The Key Ingredient In Your Egg Salad Isn't What You Think

Egg salad is one of life's enduring delights, and you can never tell when you're in the mood for a nice, big sandwich full of that eggy, mayo-filled goodness. Because of this, it's always worth keeping the ingredients around, as well as a nice egg salad recipe you'll want to make again and again handy.  

Because egg salad is what one might be inclined to call a pretty simple dish, it can also be a surprisingly deceptive one. For instance, what would you say is the most important ingredient in it – apart from the eggs themselves, of course? Mayonnaise, one might say. A dash of mustard or some surprising spice that can elevate the end result, perhaps? Nope! The key ingredient in your egg salad is indeed extremely vital – but it's one of those ingredients it's easy to forget unless it's not there. Let's take a look at the key ingredient in your egg salad, which is almost certainly not what you think.

Salt is such an important part of egg salad that one of the biggest mistakes you can make with egg salad is not using enough. In these days of healthy eating, it's easy to be a little wary of the amount of salt that you add, but really, unless you accidentally dump in way more than common sense would dictate, there's little reason to worry. After all, eHow tells that all you need to do is add more ingredients like eggs, celery, and onion to counter the saltiness. See, there's no reason to be afraid of mistakes – the worst thing that can happen is that you'll end up with even more of that delicious egg salad.

So, what benefits does salt bring to the table, then? Delicious ones. As Fine Cooking notes, salt is an incredibly efficient flavor enhancer, so when you're dealing with relatively mild flavors like egg and mayo, a generous dash of salt is just what you need to bring out all the finer nuances so the whole thing doesn't just taste of watered-down mustard. The Gracious Wife notes that you can even use salt to draw excess moisture from the more watery ingredients in advance, so if you really want to fine-tune things, add a little on your chopped onions and celery and refrigerate them before adding them in the mix.