The Mayo Brand Considered The Best Among Chefs

There's one particular mayonnaise that Southern chefs have been swearing by for years. Although there are notable exceptions like Julia Child and Martha Stewart preference for Hellmann's, it's the Greenville, South Carolina-based Duke's mayonnaise that has cultivated a loyal fanbase among chefs (in and out of the South) for the past century. 

James Beard Award recipient and Southern culinary expert Sean Brock shared his love of Duke's in an interview with Garden & Gun, saying, "When you make your first tomato sandwich with it, that flavor is locked into your brain, and every time you make mayonnaise you're chasing that flavor." 

Duke's really is a must-have kitchen staple for a host of chefs, including Mason Hereford, chef and owner of New Orleans' sandwich shop Turkey and the Wolf, Hereford gushed over the brand in a love letter told to Artful Living in 2020, explaining that he dipped French fries and potato chips into it, smeared it on hard boiled eggs, and incorporated it into seven of the 10 Turkey and the Wolf menu items. Hereford said, "I kept hearing chefs reference Duke's mayonnaise, and once I tried it, I was like, Oh, this is so different. It was at that moment that I realized not all mayo is created equal." 

At first glance it might be confusing as to why some chefs feel so passionately about Duke's over Hellman's despite both brands having nearly identical ingredients. The devil is in the details, and vinegar seems to be the deciding factor on people's preference.

Celebrity chef and Georgia local Alton Brown thought Duke's was significant enough to endorse in the margins of his own homemade mayonnaise recipe. "This Carolina classic has plenty of vinegar in it, and that gives it the zing I crave," he wrote. Duke's catchphrase is "It's got twang!" Aside from the cadence of their customer base, that twang seems to come from having a slightly higher ratio of vinegar than some competitors. It's also free of sugars and artificial sweeteners.

Such a small difference in ingredient ratio matters a lot to chefs. While Hellman's and Duke's are some of the most famous options because of their celebrity chef endorsements, you might find that the best mayo is whichever one you make at home where there's more opportunity to tweak the taste to your liking.