In praise of Hellmann’s
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cottage tales | 14 comments
When I think about Hellmann’s I remember that old commercial. A hungry man finds a stale crust of bread in the fridge, spreads it with a dollop of Hellman’s and munches with a beatific smile.
The commercial worked for me. I bought some and, although it didn’t seem to have quite the same effect on stale bread, it was delicious.
Danny was happy about the 2008 challenge (cutting 25% of the shopping bill) until I thought I’d really test his enthusiasm.
“We eat an awful lot of Hellmann’s. I think we should go back to Blakeley’s.”
“Not the stuff from Netto?”
“It’s less than 50p a jar.”
D is a Hellmann’saholic. I’ve tried giving him other supermarket brands and they are met with a snort or hunched silence.
But it does mean that a jar lasts a long time.
When I first bought Hellmann’s Danny spotted it in the larder within a nanno second. He broke the seal, opened the top and dived in.
“I’ve been dreaming about that for some time.”
And then he put it in the fridge.
The last move was just for show. It barely needs to be refrigerated as it is savoured with salads, sandwiches, home made burgers and dolloped on chips. Coleslaw is D’s favourite salad. Need I say more?
Apart from creating a massive dent in our shopping bill it was having the reverse effect on our waistlines. So I switched to Hellmann’s light (60% less fat). I found D examining the jar, teaspoon in hand.
“Good but it just doesn’t have the depth of the original.”
Perhaps it’s time to start making my own homemade mayonnaise. This would be cheaper and presumably even tastier. Does anyone have a good recipe out there?
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Hellmann’s is not just ‘mayo’ “ it’s posh mayonnaise with attitude! I’ve been buying the olive oil version (tho its only partly the real thing) in the belief that its better for you. Great in Waldorf salads. Maybe I’l try jackie’s recipe.
I make ‘every day mayo’ with whole eggs, don’t bother separating!
Stick two eggs in food processor, add salt, sugar, dijon mustard, and a dash of worcestershire sauce, and then run the blender and drizzle in sunflower oil. You can go quite quickly, because of the whites, just keep going till it thickens, stop, add a tsp of balsamic, then pour in more sunflower, with the fp running, until it’s thick enough.
It’s not yer luxury, party trick mayo, but it’s jolly nice especially in coleslaw, as it happens.
😉
Hello Amalee
Thanks for the tip. We have a friend going to France next week and will add this to the shopping list!
http://www.lesieur.com/lesieur_com/uk/produit/c_tourn.html
Go for this, and you’ll never look back. Of course, you have to shell out for the initial ferry to France, then belt into Cora and buy a stash of jars in one go. I guess the ferry sort of ratchets up the cost, but even so, it’s great mayo.
Hello Tulip-Fairy
Thank you so much for this link! I can’t wait to have a go at making my own now.
Hi Magic Cochin
I will ignore the magimix and try aerobic mayo making! The Chicken Lady uses groundnut oil – the Delia recipe.
Hi Plumsource
Salmonella – poor you.
Love the Joan River’s comment!
Hi KJ
I’m going to buy some milder oil today – we only have olive and rapeseed oil to hand at the cottage and I’m sure that these are far too strong.
Hi Pat
Your tartar sauce is good!
I’m going to play with making mayo and post any good results.
I too am looking forward to reading some recipes. I tried making it once and like KJ found the olive oil way too strong. I did make a homemade tartar sauce once that came out pretty good. But was a bit experimental.
I spent most of this post wondering what Hellman’s was :-> Is it jam, margarine, mustard? No, it’s mayo.
I have tried making mayo myself, but I always find the oil a bit too strong. So sorry no recipe to share.
Hi there. I’m afraid I’m no use re a mayo recipe – gone right off anything with raw egg since our family salmonella attack from custard a year back BUT I love your description of D’s obsession with the mayo! I’m relating here! I love Joan Rivers’ unkind but funny joke about Elizabeth Taylor loving the mayo “she even puts it on her aspirin”. Yup!
Hi Fiona – I’m looking forward to reading any recipes from expert mayo makers. I made mayo for the very first time the other week. I hadn’t planned to make it so had to use half sunflower/half extra virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar! The eggs were the saving grace – 2 very fresh yolks. I used a balloon whisk and beat one egg yolk and added a teeny bit of oil at a time. Eventually I added the other beaten egg (held back in case the mixture curdled). I found it very easy to mix but because of the oils and vinegar used it was a strong flavour. I’ve now stocked up with some lighter oils (grapeseed, etc) but forgot to buy some white wine vinegar!
Have fun – forget the magimix – it really is easy with muscle power! (and uses up a few calories too!)
Celia
I make a stick blender mayo which is now very easy to make tasty and much cheaper than shop bought. Here is the link to the recipe
http://tulipskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/02/12-eggs-later-and-i-finally-have-it.html