Ham salad is a dish made with cooked ham, mayonnaise, and other ingredients such as hard-boiled eggs, onions, and spices. It can be eaten with crackers or as a sandwich and is often made with leftover ham. The term “ham salad” can also refer to similar dishes made with bologna or diced ham in a green salad.
Ham salad is a meat dish that can be prepared in a variety of ways and can include a number of optional ingredients. In essence, however, the dish consists of cooked ham that is finely chopped or ground and then mixed with mayonnaise and a number of other additives. This produces a dish similar to chicken or tuna salad and can likewise be used for the best crackers or placed on bread or a roll to create a sandwich. Ham salad can also be used to refer to a number of similar or related dishes, such as a similar dish made with bologna or a salad with chunks of ham.
In most usages, “ham salad” does not refer to a salad in the sense of mixed greens and other greens, but in the same usage as “tuna salad” or “macaroni salad.” Just like these dishes, ham salad is typically made with two basic ingredients, which are fully cooked ham and mayonnaise. It is often used as a way to use up leftover ham, and many households view the salad as a traditional dish to enjoy after holidays or other celebrations where ham is commonly served.
Ham salad starts with cooked ham which is then diced or ground before being added to mayonnaise and mixed with other ingredients. Different people might prefer different textures to the ham, so some people might cut it into cubes while others might prefer the ham to have a soft, almost paste-like texture. Various ingredients that can be added to ham salad include hard-boiled eggs, dressing, diced onions, diced red or green peppers, mustard, and spices such as salt, pepper, paprika, and onion and garlic powder. This concoction can then simply be eaten with a fork, but is typically spread on crackers or eaten as a sandwich on bread.
While this is the most common type of ham salad, the term can also refer to similar dishes. Diced ground bologna, for example, could be mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients to create a similar dish. This is often referred to as “ham salad” simply because the term “bologna salad” can sound a little strange or unattractive. A real salad, prepared with green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, can also be made with diced pieces of ham, although this is usually referred to as a salad with ham.
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