# Is this chicken salad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630 "2016-08-22T15:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/61 "2016-08-23T18:11:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > There are only a few rules here (in 'murica). > > 1. You’ve got to have dressing of some sort as a binder. > 2. The “x” of “x salad” has to be the main component of the dish. > > Those rules hold not just for meat salads, but for potato and macaroni salads as well. You can’t just throw some boiled potatoes onto a bunch of veggies and call it potato salad, and you can’t throw chicken onto a bunch of veggies and call it chicken salad. But don’t forget that pasta salad is completely different from macaroni salad and doesn’t involve mayonnaise (but does use Italian dressing). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/62 "2016-08-23T18:14:57Z")
Is “pasta salad” that tightly defined? To me, it could be almost anything. Macaroni salad, though, I have a few more expectations for. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/63 "2016-08-23T18:23:05Z")
Agreed. Mac salad is a mayo based concoction. Pasta salad can be just about anything pasta based. My own recipe uses Greek dressing, tri-color fusilli, diced summer sausage and cheese and a few grape tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/64 "2016-08-23T19:09:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is “pasta salad” that tightly defined? To me, it could be almost anything. Macaroni salad, though, I have a few more expectations for. “Pasta salad” is not that tightly defined- it can have vegetables , pieces of cheese or meat etc. But it doesn’t have mayo or any other creamy dressing , it does have some sort of oil and vinegar dressing and while I’ve seen it made with different pasta shapes (usually either fusilli, rotini or penne) I’ve never seen it with the elbows that are invariably used for macaroni salad. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/65 "2016-08-23T19:13:04Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > “Pasta salad” is not that tightly defined- it can have vegetables , pieces of cheese or meat etc. But it doesn’t have mayo or any other creamy dressing , it does have some sort of oil and vinegar dressing and while I’ve seen it made with different pasta shapes (usually either fusilli, rotini or penne) I’ve never seen it with the elbows that are invariably used for macaroni salad. See, I’ve seen it with mayo. No elbows, though. That’s specifically “macaroni salad.” Normally, I would think of something with rotini, olives, tomatoes, oil & vinegar (and other ingredients, often veggies) for “pasta salad,” but I have encountered versions with mayo as the dressing [like this one](http://www.food.com/recipe/super-easy-pasta-salad-62907) (half mayo, half Italian dressing in that one). Then again, I do live in the Midwest, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/66 "2016-08-23T19:45:51Z")
Chicken salad is just like tuna salad except with chicken. I hope that clears things up. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/67 "2016-08-23T20:27:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Chicken salad is just like tuna salad except with chicken. I hope that clears things up. You mean [like](http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Salad-Ni%C3%A7oise-Low-calorie-Version-4.jpg) [these](http://littleferrarokitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DSC_0075.jpg)? They have tuna in them… 😃 . ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/68 "2016-08-23T21:16:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > You mean [like](http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Salad-Ni%C3%A7oise-Low-calorie-Version-4.jpg) [these](http://littleferrarokitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DSC_0075.jpg)? They have tuna in them… No like [this](http://www.momswhothink.com/images/stories/homefood/Tuna-Salad.jpg). See you can put tuna salad on top of salad and have a tuna salad salad. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/69 "2016-08-24T23:43:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > There are only a few rules here (in 'murica). > > 1. You’ve got to have dressing of some sort as a binder. > 2. The “x” of “x salad” has to be the main component of the dish. > > Those rules hold not just for meat salads, but for potato and macaroni salads as well. You can’t just throw some boiled potatoes onto a bunch of veggies and call it potato salad, and you can’t throw chicken onto a bunch of veggies and call it chicken salad. > > It sounds like a delicious meal, though. Well there ya go. I leaned something new. If I asked someone to make me a chicken salad, I would have been hoping for exactly what the kid made. Same if I walked into a sandwich shop and asked for a Chicken Salad Sandwich, I’d be expecting some sliced or diced chicken with salad items like lettuce, cucumber, tomato etc. How does that rule above work for Bean salad which has a vinaigrette dressing? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/70 "2016-08-24T23:50:12Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > If I asked someone to make me a chicken salad, I would have been hoping for exactly what the kid made. If you ask for **A** chicken salad, you will probably get what the kid made. If you ask for chicken salad, you should get what I described above. This rule doesn’t work for anything other than chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Lebodnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@Mr.Lebodnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Lebodnik)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/71 "2016-08-25T03:42:38Z")
It was a salad with chicken. But not chicken salad. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630/72 "2016-08-25T04:40:09Z")
I’m the master of all things food, as you know–if you read any of my status’ on FB–so trust me when I say that, however delicious it may have been, what you had was a salad with chicken added…not chicken salad in the actual sense of the food. Chicken Salad has mayo in it and has little bits of other stuff (whatever you like) in it, but nothing as much as the chicken. The chicken and mayo are the dominant things, if there is any other food in it that is more numerous than the chicken, it becomes something else other than chicken salad. It’s like grilled cheese. Adding ham or bacon is fine…but then it’s not a grilled cheese sandwich anymore, sorry. It’s a grilled cheese and ham sandwich or bacon and cheese sandwich. A grilled cheese sandwich is just: Cheese, grilled. Period. Full stop. That’s all. That’s it. You grill cheese between two slices of bread and that is what you have. Adding anything else makes it a “Grilled cheese and \_\_\_\_\_\_ sandwich”. It’s food laws, folks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-salad/763630.md?page=3)