I have a collection of old cookbooks from the mid-20th century, and almost every one has a recipe for egg salad. Most are identical: Dice eggs into small pieces, add enough mayonnaise to bind and pickle relish to taste. Then there are those recipes for egg salad molds – unflavored gelatin with cold chicken stock and hard-boiled eggs. As disgusting as that may sound, no respectable community cookbook from the 1950s could leave one out of the “ladies luncheon menu” section.
Toward the end of the century, though, something happened. Egg salad disappeared from most cookbooks. But now it’s back. Chefs and home cooks are giving it a second look and have hatched new recipes with surprising ingredients for such an old standard – crispy pancetta, white truffles and capers among them.
“We’re certainly seeing people get very creative, putting unique spins on the classic egg salad recipe,” says Ashley Richardson, communications director for the American Egg Board.
Anne BralyNow, the dices are bigger, the flavors are bolder. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: Egg salad is still perfect for a ladies summer luncheon. Serve it on a pretty salad plate in a leaf of butter lettuce, or offer it as a spread for rounds of bread or toast points. Add some bacon, and the guys will go for it, too.
Some people are substituting Greek yogurt in place of mayonnaise as a healthier alternative, Richardson notes.