Guidelines for Preparing Bound Protein Salads

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Published 2010

The cooked protein item should be fresh, moist, and tasty in its own right. While it is acceptable to recycle leftover cooked meats and poultry into bound protein salads, check carefully for quality and freshness.
Keep the accent vegetables to a minimum, and cut them very small. Customers perceive the celery, onion, peppers, and other vegetables in these salads as filler and consider a salad with a high ratio of these accent vegetables to be of poor value.
Fabricate the protein item in a size appropriate for the salad’s intended use. If a salad is to be served as a plated entrée, the item can be cut into fairly large dice. However, for sandwiches it should be chopped into small pieces so the salad binds tightly together and stays neatly in the roll or bread.
To improve the flavor of a bound protein salad, try mixing an appropriate glace into the dressing. Some poultry glace whisked into the dressing for a chicken salad or some seafood glace into the dressing for a shrimp salad acts as a liaison between the protein and its sauce, and it gives the finished salad a powerful flavor boost.
If served in plated presentation, the bound salad should be placed on a bed of greens or on a liner leaf. A leafy greens liner adds lightness and crunch, gives color to the plate, and makes the plate look more full. Appropriate garnishes also add welcome texture and color.

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