Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Grandmother's Egg Salad (Sandwich)
I hesitated to write up this recipe up for two reasons: one, egg salad is as common as the white bread it's served on, and I figure everybody has their own version and isn't interested in somebody else's take. And two, there's no secret ingredient here that I'm about to reveal. This is just your straightforward egg salad (aka "egg mayonnaise" in the UK) with celery, green onion, mayo, salt, and pepper. So it's hardly a recipe.
Still, an egg salad can go from simple to sublime with attention to detail. I always make sure to chop all the celery finely and evenly, avoid overcooking the eggs so the yolks don't go green (they should be soft and custardy), use toasted white bread that's good and squishy, and make a quick batch of homemade mayonnaise. Together with good-quality ingredients, it all makes for a wonderful result.
In the opinion of my fiancée, who was served egg salad by her Estonian vanaema (grandmother) on a regular basis, the only way to eat egg salad is to cut the bread into quarters. She says it tastes better that way. And I have to say, I agree.
Grandmother's Egg Salad (Sandwich)
- serves 2 -
Ingredients
4 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped (boiling instructions below)
1 stalk of celery, including the leaves for flavor, finely chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 to 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, preferably homemade with a neutral oil (i.e., not olive)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 slices white bread, toasted
Procedure
1. Place the eggs carefully in a pot of cold water and bring it to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water boils, place a lid on the pot and turn off the heat. Allow to stand for ten minutes, then rinse under cold water until cool to the touch. Peel and chop.
2. Mix together the celery and green onions with the enough mayonnaise to bind together, with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Carefully stir in the chopped egg so it doesn't break up too much. Add more mayonnaise if desired.
3. Toast bread, smear mayonnaise on each side, and fill with egg mixture.