Cold sauces + dips
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THOMY Mayonnaise à la Française
This culinary guilty pleasure from my childhood is still a banger
4.7.2025
Translation: Katherine Martin
I hated bell peppers when I was a kid, but now I love them more than anything. Back in the day, I was also crazy about an open sandwich I created myself. But how about now? Decades after I first discovered it, I’ve decided to give it another try.
Recently, my fellow editor Stephanie told me about one of her, let’s just say «special», food preferences. Every now and then, she scoops a load of Ovaltine into a cup, pours in a generous dollop of whipping cream and then eats it all up with a spoon. «It’s like a McFlurry, just not frozen,» Steph says of the gastronomic delight.
Well, sounds like a sinfully divine culinary guilty pleasure to me. The conversation took me back to my childhood, when I’d often enjoy Ovaltine sandwiches. However, there was another sandwich I much preferred: one that I created myself. One that earned me baffled looks from my mum and a reputation for having an «unsophisticated palette». But I thought it tasted great, so I didn’t care.
Young Patrick’s «gourmet» snack
Try as I might, I can’t remember what possessed me to whip up this creation. What I do remember is the exact ingredients you’d need to make it, should you ever fancy giving it a try. You don’t need much:
Just spread a slice of bread with mayonnaise, generously enough for the dried chives you’ll be sprinkling on top later to stick. Not all that unusual if you ask me. But here comes the most important and possibly most unusual step: sprinkle some pasta onto your mayo and chive slices. Uncooked pasta, obviously. After all, you’ve gotta get that crunch.
And there you have it. Bon appétit!
Admittedly, looking back, it sounds a little odd to me too. Especially the part about the uncooked pasta. Maybe that’s just a kid thing. When my family and I have pasta at home, my six-year-old daughter often sneaks into the kitchen, nicks a few strands of uncooked spaghetti and gleefully gobbles them down. But hey, maybe she gets that from me.
What does the adult me make of the snack?
As I’m telling my colleague Stephanie about my culinary guilty pleasure, I realise how long it’s been since I’ve eaten it. Decades on from my last bite, I decided to spread up a couple of slices of bread and give it another try. Will I still like my trusty childhood favourite? Considering how rarely I eat mayonnaise these days, I’m sceptical.
In the end, all of my doubts evaporate after I take the first bite. The lemony note of the creamy mayo goes beautifully with the slightly oniony flavour of the chives. Plus, the neutral-tasting pasta shapes give it some bite. My childhood self was absolutely right. It. Is. Delicious. Even now, 30 years later.
Gourmet sarnie 2.0
Putting aside the joy of rediscovering a long-forgotten culinary delight, the open sandwich doesn’t exactly blow me away anymore. My tastes have evolved. Then again, my old favourite snack could actually evolve too. Hey, maybe I could use a different mayonnaise. Perhaps the one that Galaxus’s resident culinary guru Simon raves about:
Of course, I could also swap the dried chives for fresh ones from my garden. And instead of the uncooked pasta, fried onions could give the open sandwich its crunch. Sorry, but my culinary guilty pleasure’s about to get an upgrade.
Do you any quirky secret indulgences? Tell the Community and me in the comments!
Header image: Patrick Vogt
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
Cooking
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