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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Summer Ham Salad

When you have a food blog, sometimes life just gets in the way of being creative.  During the past several weeks our yard has been "under construction" while we had an old patio and retaining wall replaced, then followed it up with laying new sod.  What a huge project this turned out to be!  But on the brighter side, we have a nice new patio and since we can use our grill a bit easier now, we'll be adding lots of new grilling recipes to the web site very soon.

Once that project was finished, I made a quick trip to Tallahassee and reacquainted myself with restaurant food.  Ya know what??  I really don't like restaurant food.  The service received at restaurants seems to have really fallen off over the past few years.  Servers are slow and inattentive, the food is under seasoned and sloppy, and the prices?? Yikes!  I knew it had been a while since I'd  been out to dinner but really, the prices being charged for mediocre food are shocking.  I could not wait to get back home so I could cook something...anything, just so I could add some seasoning!

So, after a couple of crazy-busy weeks, it's time to get back to posting some new recipes. Well, kind of new recipes.  Ham Salad is a dish I learned to make when I was in high school while I was working at a country club.  Ham Salad finger sandwiches were commonly served there for wedding receptions and I probably made several thousand of these over my years there. 

It's been so long since I made this dish I had to really think about the measurements because I've always prepared it by memory.  The ingredients are very flexible and can be changed according to your own tastes. The original recipe used German garlic bologna instead of ham but we still called it "ham" salad...lol.  It's also very good made with smoked ham or honey ham for a slightly sweeter batch.


This salad is great on crackers or on a nice soft dinner roll and makes a great lunch or light dinner.  It's perfect for hot summer days (like today!) when you want something quick and cool and easy.  Just add a small salad and dinner is ready.  Enjoy!


2 lb  Smoked Ham  (or German Beef Bologna or Honey Ham)
3  Hard Boiled Eggs, chopped**
1 cup  Shredded Cheddar Cheese**
1 cup  Mayonnaise**
1/2 cup  Sweet Pickle Relish**
3 TB  Sugar

Using a food grinder, grind the ham into a large bowl. (A food processor works great, too.) Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine.  For the best flavor, prepare the salad one day in advance.

**  The amounts for eggs, cheese, mayo and pickle relish can be adjusted to suit your own preferences.  If you like more mayo, just add an extra tablespoon at a time and mix it into the salad  until you get the consistency you prefer.

4 comments:

  1. Wow, have you brought back memories. My grandmother used to make something similar that we all loved. She made sandwiches out of it and we scooped it up with crackers too. She used to put it through her old hand crank grinder. Love this post!

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  2. Cathy ~ It's an oldie but a goodie! I still like to eat this with crackers, the same way I did when I was a kid.

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  3. I do make this a lot for me. I love ham salad as a sandwich and also as a lettuce topping with crackers. The hubs is not into anything like this so I do have to make it in small amounts. A great item for a picnic lunch and a true classic that will remain as such!

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  4. Like the other posters this brings back memories-I need to make this for my next work stretch, thank you

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