For those living in Japan or well-acquainted with Japanese cuisine, it may not be surprising to find out that Japan ranks 11th among countries that consume the most mayonnaise.

Besides the usual egg salad and potato salad recipes, Japanese enjoy mayo in a variety of ways.

As a flavorful sauce for fried shrimp mayo and chicken nanban, and as a topping for well-known dishes like Takoyaki and okonomiyaki.

And as you may all well know, mayonnaise is also a common topping for pizza…for better or for worse.

To each his own right? I for one don’t mind mayo and corn on my pizza, though I also think Hawaiian pizza is delicious so pardon me.

Using Mayo for…Whaat?!

One writer at our Japanese sister site Grape found a new way to enjoy mayonnaise.

The writer tested out three special ingredients often found added to pancakes to improve their texture: carbonated water, yogurt and mayonnaise.

According to the original article, the writer concluded that adding mayonnaise to the pancake batter resulted in fluffier pancakes!

Mayo was the last variation tested, after carbonated water and yogurt, so the pan was too hot and the pancakes were burned, but…

I’m glad to hear that the pancakes didn’t taste like mayo and that mayo wasn’t added as a topping.

I’ve tried using mayonnaise instead of butter when making grilled cheese and thought I could taste the difference, but maybe that’s because it was heated directly.

There are many cafes here in Japan that tout their fluffy pancakes so now I wonder if mayonnaise has been their secret ingredient all along…

I may be following up on this article with my findings, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I hope everyone continues to enjoy their pancakes, with or without mayonnaise!