Anyone know what makes DELI tuna & chicken salad special?

Yeah, I’ve done it -fresh pineapple and a little curry powder with the celery and onions and mayo And maybe some sliced almonds. I think the 70s are calling me.

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Served in an avocado half, or pineapple half, for parties!

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Avocado- I’ll take it!

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I make a curried chicken salad that includes raisins, preferably golden.

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House chicken salad = diced chicken breast, red onion, halved grapes, cubed skin-on apples, mayo, curry powder. eta Sharwood’s curry powder.

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This makes the traditional Pasta di San Giuseppe. I make it every St Jospeh’s Day. It is one of our all-time favorites. Here’s my post from this year’s rendition (there’s probably one from each of the years I’ve been posting here)

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Ah never heard or knew of that pasta dish. Has breadcrumbs I see. Interesting. The one my grandmother would make was a red sauce with that can of CUOCO added. Could be an additional ingredient or two, but I only know for certain it was red and she used that yellow can. She always had like 4 or 5 of those cans at all times in her cabinets. I also remember seeing these BLACK in color large balls like big peppercorns but the size of peas and they were soft. Not sure what those were LOL.

Yes, breadcrumbs are the traditional topping. The owner of the little deli where I make my St Jospeh’s Day shopping pilgrimage each year always quizzes me on the meaning of the bread crumbs - they are supposed to represent sawdust as Joseph was a carpenter. Then he tells me what a good Sicilian I am though I am far from Sicilian or even any sort of Italian.

The black balls are likely raisins.

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I sometimes put fruit in chicken salad - apples, raisins, sometimes walnuts with curried mayo. Chicken salad “Veronique” with green grapes, celery, mayo and tarragon. I usually use chopped chicken breast for chicken salad. We also really like thickly sliced cooked chicken breast with some coarse sea salt and a generous amount of mayo on bread by itself. I have had ground chicken salad I remember liking and thinking it was made with both white and dark meat put through a grinder with celery, pickles and ?? But the hostess wouldn’t tell me how she made it - a “family” recipe. Oh well.

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I’ve had smoked turkey salad that has reconstituted dried cranberries in it, plus a lot of crunchy stuff, including carrots.

That’s a new one! But, I always put raw ground carrots in my ham salad!!

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Thanks for the info. Most likely could have been raisins. I will never know for sure. I don’t use too much breadcrumbs in general. Only for coating chicken at times or to top macaroni & cheese. I never made meatballs, because I ate so much home cooked Italian food growing up that I am actually sick of most of it. Very rarely eat any type of pasta anymore. Never get tired of pizza though lol.

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I’m with you. I don’t care for cubed, either, as it doesn’t grab the dressing very well.

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Those black balls were also possibly juniper berries.

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Well the capers don’t work with chicken salad I don’t think. Reason why I am not certain is because I used them in the chicken salad, but also used a jar of Hellman’s regular mayonnaise that was at least 4 years old and it had an off smell and taste. It was not bad, just turned towards a rancidity. Typical of manmade fake toxic vegetable oils that they use to make it. Not ever buying Hellman’s again - store kind anyways. They changed their recipe although they DENY it. They did change it and my friend confirmed through much research. It no longer tastes the same, lasts as long or makes those peaks on a spoon including a knife staying straight in the center of the jar when stuck in the middle. So Burman’s is my next choice from ALDI.
My chicken salad next time will be rotisserie breast meat, mayo. pickle relish, celery, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. OR same meat and just mayo, celery, sea salt, and pepper.

That may be them ! Because they were very dark smooth and round not oval and wrinkled like raisins. Huh another ingredient I never heard of using. My grandmother sure knew the old world ways of cooking, and probably healthier too. Cooking like growing a garden is slowly disappearing.

Can you get Duke’s? Because it beats all the others (as an admitted former Hellmann’s snob).

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Mayo really needs to be current. Small jars are sometimes more economical if one doesn’t use much. I hate to toss foodstuffs but refuse to use iffy condiments.

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I toss my pickles and mayo every 8 months if I haven’t used them up by then. Fresh pickles and a fresh jar of mayo, as well as fresh relish and yellow mustard, at the beginning of potato salad season (usually in May). I buy the medium-sized jar of mayo.

In terms of using up a jar of mayo more quickly, I have used it to grill grilled cheese, and I use it for chicken or fish before rolling them in breadcrumbs.

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