CHECKOUT By Laurin Stamm

From The Kitchen of the Cypress House June 27, 1984:

As often as we prepare chicken salad, and as much as we like it in The Cypress House, I find it hard to believe that we have not shared this recipe with readers. But I have gone back through the years and there is no chicken salad recipe included. Maybe that’s because we rarely make chicken salad the exact same way.

But this week I made a big bowl of chicken salad for the swim meet lunches and I thought it was the best to date. (Story claims it was good, but not the best.) At any rate, it’s easy and delicious and you can’t go wrong if you just use this as a basis for making your version.

Chicken Salad1 whole fryer or 5 hindquarters, cooked, skinned and boned3 or 4 stems celery, chopped2 or 4 green onions, sliced4 to 6 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped2 or 3 hard-cooked eggsLemon pepper marinadeFresh lemon juiceTabascoBlack pepper to tasteCurry powder to tasteMayonnaise

Chop the chicken (or cut with scissors) into small pieces. Put into a bowl with the celery, onions, parsley and the hard-cooked eggs, chopped. Sprinkle liberally with the lemon pepper marinade, black pepper and lemon juice. Add the Tabasco and curry powder to taste. (We use several good shakes of Tabasco and about 1 teaspoon curry powder.)

Toss lightly, being careful not to tear up the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

When ready to serve the salad, mix in just enough mayonnaise to hold the chicken and vegetables together (several tablespoons). Adjust the seasonings.

Serve on whole wheat bread for sandwiches or in a lettuce cup with homemade mayonnaise on top. Great also as a stuffing for fresh tomatoes; top with a dollop of homemade mayonnaise.

P.S. As with Chicken Tetrazzini the seasoning you give your chicken when boiling it makes the difference in the taste of your salad. Use celery, onion, carrot, salt and pepper, a bay leaf and maybe several cubes of chicken bouillon in your pot.

In early December of 1977, food editor Laurin Stamm began a weekly recipe column titled “From the Kitchen of The Cypress House.” The column ran continuously through November of 2000, featuring one or two recipes each week, and totaling more than 1,150 recipes over the 23 years.

Checkout, a current weekly column that features various food stories, events and recipes, today begins to look back at some of the most popular recipes from The Kitchen of the Cypress House, and perhaps a newly discovered one every now and then.