☠️ Poison Pantry 1928

Mayonnaise Maigre

Two raw yolks beaten with a cup and a half of liquid paraffin, for a reducing diet.

From: Cook and Be Cool
Published: 1928
Yikes Scale: Big yikes

Exactly as printed, 1928

Mix two egg yolks, one teaspoonful of dry mustard, a teaspoonful of salt, a little cayenne, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar in a small bowl.

Now add one and a half cups of mineral oil. Put the oil in, a teaspoonful at a time, beating with an egg beater until the dressing begins to thicken and then add by the tablespoonful, beating slowly until you have a thick mayonnaise. This mayonnaise is good for a reducing diet.

Cook and Be Cool, 1928. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

A cup and a half of laxative, emulsified into something you will eat by the spoonful across a week of salads. The dietary logic is that it carries no calories, which is true and is exactly the trouble.

It carries the fat-soluble vitamins out with it — A, D, E and K — and it can be inhaled, which causes a lipoid pneumonia that is genuinely hard to treat.

Notes from the 21st century

“Maigre” means lean. A fast-day term, borrowed here for a slimming dressing. The name is the only elegant thing about it.
The yolks are raw and stay raw. Standard for period mayonnaise, but nothing here ever reaches temperature, and the dressing is then kept.
Cook and Be Cool is a 1930s diet book. The genre's whole premise was food that fills without feeding. This is that premise taken to its literal end.

Don't take our word for it. The complete book is online, free and searchable.

Read the original page →

Mayonnaise Maigre

Exactly as printed, 1928

So what happens if I make it?

Notes from the 21st century

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