One of America's Favorites - Ham Salad and Egg Salad

Ham Salad

Ham salad is a traditional Anglo-American salad. Ham salad resembles chicken salad, egg salad, and

Ham salad spread on wheat bread

tuna salad (as well as starch-based salads like potato salad, macaroni salad, and pea salad): the primary ingredient, ham, is mixed with smaller amounts of chopped vegetables or relishes, and the whole is bound with liberal amounts of a mayonnaise, salad cream, or other similar style of salad dressing, such as Miracle Whip.

Ham salad generally includes cooked, cold ham which has been minced, cubed, or ground; the mayonnaise or other dressing; diced sour or sweet cucumber pickles or cucumber pickle relish; and perhaps chopped raw celery, green pepper, or onion. Raw cucumber, shredded carrot, pimento, sweet corn kernels, or tomato are sometimes used. Very often, the salad is mixed or garnished with generous quantities of chopped hard-boiled egg; less frequently, grated cheese may be used, or peas or boiled potato may be added to bulk out the dish. The salad is kept chilled until serving.

Like other mayonnaise-bound meat salads, the finished dish typically has a chunky, grainy, or pasty texture, and is frequently served as a spread upon crackers or upon bread in a sandwich.

Ham salad is still very popular in western Pennsylvania, and is also fairly popular in the Upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, which have long histories of pork and ham production.

As with other Anglo-American salads, the recipe for ham salad has many regional and family variations. Similar salads are made using chopped or ground bologna, Spam, and other cured or potted meats and sausages.




Egg Salad

Egg salad sandwich with french fries

Egg salad is part of a tradition of salads involving protein mixed with seasonings in the form of herbs, spices, and other foods, and bound with mayonnaise. Its siblings include chicken salad, crab salad, ham salad, lobster salad, and tuna salad.

Egg salad is often used as a sandwich filling, typically made of chopped hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, minced celery and onion, salt, black pepper, and paprika. It is also often used as a topping on green salad.

Egg salad can be made creatively with any number of other cold foods added. Bacon, bell pepper, capers, cheese, cucumber, onions, lettuce, pickle relish, and pickles are common additional ingredients.

A closely related sandwich filler is egg mayonnaise, wherein chopped hard-boiled egg is mixed with mayonnaise only.