much of their ancestory goes to a german/french town- it's currently under french control now. But of course it was a catholic state. I'm not familiar with Baltimore- where did he come from?

I lived in Baltimore several years, currently live in Northern virginia. Originally from NYC though, so probably not related.

While Marylanders come from many origins, there is a notable english influence - in late colonial times when other colonies were largely recieving immigrants from Scotland, Ulster, and Germany, MD was receiving indentees from London (see Bailyn, Peopling of the New World) My impression has always been that your typical baltimore accent sounds a tad cockney, and IIUC the connections are even stronger in certain pockets of the Eastern Shore.

Lord Baltimore was of a Catholic English family, whose title was based on lands in Ireland, though like most Irish lords, he was not celtic.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Drogue

What's so bad with that? I don't like vinegar, but it's a brit tradition, fish 'n' chip shop chips with salt and vinegar. Though I just have salt, and occasionally mayo or tommy ketchup.

so this US - Canadian tradition is yet another carryover from England, setting us all apart from the Continent?

Viva the Anglosphere!!

[lightblue]

One of my (english - though to what kind of degree Norfolk is a part of the rest of englnd is another matter) mates ate a pitta bread filled with chips (fries...) and kebab (reprocessed flesh column variety) meat. He topped this off with about half a jar of mayo... It looked foul.

Back in Holland I once had as a sauce a combination of mayo, ketchup and sateh with my fries. Not sure how common this is in the rest of Holland, but the place I got it from called it a "Patatje oorlog" or War Fries...

[Locutus]

Patatje Oorlog is actually the most common variety of fries we have in the Netherlands

The ingredients can vary slightly but it usually also has raw onions on it, and it doesn't always have ketchup.

[lightblue]

Oh, I thought the ketchup was necessary to produce the "blood" of the battle field.

[Locutus]

Yeah, it makes more sense with ketchup but I think traditionally it's just mayonnaise and sateh (and onions). Might have something to do with the fact that those two are typically Dutch ingredients, more so than ketchup...

[Starchild]

Chips in pitta bread with burger sauce (basically mayo and some other ingredients we dare not ask about). It's what keeps you warm on those cold walks home.

[alva]

The ingredients can vary slightly but it usually also has raw onions on it, and it doesn't always have ketchup.

We too have something similar yet less revolting ( sateh..:yuk: )
mayonnaise with (either tomato or curry) ketchup and finely diced onions. We just called it a 'special'.
-

Chips in pitta bread with burger sauce

That's something the french like to do, put fries in bread...