Don't have enough mayonnaise in the refrigerator for a recipe you're working on right now? Don't fret. Check out these easy substitutions that you probably have on hand!

From The Heinz Book of Meat Cookery (1930), HJ Heinz Company

I'm interrupting the semi-regularly scheduled Midnight Sausage series to share molded food images and recipes from my personal collection of early-to-mid 20th century cookbooks. There will be aspic. There will be mousse. There will be various gelatins. All will be semi-solid and of debatable degrees of edibility.

Please feel free to shimmy and shake your way to the comments section to share your very own magical, masticable molds of yore.

Previously - Vegetable Supper Salad

The wonderful benefits of industrial food! According to a recent New York Times article, it turns out that vinegar and a mix of other ingredients make the majority of commercial brands of mayonnaise protect against food spoilage. So, this summer, when you make sandwiches for a picnic, you can use plenty of mayonnaise without wondering whether or not it will cause food to rotten and cause food poisoning.

During the summer, many of us get concerned that in the scorching heat food will turn on us. And so, considering the fact that one of the ingredients in mayonnaise is uncooked egg yolk, it makes perfect sense that we'd assume that mayonnaise can cause diseases, like salmonella. Of course, one needs to differentiate between the mayonnaise you make at home and the one you purchase in the grocery store. But, so long as the eggs are pasteurized and you make sure to use vinegar, another basic mayonnaise ingredient, you will be fine!

So, this summer, do not fret over mayonnaise! Make your own mayonnaise! Foods that cause food poisoning are often made up of low-acid ingredients and involve improper storage and handling.

A while, back, I wrote a post on emotionally-based food aversions -- both my own (tuna noodle casserole), and those of loved ones (scrambled eggs, mayonnaise, garlic). Little did I know this was going to open up Pandora's icebox. More than 75,000 people weighed in on our "What food hits your yuck button?" poll, and the comments thread is at the time of this writing, 1668 strong and counting. It seems that folks have just been looking for a place to spill their long-stewing food loathings, so we've counted down the top 20, weighting them for poll votes, number of mentions in comments, and level of vitriol incurred.

Want to keep the conversation flowing? See the initial post, or hurl forth in the comments below.

AOL Food: America's Most Hated Foods

The post that started it all: Guilty Displeasures

As promised, here's the post about flavoring that tasty and quick mayonnaise you've just whipped up. Coincidentally, a few of you mentioned some of the flavors I was planning on discussing. In the Ricardo feature, there are a number of simple flavor additions in order to get: Indian-style, aioli, remoulade, and American-style.

I whipped up a lazy version of the aioli, above. It's the first time I got to use my freshly grown herbs (delicious chives!), but I had no garlic, so I used my trusty garlic powder as a cheat. It was tasty, easy, and was oh-so-good whipped up with chunks of turkey for a super-speedy turkey salad sandwich. I also whipped up some harissa from the Fresh cookbook and added that into the mix for American-style. That was also quite tasty in a one-potato salad, although I had to cheat on the spice roasting, so it wasn't quite right.

Check out the specifics for the mayo additions after the jump. And please -- weigh in with your own!

I adore mayonnaise (to the point that I once made a meal of just bread and mayo). I love it on sandwiches, and even more on fries. I don't even mind if it's the fake light stuff, as long as it's not the evil Miracle Whip (go here for a rant I couldn't say better myself). However, I have a confession: With all the food I've made, and fresh tastes that I love, I never made my own mayo until this week.

Ricardo inspired me. In the latest issue of his magazine, he's got a Classic Mayonnaise recipe, and then a selection of ways to make it into something even tastier. But for now, let me focus on the white stuff. This recipe was quite good, to the point that I will have to refrain from making more and more and becoming a fat, gelatinous beast hungry only for more oil whipped up with eggs.

There are few changes I'd make, like using a mixture of vinegar and lemon, and perhaps a different oil with a more subtle or desirable flavor, but otherwise, this is great! Check out the recipe after the jump, make your own now, if you haven't, and please be sure to comment about what flairs you add to the mix to make the perfect-tasting plain mayo.

...Flavored mayos will come soon...

• In addition to marking the unofficial start to summer, Memorial Day also kicks off the beginning of mayonnaise season. This interesting article details the history of mayo, singing the praises of this frequently used, but often under-appreciated supporting player.
  
• New York chain Good Burger comes to Philadelphia, touting natural beef, hand-leafed lettuce and cooked-to-order patties. I actually ate there last night and must admit, it was a pretty fine burger.
  
• The Villanova Cheese Shop's cream cheese spread business, Bett's Blends, (now in a variety of large grocery stores around the area) continues to grow and thrive.
  
• It's morel mushroom season and rewards abound for people who are willing to invest the time and energy it takes to forage for their own.
  
• In these times of rising food costs, it's important to use what you do buy. Pat Salani, the self-anointed Leftover Queen, offers her tips for making her food purchases stretch.
  
• Looking for a quick, easy dinner? Look no further than this simple Bacon and Poached Egg Salad.
  

Want to see how far American cuisine has come in the past 40 years? Check out the Mid-Century Supper Club on Flickr, where members lovingly recreate heinous 50s and 60s dishes like hot dogs suspended in aspic and olive-studded sandwich loaf. Dishes are served in retro crockery; some are even posed in front of their inspirations, photos from vintage cookbooks and 1962 issues of Good Housekeeping.

I am particularly fond of the higher-concept items, such as the "Three Men in a Boat" - baked potato boats with button mushroom sailors and American cheese sails - or the banana "airplane" - a banana with chocolate wafer wings, flying through whipped cream clouds. Time to tie on an apron and bust out the Jello.

Thanks Lauren!

I grew up on the west coast, where Best Foods mayonnaise reigned supreme. It was always a little confusing to me when we'd come east each summer, to discover that mayonnaise changed its name to Hellmann's as soon as you crossed the Rocky Mountains, but I learned to accept the inexplicable shift as the contents of the container were so familiar and tasty.

Back in those days, while I pondered at the length the two names my mayo wore, I never spent any time thinking about the eggs that were used to make the creamy emulsion. However, in Britain, thanks to the actions of Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittenstall, Hellmann's is changing their ways and shifting production to use free-range eggs. The transition has been in process since 2006 and by this summer, people will be able to obtain Hellman's Mayonnaise made with free-range eggs.

My only question is why isn't Hellmann's making the same switch in the US? I'd be more inclined to buy their product (these days I tend to go with Trader Joe's mayo or make my own) if it was made with free-range eggs.

[via Green Daily]

Recently, I mentioned to my mom that I had an eggplant in my fridge that needed to be used. She started telling me about a recipe that a friend had given her back when she was first married for broiled eggplant. She remembered it being delicious. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention when she told me about it, because if it had been that good, why was it not part of the menu rotation when I was growing up?

The original eggplant got put to other purposes, but this weekend I picked up two nice, firm, white eggplants this weekend at the farmers market, and so this recipe started niggling away at my consciousness again. I put it together tonight and nearly wept at my first bite as it was tender and sweet and crunchy and wonderful. I called my mother up as soon as my plate was clean to ask her how it was possible that she had known of this preparation for nearly 40 years and I was only eating it tonight. In some sense, I'm grateful for her recipe amnesia, if only because it contributed to a fun recipe discovery tonight. If you like eggplant, don't wait 40 years to make this dish.

And I guess I should clarify by what I mean by "fat-free foods." I'm not talking about foods that are naturally fat-free, such as celery or water (those are the first two examples that come to mind). I mean foods that usually have a fat version but also have a fat-free version. On to the list (and yes, I'm well aware that fat-free doesn't necessarily mean healthy and can often be higher in sugar).

1. Fat-Free Milk: If you had asked me ten years ago that today I'd be drinking fat-free milk instead of whole milk, I would have thought you were crazy. But I love it, and in fact, can't even drink whole milk anymore. Tastes too thick and heavy for me.

On a day that is notorious for junk food, snacks, and deep-fried everything, it's sometimes difficult to slip some vegetables into the mix. Coleslaw is a little deceptive since it is so rich-tasting and creamy, people tend to forget it's packed full of things that are good for you.

Though I tend to make everything from scratch, for an event like Super Bowl I recommend saving yourself the time and effort and just buy the pre-cut coleslaw mix at the grocery store. You could spend a lot of time grating cabbage and slicing carrots, but really, the end product is about the same. Besides, if the bagged stuff is good enough for Paula Deen, it's good enough for me. That said, I refuse to buy a pre-made coleslaw dressing. Sometimes you have to pick your battles.

Even people who aren't big fans of artichoke seem to enjoy artichoke dips. The mild flavor of the vegetable and is tender texture blend perfectly with cream cheese, mayonnaise or sour cream - at least one of which is almost always a component of artichoke dip. The dips are usually served hot, enhancing the smoothness and the overall flavor.

Hot dips require a little more maintenance than cold dips. You will either need to head back and forth to the kitchen to reheat them, serve them in a chafing dish or try to motivate your guests to eat them really quickly. I like to use two or three smaller bowls, that way one will be ready to go if I need to switch them out. I also try to choose dips that will still taste good at room temperature - and this one definitely does.

The recipe comes from Eating Well magazine and is a little lighter than most artichoke dips, with most of the flavor coming from the artichokes themselves and a generous amount of Parmesan cheese, which is among the lower-fat cheeses out there. Some mayo is included to enhance the consistency of the final dip, which is heated in the oven to produce a slightly crisp top and creamy interior.

Utah has a claim to fame other than Mormons and The Osmonds. It's fry sauce. The pinkish concoction has been around for more than 50 years and is the states condiment of choice for French fries.

The stuff is so popular at home and in fast-food spots that there was a fry sauce pin made for the 2002 Olympics. The basic recipe for fry sauce is simple: one part ketchup to two parts mayonnaise. Of course there are numerous variations on the coral-colored condiment. Some restaurants add salt, spices, garlic, relish, horseradish and even pickle juice.

As with many flavors that have captured the public's palate, there's a secret recipe. Gary Roberts, president of Arctic Circle restaurants, which claims to have invented fry sauce in 1948, keeps his fry sauce formula in a safe.

Utah, however, no longer leads the country in fry sauce consumption. Washington and Oregon now consume more of the stuff than the state where it originated. Go figure.

Hellman's Mayonnaise (Best Foods, for shoppers in the western US) is the favorite brand of Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country test kitchens, but for all its good qualities, mayonnaise can add a tremendous amount of fat to a sandwich or a dip. Cooks Country compared four varieties of their favorite mayonnaise brand this month to see if you could cut back on calories by switching to a lower fat version, or whether you're really missing out if you do.

The types taste tested were Hellmann's regular, canola oil, light and reduced fat. Unfortunately, the tasters all really preferred the original, full-fat (9g per each 1-tablespoon serving) variety and said that it provided the best flavor when tasted alone and in a dip. The reduced fat (only 2 grams fat per 1-tbsp serving) didn't have nearly as much flavor, but it still produced a creamy texture in dips.

Since most people don't want their spinach dip to taste like straight mayo anyway, you can save some fat and calories by using one of the lighter mayos in your dips and save the full-fat for when flavor really counts, on a sandwich.