Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is at its best when it is doing background work in sandwiches, salads and dips, and by our assessment, that is exactly the kind of grocery item this is. Its strength is texture: it adds body, helps ingredients stick together and turns a dry mix into something smoother. The honest limit is that it brings a lot of fat and can dominate a dish if the hand is not light. In practice it is a fridge staple that gets used a spoonful at a time, often more as a tool than as a flavour people think about. Compared with mustard, yogurt dressings or vinaigrettes, it is richer and less sharp. This plainness is also why it lasts so long as a standard supermarket product. The name gives away the whole pitch, and the score sits in the middle because it is dependable rather than interesting.