Fare Exchange: Chicken salad and mayo conversations continue

Jane Henegar

Good morning, good friends. We've got a request from K.H. of Rising Fawn, Ga., for popovers made in the blender, and from Hostess Anonymous for Mary Fort Roberts' wild rice salad recipe. Also in the batch are requests for peanut butter brownies and almond butter brownies with this question: "Can peanut butter and almond butter be used interchangeably in baked goods?"

SALAD DE CHICKEN

It's still summertime and that means chicken salad time. An anonymous Exchanger has an inside track to chicken salad.

"I worked at the now-defunct Paris Market on East Brainerd Road back in the mid-90s (the job that launched my food career). They had the best chicken salad that I had ever eaten and that still stands today. It may be because it is chunky and not puréed like so many are. Also, it's pretty basic and doesn't have a lot of extras in it like nuts, fruit, etc. The recipe makes a lot I won't even attempt to convert it."

Since that restaurant is no longer in business, here's the once-secret recipe:

Paris Market Chicken Salad for a Crowd

10 pounds chicken tenderloins

4 cups mayonnaise

2/3 cup Dijon mustard

Coarse-ground pepper and salt to taste

1 1/2 tablespoons chicken base

1/2 cup chicken stock, from cooking chicken tenderloins

5 large dill pickles

2 medium or 1 large white onion, chopped

3/4 bunch celery chopped, use leafy part in addition to the stalks

Put chicken tenderloins in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil and turn off immediately.

Let sit until cooked through. Don't continue to cook after bringing to a boil. It will make them tough. Allow to cool.

Mix remaining ingredients and add chicken when cooled.

Refrigerate immediately.

COLORFUL FARE

Roseann Strazinsky adds color to the summer plate with two recipes that feature beets and pineapple and lemon. She wrote that the beet recipe "is my favorite company salad."

Company Beets with Pineapple

These are sparkling red beets in a sweet yet slightly tart fruit sauce.

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 (9-ounce) can pineapple tidbits

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 (1-pound) can sliced beets, drained

Combine brown sugar, cornstarch and salt in saucepan. Stir in pineapple (with syrup). Cook, stirring constantly, till mixture thickens and bubbles. Add butter, lemon juice and drained beets. Heat through, about 5 minutes. May be served warm or cold.

Makes 4 servings.

Tutti-Frutti Lemon

No cooking is required.

1 (8 3/4-ounce) can pineapple tidbits, undrained

1 (11-ounce) can mandarin orange sections, undrained

1 (17-ounce) can fruit cocktail, undrained

1/2 cup flaked coconut

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 (3 3/4- or 3-ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix

2 bananas

Frozen whipped dessert topping, thawed

In large bowl, combine pineapple tidbits, mandarin orange sections and fruit cocktail with the flaked coconut and lemon juice. Sprinkle the instant lemon pudding mix over fruits and toss lightly to combine; chill. Just before serving, peel and slice bananas to make 1 1/2 cups. Fold bananas into lemon-fruit mixture. Serve in dessert dishes or sherbets; top with whipped cream topping.

Makes 10 servings.

EVEN MORE MAYO

The mayonnaise conversation continues. Thanks to you, Bernice Webb, for this comment.

"My husband and I, along with two friends, have had the good fortune to travel together to all of the states (except Hawaii). We would go out for two or three weeks, traveling the back roads and carrying a food box. In it were things that we could have for lunch if we were in some place that had no place to eat when we wished to eat. We also carried a cooler with drinks, cheese, mayo and tomatoes. We have eaten on school grounds, church grounds, picnic tables beside the roads; very rarely have we had to eat in the van.

"On our last trip two years ago, we were in Hot Springs, Ark. We had stopped at an overlook and were enjoying the view when a car came and parked beside us. The lone man in the car started talking to us. He had driven down from the Midwest and he was looking for Duke's Mayonnaise. His last name was Duke and he had been doing some research on his ancestors and discovered that he was kin to the inventor of Duke's.

"He asked if Duke's was carried in Hot Springs. We told him we could get it in Chattanooga and Roanoke, Va. (where our friends are from). I didn't say a word but got out of the car, opened the cooler and got out the small jar of Duke's mayo that had been to Utah and back. (It was so good on tomato sandwiches). Imagine his surprise when I walked over to his car and gave him the small jar of Duke's. He thanked and thanked me and drove away a very happy man. I'll never know if he ever found a store where he could stock up on his old family recipe."

ONLINE HOSTILITY

The best edibles for us have been corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe and peaches. The pinnacle of corn delight came for us last weekend with a neighbor's meal featuring Mexican street corn. His recipe will appear next week in this column, but first, a comment about the recipes to be found on the web. They are often followed with hundreds, nay thousands, of comments. In researching Mexican street corn, I was startled to find a lot of grumpy, even hostile conversation about the options. Could this be fallout from the presidential election? Are the ingredients in the sauce really worth a volley of words aimed at strangers?

Someone advised, "Resist at all costs the temptation to offer such comments or even to read them." And that reminded me that such commentary is not to be found in Fare Exchange. You people are companionable and that is very good. Thank you and keep it up.