Making 200-Year-Old Mayonnaise - How has it changed?

TL;DR

A 1828 recipe by chef Marie-Antoine Carême reveals mayonnaise was tangier, gelatin-thickened, and herb-infused compared to today's commercial versions.

Key Points

• 1.Carême's 1828 recipe is the basis for this recreation. The greatest French chef of the early 19th century published 'Le Cuisinier Parisien,' containing a white magnonnaise sauce made with egg yolks, tarragon vinegar, olive oil from Aix, and aspic jelly gelatin.
• 2.The name 'mayonnaise' has no definitively proven origin. Competing etymologies include the port of Mahon (Minorca), the city of Bayonne, the French verb 'manier' (to stir), old French 'moyeu' (egg yolk), and the Duke of Mayenne — none with solid documentation.
• 3.The most popular origin story links mayonnaise to the 7 Years' War. In 1756, the Duke of Richelieu's chef supposedly substituted olive oil for unavailable cream after capturing Port Mahon, naming the sauce 'mahonnaise' — though no contemporary evidence confirms this.
• 4.Commercial mayonnaise began with Amelia Schlorer in 1907 and Hellmann's in 1913. Schlorer sold 12 jars in Philadelphia; Richard Hellmann, a German immigrant NYC deli owner, added a blue ribbon label and by the mid-1920s dominated the East Coast before selling to Postum Foods in 1927.
• 5.Hellmann's and Best Foods share the same recipe but remain separate regional brands. Hellmann's dominates the eastern US while Best Foods leads west of Chicago — a split that persists today as a legacy of their 1927 merger.
• 6.The 200-year-old mayo tastes noticeably different from modern store-bought versions. It has a strong vinegar zing, complex herby tarragon flavor, and firmer texture from gelatin — gelatin disappeared from recipes by the late 19th century, and lemon juice largely replaced tarragon vinegar in modern mayo.