The Other Deli Salads

We've discussed cole slaw,potato salad,chicken & tuna salad recently. I've been wondering how many folks still eat or make the classic three/four bean type salads, Health Salad, and carrot salad they way they used to be made. One of the easiest way to get a bad look from my kids or anyone else for that matter is to bring up carrot salad. Shouldn't be any surprise as within the past 20 years it's moved from an intensively laborious made box grated salad to a tasteless facsimile of itself using julienned shredded carrots in a straw-like inedible consistancy with rock hard raisins by most foodservice preparers . With all of the food processors around nowadays, this salad has lapsed from the delicious treat it used to be for no reason. The bean salads used to be very popular too. You rarely see these anymore in buffets or delis. If you do, they usually turn out to be somebody's bad and sour representation using some kind of bottled Italian dressing instead of the classic sweet vinegarette. Then there is the almost forgotten Health Salad that used to be made with finely sliced, shaved, and grated ingredients. I hear whole foods and a few other places still make this, but not like the old delis did using the same vinegarette that the Health Salads of the past did. I can't say when was the last time I had or even seen this available in it's original form. So much of the classic deli fare is slipping into history and I'm wondering if there are any places that still make the classics as they should or if anyone still does. I'll occasionally make a three bean salad, but end up eating it myself.

Re: Carrot Salad. You forgot to take into account the genetically engineered carrots don't have the flavor and texture of old time carrots. Read recently where Baby Carrots are now outselling regular sized carrots.

I used to use Carrot raisin salad, 3 and 4 bean salad, ambrosia salad, pistachio salad, and many others I can't remember right now on a Seafood buffet I did back in 1990. I think you may see some of these salads in buffet style restaurants.............pnwc

What I don't understand is why they take perfectly good carrots and "shave" them down to make baby carrots. I just plain do not understand, and then charge twice the price.

brisketboy


What I don't understand is why they take perfectly good carrots and "shave" them down to make baby carrots. I just plain do not understand, and then charge twice the price.

the shavings become the food service carrot salad Dawn mentioned.

What is health salad?
 
Our deli still has 3 bean, but I prefer my mother's.

I'm not familiar with health salad, but I love carrot, ambrosia, and bean salads.  Other than cafeterias or meat-n-threes, I rarely see them on menus now.  

As a side note, I detest those baby carrots, but I can eat my weight in fresh carrot sticks.  Go figure.

My mother used to make a 5 bean salad. It had green, wax, garbanzo, kidney and sadly I cannot remember the last bean. I always got to mix the dressing to add. While I never really appreciated that salad as a child, I now miss that salad and with the passing of my mother, I do not have the recipe to recreate that salad.

I've been making Claremont Salad (very similar to Health Salad) for several years now since I learned about this deli side dish right here on Roadfood. In fact, I have plans to make up a bowl of it this weekend. Not only do I like the taste of the salad, but I love that I can keep a bowl in the fridge for several days, which is more than I can say for tossed salads.
 
Claremont Salad
3/4 small head green cabbage sliced into thin shred
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled, thin sliced
1 small green bell pepper, small chopped
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, seeded and sliced thin
1 t. salt
1 TB water
2 TB oil
3 TB vinegar
2 TB sugar
 
Toss the vegetables together; mix dressing ingredients in a jar. Shake well. Pour over vegetables and stir well. Let set at room temp for 2 hours, then chill. Will keep several days in the fridge.

Foodbme


Re: Carrot Salad. You forgot to take into account the genetically engineered carrots don't have the flavor and texture of old time carrots. Read recently where Baby Carrots are now outselling regular sized carrots.

Where can I find some of those "genetically engineered" carrots?

This is another salad I like to have on hand in the summer for picnics, potlucks and family meals. I cut the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup.
 
Marinated Vegetable Salad
 
1 cup sugar or less
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 t. pepper
1/2 t. salt
1 16 oz. can French-style green beans, drained or a 10 oz. package frozen
1 16 oz. can green peas, drained or a 10 oz. package frozen peas
2 14 oz. cans shoepeg corn. drained
1 2 oz. can diced pimientos, drained
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 a medium to large green bell pepper, diced
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
 
Mix the sugar, vinegar, oil, s&p in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. Take off heat and cool. Mix the vegetables together in a large bowl. Pour over the cooled dressing. Toss well to mix. Chill 8 hours or more. Makes 8-10 servings.

Jarjarino, the Marinated Vegetable dressing above is exactly the same as mine except I use a 15 oz can each of wax, regular green, and rinsed red kidney beans. One medium white onion diced, and one green or red pepper cut into 1" strips about 1/4" wide. I don't boil the dressing and let it marinate until the next day. The original recipe also included a can of Garbanzo Beans(chick peas) and fresh, chopped dill which I omitted. That's probably the bean you remember and 1/2 the white pepper instead of black and at least double the salt.
 
The same dressing went into the Health Salad which is pretty similar to the above Claremont salad. I'd pulse two bags of angel hair cabbage instead.

I love pea salad.

brisketboy


What I don't understand is why they take perfectly good carrots and "shave" them down to make baby carrots. I just plain do not understand, and then charge twice the price.

Here is the story of manufactured baby carrots:
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/babycarrot.html

jajarino68


My mother used to make a 5 bean salad. It had green, wax, garbanzo, kidney and sadly I cannot remember the last bean. I always got to mix the dressing to add. While I never really appreciated that salad as a child, I now miss that salad and with the passing of my mother, I do not have the recipe to recreate that salad.

Could the fifth bean have been black beans , pintos, or lentils?  I would think, as a child you might possibly remember black beans or pintos, simply because of their distinct colors.  I can't remember soy beans or green lima beans ever being used in a bean salad, though I am sure they could have been.

I personally love ham salad, egg salad, pea salad, macaroni salad and kidney bean salad all made with mayo.  In fact, just last week I made myself a ham-(hard boiled) egg-(shredded) cheddar cheese salad that I used for sandwiches for a couple of days. 
 
I also take (jarred) red cabbage, add some onion flakes and vinegar and let it marinate in the refrigerator a few days in its jar, before having it cold as a salad.

 
I got to looking around for some 5 bean recipes and I saw pintos in several. I'm guessing it may have been those, but really can't be for sure. If I ever get around to making it, I'll use the pinto and see if it jogs any memories.

I can't find pea salad or seven layer salad (my favorite) or carrot salad at any of my local groceries or delis.  I can find the three bean salad and the macaroni salad and a pickle salad but the ham salad and egg salad are  also hard to find.  They have Asian side salads and things like that, but it seems the more "old fashioned" sides are getting harder to find.

tcrouzer


I've been making Claremont Salad (very similar to Health Salad) for several years now since I learned about this deli side dish right here on Roadfood. In fact, I have plans to make up a bowl of it this weekend. Not only do I like the taste of the salad, but I love that I can keep a bowl in the fridge for several days, which is more than I can say for tossed salads.

I love Claremont Salad. I've never made it myself, the deli at my local Wegmans usually has it, and it's pretty tasty. Might try your recipe out though!

Andrea-you would love the deli near my home! They sell 7 layer, egg salad, and a fantastic home made ham salad. They do, sometimes, have pea salad, I think to satisfy their older clientele...but I always buy it!!

I always have a little 3 bean salad when I see it on a salad bar. I don't recall it being that much different from what I had 20-30 years ago.

ann peeples


Andrea-you would love the deli near my home! They sell 7 layer, egg salad, and a fantastic home made ham salad. They do, sometimes, have pea salad, I think to satisfy their older clientele...but I always buy it!!

 
I'm so jealous, Ann!  We could really use a good deli here.  I also miss beets/beet salad, and cucumber, tomato, and onion salad.    It seems that I could always find these things as a teenager in the 80's.  These days, it's off to the kitchen with me if I want them!

We have a friend that makes an awesome broccoli salad everytime we have a cookout or go camping.  I know there is bacon and cheese in it and something sweet.  Maybe not the healthiest salad but tastes great.

Ham salad from a local german grocery/butcher shop in town.  My husband hates ham, but loves their ham salad, and that says alot.

The broccoli salad might have raisins, bacon, red onion, and cheese with a sweet mayo dressing - an unlikely combination, but it is sooooo good! Sunflower seeds are good in the mix too.
 
 

Dawn T - I love carrot salad and feel the same way about those rock-hard raisins.  I posted a recipe below for a carrot salad that's really good, the secret is -  the raisins are plumped up, and it uses fresh pineapple(most grocery stores in our area carry chunks of fresh pineapple and I get the smallest container I can find, though the chunks are large and need to be cut again.)  I tweaked this from the Barefoot Contessa whose original recipe calls for 1/3 c. pineapple and raisins, which to me is not nearly enough.
 
Carrot Salad
1 lb. bag of carrots, peeled 
1/2-1 cup raisins
2 TBS. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup mayonaise + 2-3 TBS.
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
3 TBS. sugar
1/2-1 cup fresh pineapple
 
Place raisins in a small bowl and cover with boiling water.  Let sit for 5 minutes, drain well, and set aside.
Fit a food processor with the grating attachment. Cut the carrots in half, and place in the feed tub on their sides.  Process in batches, place grated carrots in a medium bowl, toss with lemon juice.
Whisk together the sour cream, mayo, sugar and salt,  Pour the dressing over the carrots and add the pineapple and raisins.  The salad may seem a little dry at this point, so add extra mayo, 1 TBS. at a time until it's the consistency you want.  This salad is best when served cold, so make ahead and refrigerate before serving.

My Mom made awesome carrot salad. Your recipe looks like one I will try. However, funny as it may sound, I like firm raisons in it. Gives it a different texture in my opinion and taste! And of course, Mom grated her own carrots by hand!!

Ann, I remember those days before food processors well, not so much from making carrot salad, but from making carrot cake.  It's been a while since I've made one, but as I recall, it needed to be finely grated, and called for 3-4 cups.  I made my first carrot cake in the early 70's, and it was probably a good ten years later, when food processors came out.

Thank goodness for food processors!