Egg salad is part of a tradition of salads involving a high-protein and low-carbohydrate food mixed with seasonings in the form of spices, herbs, and other foods, and bound with mayonnaise. Its siblings include tuna salad, chicken salad, ham salad, lobster salad, and crab salad.
Egg salad is often used as a sandwich filling, typically made of chopped hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, minced celery, onion, salt, pepper and paprika. It is also often used as a topping on green salads.
A closely related sandwich filler is egg mayonnaise, where chopped hard-boiled egg is mixed with mayonnaise only.
Egg salad can be made creatively with any number of other cold foods added. Onions, lettuce, pickles, pickle relish, capers, bacon, pepper, cheese, celery and cucumber are common ingredients.
In Britain and Ireland, egg salad refers to green or mixed vegetable salad with egg on the side as the protein part of the meal, but not necessarily in mayonnaise.
Famous quotes containing the words egg and/or salad:
“A day without an argument is like an egg without salt.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist—the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one’s vinegar.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)