Why is it that jarred mayonnaise is often labelled as “salad dressing”? Is there a difference? They seem to be more or less the same to me, and I put them both on sandwiches rather than on salads. I mean, it’s not like you could pour it on lettuce like French dressing, Italian dressing, blue cheese, ranch dressing, etc., is it? It’s never on the salad bar, anyway. Or do people put it on salads and I just happen to have my back turned?
I’ve never seen mayo labeled as salad dressing, but maybe I’ve not looked hard enough. It’s a base for many creamy style dressings, and I suppose you could use it straight from the jar if you wanted to.
Well, I’m sure you’ve heard of potato salad, egg salad, tuna salad, etc. Just a guess, but maybe it’s called salad dressing because it’s the base for those?
Generally “Miracle Whip” is called salad dressing, and mayo is mayo. I’m having a hard time figuring out the difference in the ingredients. They both seem to contain water, eggs, mustard, vinegar, lemon, sugar, oil and spices. The Kraft website lists them both as “spoonable dressings”.
To add to the confusion, the Brits have “salad cream”, which seems like runny mayo to me.
Answers from an olde threade:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8804&highlight=Miracle+Whip
But in a recipe for such things, you never see it call for “salad dressing” where mayonnaise is wanted, do you?