Mayonnaise

   Word historians agree on the place where the term mayonnaise developed but not how it developed at that place. Mayonnaise originally was a French dressing, but it has been completely Americanized. It consists of beaten egg yolk, butter or olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and seasonings. Port Mahon in Minorca, at one time Portus Magonis, was named after Mago, the younger brother of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who had planned to devastate Rome in the second Punic War. It became the capital of the Spanish island of Minorca. There's no argument that Port Mahon gave its name to mayonnaise.

   Some say, however, that this sauce was created in 1762 by the chefs of Richelieu to memorialize the victory of the French over the the British. But others say that Due de Richelieu himself prepared this dressing. Richelieu was known as a glutton. The dressing came about, it is said, when Richelieu raided the nearest kitchen and tossed what edibles he could find into one pot. And presto—mayonnaise. A more credible story is that chefs created a dressing in Paris in honor of Richelieu's victory at Port Mahon. They named it Mahonnaise.