THANK YOU, MOM. For making sure that my egg salad never had one chunk of hard boiled egg white in it. Thank you for taking the time to put my egg salad through your old red-handled ricer so that it would come out as smooth as silk when mixed with my favorite mayo, Hellman’s. And, as an aside, thank you so much for putting my milk through a fine-meshed strainer every single morning (even though in the 1950’s you were trying to get dressed to go to work) so that the hunks of wax from the milk carton didn’t get into my milk.
Now that I have grandchildren and I am always looking for something they might like to eat, I called up an old memory of my mother’s delicious egg salad. Five ingredients. Hard boiled eggs, a tiny bit of grated onion, salt and pepper and Hellman’s (I use the olive oil type but the original will also work well). That’s it. But the key to this egg salad is the preparation using the ricer.
If you think buying a ricer just for egg salad might be a waste of money, it isn’t. Because until you have eaten mashed potatoes put in the ricer, you cannot appreciate the perfect texture that little extra step brings. More about mashed potatoes on another day. I love them. A lot. And I am going to show you how to make them and once you rice them, you will never go back to that silly potato masher again. It’s a foodie world out there and if you are reading this blog, you probably understand the little tweaks that can make the ultimate recipe outcome so much better. Because it takes a certain amount of muscle to press the eggs, I like to use a ricer that has rubber handles. I bought mine at Sur La Table and it is well-designed and manageable when trying to press down on the eggs.
The memories of my mother have been coming to me in waves since I have entered Metirement. Not only did I remember the loving care she gave me as her (only) child, but the way her actions reflected her love for me. The extra time to rice the eggs, to grate the onion (in those days there were no microplanes!), to fold in the mayo all sent a message to me that she would do anything to make me happy. No matter how busy she was as a working Mom (how many women worked in the 50’s by choice?), I never felt slighted or compromised. Not sure how she did it, but she found the balance before that was such a popular word.
If she wanted my egg salad to be extra special, she would take a juice glass with straight sides (or a soup can) and coat the inside with a bit of mayo on a paper towel. Then she would put the egg salad in the glass, tightly packed, and refrigerate it covered for a few hours. When she was ready to serve it, she would run a thin, sharp knife all around the edge until the egg salad (now in a nice round roll) popped out sideways and she would slice it about 1/2 inch thick. Not sure what motivated her to take the extra step but I loved my round egg salad “cake” which, if she had the time, she would roll in chopped parsley.
This egg salad is so delicious you could make the egg salad rounds and put them on fresh brioche cut into rounds. Quite a good idea for a baby or wedding shower, don’t you think?
So the word “Finest” in this recipe was meant to describe the fine texture that the ricer creates. But if you want to read that word to mean that this is the best egg salad you will ever eat, well….that’s FINE too.
The "Finest" Egg Salad
Thanks, Mom.
Ingredients
- 1 dozen eggs hard boiled
- 1/2 c. Hellman's mayonnaise
- 1/3 medium onion finely grated on a microplane
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Hard boil the eggs and as soon as they are done, pour off the water and replace it with ice cold water. This makes the eggs much easier to peel.
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In a medium sized bowl, mix the mayonnaise, grated onion and salt and pepper. You want to mix this well before you rice the eggs as this will help distribute the flavors and seasonings more evenly.
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With a ricer, one at a time rice the eggs on top of the mayonnaise mixture.. If you try to do too many your hand will tire and you will make things way more difficult for yourself!
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Fold the mixture all together with a spatula or flat spoon and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. This will keep in the refrigerator for three days (if no one eats it all on day one!).
Recipe Notes
This egg salad is great served on thinly sliced bread as tea sandwiches or eaten straight out of the bowl. You can also add a bit of curry powder if you want to jazz it up a bit but trust me, this egg salad on its own is just the best.