# Mayonnaise on hamburgers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345 "2011-09-23T16:32:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/21 "2011-09-23T17:21:06Z")
I love my burger with mayonnaise. It’s not entirely necessary, but I’ll definitely notice its lack, and if I get served a mayoless burger, I’ll wait to eat until the mayo comes. This doesn’t apply to fast-food burgers, which I think are pretty nasty already and which therefore don’t really need to be made better; I’ll just eat those with whatever crap they’re served with. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/22 "2011-09-23T17:21:43Z")
Yes, always, but unless it’s a flavored aioli kinda thing, you only should have [a very thin film](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wdjqXnixIY#t=8m43s) on the bun, mainly to prevent burger juices from messing up the toast. You do toast the buns, right? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/23 "2011-09-23T17:24:06Z")
The “secret sauce” that most fast food joints use is just a mixture of mayo, ketchup and sugar. I usually just use ketchup and mustard in judicious amounts, but occasionally will mix a bit of mayo it. Can’t get excited about it either way. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/24 "2011-09-23T17:32:51Z")
Definitely put mayo on my burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/25 "2011-09-23T17:42:46Z")
In sit-down restaurants, they often have these honking huge burgers and if you ask for mayonnaise, they give it to you in a little cup on the side. I find that instead of pulling the burger apart, spreading the mayonnaise and then reassembling the whole thing, it’s best just to tear chunks off of the behemo-burger and dip it in the mayo. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/26 "2011-09-23T17:44:09Z")
I make my own yummy concoction of mayo, mustard and a bit of cayenne to put on my burgers. But that’s the only way I’ll eat mayo on a burger. If I can’t have my own sauce, I just have ketchup and mustard. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/27 "2011-09-23T18:10:20Z")
No Ketsup, no mustard… if I have ANY dressing on a burger it would be mayo. But it’s not a must. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. 'cause that’s the way I roll. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/28 "2011-09-23T18:33:58Z")
Mayo, pickles, and sauteed onions is all you need. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/29 "2011-09-23T18:38:56Z")
If a burger is improved by ketchup it is a bad hamburger. That’s not true of mayonnaise (in my opinion of course), but the answer depends on the burger, what else is on it, and the bread involved. Note: It has been 20 years since I last ate a hamburger as I don’t eat beef. So for me we’re talking turkey burger. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/30 "2011-09-23T18:39:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > On hamburgers, mayo is a war crime. I always look forward to **silenus** ’ posts in food preference threads. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/31 "2011-09-23T18:41:19Z")
I like it with mayo or without. Like most things, anything fatty tastes good but is probably bad for you ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/32 "2011-09-23T18:48:08Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I always look forward to **silenus** ’ posts in food preference threads. 🙂 Come the Revolution, comrade… 😛 I’m ecumenical when it comes to hamburger saucing. I like them with ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, even Thousand Island and its mutations. But plain unadulterated mayo is just…wrong. Totally wrong flavor profile for me. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/33 "2011-09-23T18:50:25Z")
When there is lettuce and tomato on the burger (which is a very good thing), there should properly be mayo to go with them. There are other sorts of burgers for which the condiment rules are not necessarily the same. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/34 "2011-09-23T18:58:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I like them with . . . Thousand Island . . . . But plain unadulterated mayo is just…wrong. “I’m all in favor of burning down orphanages; that’s good clean fun. But eating by candlelight, that’s a crime against humanity.” You have the food opinions of a Batman villain. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/35 "2011-09-23T19:03:56Z")
Mayo is pretty much pure evil. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/36 "2011-09-23T19:04:55Z")
At home, the only condiments I use are mustard and relish. But I usually like the mayo-based “secret sauce” that restaurants sometimes use. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/37 "2011-09-23T19:13:45Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > “I’m all in favor of burning down orphanages; that’s good clean fun. But eating by candlelight, that’s a crime against humanity.” > > You have the food opinions of a Batman villain. Thank you! Nicest thing anybody has said to me today. I feel a little tear starting to well up… ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/38 "2011-09-23T19:59:33Z")
Only if there is lettuce and tomato on the burger. Good spicy mustard is mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/39 "2011-09-23T20:00:42Z")
Mayo is required on a burger. No ketchup, thanks, unless there’s no mayo. Then I’ll settle for ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345/40 "2011-09-23T20:49:53Z")
All of your answers are more emphatic than I feel, but I voted Hell Yes. I like mayo on burgers. However, I’ll still call it a burger, as well as eat the thing, if it lacks mayonnaise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayonnaise-on-hamburgers/597345.md?page=3)