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These 9 Types of Mayonnaise Are Better on Fries Than Ketchup
Belgians take mayo seriously, and it’s worthy of our respect
Mayonnaise on North Sea fries has been a cliché in popular culture ever since “Pulp Fiction.”
“You know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup? Mayonnaise,” John Travolta’s character tells Samuel L. Jackson’s. “I’ve seen ’em do it, man, they fuckin’ drown ’em in that shit.” People (accurately, in this case) conflated Holland and Belgium, and ever since the movie’s release in 1994, my life as a Belgian American has been punctuated by questions on the matter from relatives, colleagues, drunk tourists roaming my hometown of Brussels, and even a radio talk show host in West Virginia.
I eagerly confirm the rumor. If you grew up in Brussels, well, you fuckin’ drowned ’em in mayonnaise. The sauce is omnipresent: like rain, cobblestones, and Tintin.
Every home, restaurant, and summer barbecue table has to be stocked with the standard mayo, along with at least a half-dozen varieties, to plop onto plates of potatoes, peppers, onions, shrimp, chicken, lamb, pork, and beef. It’s mixed into all kinds of other dishes, notably steak americain, raw ground beef mixed with mayonnaise, capers, and onions. (In the good restaurants, they make the mayonnaise in front of you, blending it into the beef.)
In Belgium, a 1955 royal decree, signed by the king, set official mayonnaise standards: at least 80 percent fat and 7.5 percent egg yolk, which is why it is so delicious. When it was modified a few years ago to allow for leaner mayonnaise, to 70 percent fat and 5 percent egg, the debate made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Most Belgians stick to the old recipe.
There’s nowhere mayonnaise reigns so mightily as the frite (“friet” in Dutch) stand. Corporate fast food chains struggle for market share in Belgium, where the main source of on-the-go calories is a trailer, shack, or storefront selling the familiar potato sticks (which some say were invented in the country) expertly fried twice for a mushy inside and extra-crisp exterior. There’s always a menu of mystery meats, skewers, and burgers, but you’re there for the fries, packed by cone or box, large or small.
