Chicken Salad Three Ways

These three recipes are only suggestions. The base is always the same, with flavors of your imagination determining the result. Mayonnaise is always a part of the recipe. If you make your own, you instantly elevate the chicken salad by a factor of ten. And if you have an immersion blender with a whisk attachment, there’s really no excuse not to if you can spare four or five minutes. I always like to add acidity to the chicken salad, usually in the form of lemon (or, for the jerked chicken salad, I use the even-more-dynamic lime). Including the aromatic shallot, cooked, as it were, in that acid, is what I consider to be the true secret to this dressing’s awesomeness. If you want other flavors, add them. Perhaps some piquant mustard, or a dash of cayenne for some heat. I don’t think bacon has ever hurt anything, and could add not only smoky, salty, umami flavor but also crunch, which is the final component of an excellent chicken salad. Some form of crunch should really be a part of the mix, as the chicken is so soft. For that, I often go to celery, for its salty flavor as well as its texture. But perhaps with the curried salad, that crunch could come from papadums.