My friend Max was telling me about his in-laws’ declicious ham salad the other day at the party. He said it’s really addictive and one of the things he looks forward to after a family ham. Since I have a lot of ham left, the thought had been niggling in the back of my head. And I often find myself scrambling to figure out what to eat for lunch. Hmm. Ham salad.
I’ve never made ham salad in my life — so I did what anyone would do and googled it: Ham Salad. And because I’m me, I fiddled with it some. I put some leftover ham in the Cuisinart and whizzed it with the steel blade. It came out all nice and fluffy. I was surprised. I was afraid it would turn into ham mush. So I dumped it into a big bowl, then took a couple of pickles, a lot of leftover chopped scallions, and a handful of chopped apples (both leftover from the salads-that-weren’t) and whizzed them briefly. I didn’t want mush, I just wanted them smaller than they were. Into the big bowl with the fluffy ham it went. Then I put in a lot of mayo, mustard, some leftover sour cream (from the pecan biscuits) and a big squirt of Rooster sauce.
This made a lot of ham salad. So I froze about 3/4s of it, and put the rest of it in the fridge. Lunch was toast with ham salad, and a bowl of leftover greens soup. It’s really good. It might need a little more fiddling — I’m thinking thyme might just punch it up a tiny bit. But it’s good, and will make lunches a cinch for the rest of the week.
Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of the ham. I sense a session with my vaccuum sealer and the freezer coming up soon.
C., when you say “Rooster sauce,” which do you mean? I know of three that all come from Tuong Ot and have the rooster on the front: Sambal Oelek and Chili-Garlic Sauce (those are in wide-mouth jars and are chunky, with visible seeds), and Sriracha, which is in a squeeze bottle and is smooth.
I am secretly hoping you say Sriracha, because it is the Thing Over Which I Am Powerless and I could use some company. I love that stuff.
Oh yes, the magical Rooster sauce in the squeeze bottle with the green cap. I also love the sambal — especially on a soft boiled egg — but Rooster is the king of all chile sauces. I also used it in the glaze for the ham — the original recipe calls for equal parts orange marmalade, mustard and brown sugar, and I added an equal part Rooster sauce to it as well. Did you see this piece on Rooster sauce in Gourmet:http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/02/sriracha
All hail the mighty Rooster.
You can add me to the roster of Sriracha fanatics. We can’t live without it in our house. We’ve always affectionately called it “Kickin’ Chicken”. It’s BRILLIANT on a burger.
that Gourmet piece was great! and the stuff does bestride the world. i ate lunch today in a Pakistani restaurant by the airport where a lot of the engineers go. on the counter: Sriracha. then i went into the Mexican grocery store in the same strip mall. on the shelf: Sriracha. on the tables in the pho place up the street? Sriracha. and so on. among many other uses i do it half-and-half with good mayo on cold chicken. sublime.
almost as good but a bit harder to find is Lingham’s which is a bit darker red and sweeter. half of why i love it is the Old Raj-ness of its spelling: Lingham’s Chilly Sauce. heh.