It’s quite easy to make mayonnaise. It’s a blend of oil and eggs, salt, and acid. Add a cup of oil, one egg, the juice of one lemon or a squirt of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt to a blender and spin. Presto! If you want to get fancy, add a bit of fresh herbs, a little mustard, some black pepper or cayenne. Easy.
However, when I want to make a quick sandwich, or when a Southern chef needs to make 10 gallons of salad dressing or 400 sandwiches, perhaps making mayonnaise isn’t the best option. Now it’s time to turn to Duke’s mayonnaise, which fortunately can be bought in everything from 5-gallon buckets to single-serve packets. When every ingredient counts and mayonnaise is in the lineup, chefs like me wouldn’t consider using anything other than Duke’s.
Don’t believe me? I’ve seen dozens of posts on Instagram of Southern cooks and chefs making anything from crab salad to saffron rouille. If they’re not using Duke’s, the comment section sounds like it’s been curated by Jerry Springer’s audience.
“Our recipe hasn’t changed since 1954; we just make a lot more of it,” said Daniel Moore, the plant manager — the argument could be made that he is their executive chef — of the Sauer Brands plant in Mauldin, where his team churns out about 850,000 pounds of Duke’s mayonnaise per day.
“Eugenia (Duke) started making sandwiches in her kitchen for soldiers stationed at Camp Sevier during the first World War and the guys loved the sandwiches and especially the mayonnaise,” Moore said. “Soon she was making her mayonnaise and selling it as fast as she could make it.”
Today, Moore’s team starts its day with salted eggs and soybean oil delivered by railroad cars. So, the Duke’s Mayonnaise secret recipe starts something like this: Take 60,000 pounds of salted whole eggs, 700,000 pounds of oil …
Moore was quick to point out what isn’t in Duke’s: sugar.
“Sugar? That’s for tea or coffee, not mayonnaise,” he said.
I believe Duke’s is the only mayonnaise that doesn’t contain a sweetener, and the manufacturing process that Moore oversees has a unique way of creating that unmistakable texture. The Mauldin plant makes other condiments, and anyone who has wandered down the condiment aisle of their favorite grocery has probably seen the variety of dressings and sauces with the Duke’s label, but mayonnaise is still the brand’s bread and butter.
Sure, it’s a plant with pipes, gauges, conveyor belts and a railroad line, but it’s still our town’s gift to Southern cuisine. When I told my chef pals I had secured a tour of the Duke’s mayonnaise plant, every one of them asked to come along.
Sorry guys, but Mrs. Malik has already called dibs. And is she ever excited!
“City Juice” is a colloquial term for a glass of tap water served at a diner. John Malik is a hospitality consultant. He can be reached at chefjohnmalik@gmail.com.
