looking for REGIONAL recipes (trying to make this travel related somehow). I just read not to use dark meat chicken and Miracle Whip. Any other good suggestions, recipes?

In particular, I'm looking for a chicken salad recipe with grapes and slivered almonds.

The recipes are only travel related if you report back about the great chicken salad you had ON your TRAVELs.

If you get on Epicurious.com, and search for chicken salad with grapes and almonds, you will get some of the recipes from Gourmet and Bon Apetit. Definitely do not use dark meat, and if you use Miracle Whip. it will change the taste.

If you TRAVEL to Denver, the Denver Junior League cookbook has a great recipe for chicken salad that uses grapes, water chestnuts, a bit of candied ginger, chicken breast meat, pecans (I guess you could substitute almonds), soy sauce, curry powder, and other tasty ingredients. It's a great salad, in the wonderful Colorado Cache cookbook, p. 84. (If you're really interested and can't find it, I could type it up for you.)

Wolfgang Puck makes a chicken salad to die for. Has no relationship to the chicken salad that I've seen at other establishments. I know it had the almonds and some crunchy noodles.

I just looked it up on google. I was wrong. It is similar to Maureen B's, but more Asian. It is incredibly good.

Not almonds, but candied cashews.

And it's called Chinois Chicken Salad- with Marinated Chicken Breast/Mixed Greens,Candied Cashews, and Crispy WonTons.

Yes, type away MaureenB. Thank You!

Substitute turkey and you've got a WASP Third Day After Thanksgiving special. Delicious and sure beats another evening of open-faced turkey sandwiches...! In your TRAVELS you will surely find a deli that serves this salad with either chicken or turkey.

JJ5, Wolfie's "Chinois Chicken Salad" is his take on that California lunch eatery favorite, the chopped Chinese chicken salad (chicken, lettuce and shredded cabbage, fried wonton noodles, ginger-based rice vinaigrette). His innovation is to go all-cabbage and use a classic dijon vinaigrette. His local Express eateries don't put almonds in any more (nut allergy fears?).

Here you go, Honey!

Gently boil/simmer some split bone-in chicken breasts. Dark meat is for paella and gumbo, putting it in chicken salad is just tacky. Take it out when it's done. As soon as it's cool enough not to burn your hands, pull out the bones and skin and other nasty bits. Salt the chicken now. Chop it very fine or put it in the food processor, but not too long, you don't want chicken PASTE. Add DUKES mayonaise. Dukes reduced fat is an acceptable substitute. Nothing else is. Stir it in. It will combine so much nicer when the chicken is warm.

Now all you have to do is add whatever you want in your salad. Finely diced celery is more or less mandatory. Onion is optional, as are sweet pickle relish (called picklelily by that Yankee I brought home), sliced almonds, green pepper, walnuts, halved grapes. Add some more mayo until it all sticks together.

Some people add hard boiled eggs, bless their hearts, but that's just awful.

Hi starrsville, my SIL use to make a great chicken salad that was so easy to prepare.

She mixed cooked white chopped chicken meat into BestFood Mayonaisse (Hellman's on the eastcoast) that had some curry mixed into the mayonaisse along with a bit of fresh lemon juice. She added grapes, water chestnuts, chopped celery to the chicken mixture.

She cut off the top of tomatoes, scooped out the seeds and inside and filled the tomatoes with the chicken mixture. Butter lettuce on the plates with stuffed tomato on top of the lettuce.

Sometimes she added chopped apples to the chicken mixture, but not always. I liked it best with the apples.

Our family doesn' tend to write down receipes but the chicken mixture can be tasted as you prepare it and you can add whatever else you would like such as salt, pepper, whatever.

Enjoy!

I had a recipe that I always took ON MY TRAVELS but can't remember exactly what I put in it. I think it was just chicken, Hellman's, garlic salt, slivered almonds and grapes. I've put a call out to friends trying to see if I'm missing anything. Was hoping my Fodor's friends were familiar with it or something similar.

But, the WP recipe sounds delish! Thanks all.

I traveled to my mailbox to pick up my Cooking Light magazine. I made the most delicious curry chicken salad with apples and plump golden and red raisins. Yum.

Starrsville,

I have a recipe that includes all of the ingredients you mentioned, with the addition of chopped celery, dried thyme and garlic powder.

The Hellman's is a MUST and I usually add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the mayo.

I've also used sliced almonds (lightly toasted) in place of the slivered almonds...it's just a more gentle bite !

I am a chicken salad fiend !

Hope this helps !

Marion

I love to order chicken salad for lunch when I am TRAVELING, so when I come home, I like to recreate it.

For the juiciest white-meat chicken, poach boneless chicken breasts in water with celery, onion, salt, pepper, parsley and a splash or two of white wine. Bring to a boil, and then take off the heat. When the pot is cooled, the chicken will be cooked through, but not overcooked and dry. (Save the broth to use another time!)

Chop the chicken breasts into small chunks, add your favorite mayo (I like Hellman's), slivered almonds, grapes that are halved, thyme, a sprinkle of garlic powder, salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

I do also really like chicken salad with curry, but that's another recipe!

Marion - we were posting at the same time! I agree about toasting the almonds. It adds another whole level of flavor. I'm getting hungry!!

I just opened my Rochester NY junior league cookbook and the page with the chicken salad is MISSING! What the heck...I'll try to get it from a friend. It's called Fruited Chicken Salad and I recall that it is really good.

1scs1 ,

You saved me from my follow-up post about how to properly poach the chicken breasts.

Although I take it one more compulsive step, by poaching split breasts, on the bone with the skin. Same poaching method, and a little more work but the skin and the bones insure a more moist meat

Lordy, we're all about to be bounced from this board !

Marion

Just curious, what is it about dark meat that's bad? Do you think it's bad, just in chicken salad, or bad, in general?

Geez, you people are making me hungry! Some great recipes!

I often buy a large package of chicken breasts when they're on sale, poach them and freeze them in recipe size bags. I've found that skin-on, bone-in definitely makes for juicier meat. And better broth to be frozen for another use.

I tried a recipe last summer that called for smoked turkey breast but would surely work with chicken. It was from a fund-raising cook book with recipes from Dayton-Hudson employees from all over the country. Does that sort of relate to travel??

Smoked Turkey with Jarlsberg Salad

3/4 lb smoked turkey breast
2 1/8 lb Jarlsberg cheese
1/4 lb. red seedless grapes
1/4 stalk celery, chopped

Dressing:

3/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
2 teaspoons crushed green peppercorns

Cut turkey and cheese into julienne strips 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. In large bowl, combine turkey, cheese, grapes and celery. In small bowl, combine dressing ingredients; add to turkey mixture. Mix well. 6 to 8 servings.

It was quite tasty! But I'm wondering whether the amount on the Jarlsberg isn't a misprint. I know I didn't put in anywhere near that much. I'm guessing it's supposed to be 1/8 pound and that the 2 is because it's the 2nd ingredient (probably copied from a recipe that numbered the ingredients).

Marion, you were posting as I was writing! See you already covered the skin and bones thing!