Hawaii Homestyle Mac Salad
SKU:
Mac salad is rice's partner scoop, and essential for a proper plate lunch. Notice also that this is Hawaii-food and not Hawaiian food specifically.
​Since forever, this has been the family's mac salad. A few easy add-ons held together by Best Foods mayo tastes like Hawaii, home, and happy.
​Since forever, this has been the family's mac salad. A few easy add-ons held together by Best Foods mayo tastes like Hawaii, home, and happy.
Ingredients
|
1-2 hard-boiled eggs
1 can water packed tuna, drained well 1-2 white salad potatoes 1 package of elbow macaroni ½ an onion, very finely chopped A few handfuls of shredded carrots Best Foods mayonnaise, at least 4-5 big dollops Hawaiian salt and black pepper, to taste |
Optional add-ins
A small dash of yellow hot dog mustard, like French's Frozen peas -->My sister's version, but I hate peas so they got nixed. Celery, finely chopped -->My mom's version, but my birdies nixed. Cooked baby shrimp instead of tuna -->Adds color and look pretty, but I'm allergic, so nixed. |
What To Do
Hard boil eggs. Peel, let cool, and dice. I run it through the egg slicer twice. Once on long axis and then rotated 90° to slice on the short axis. Open and drain the tuna.
In a pot large enough for macaroni, boil potatoes until just done. Remove potatoes, drain, and let cool. Pour in dry macaroni, and cook to al-dente. Drain and cool. You can do this at the same time you are hard-boiling eggs, but will need to pay attention.
Cook macaroni, drain and cool well.
Chop cooled potatoes into roughly the same size as the cooked macaroni (eyeball it). Mix together potatoes, eggs, macaroni, tuna, and onion. Add mayonnaise to hold the salad together. Salt and pepper to your taste.
Add the optional stuff. Or don’t.
In a pot large enough for macaroni, boil potatoes until just done. Remove potatoes, drain, and let cool. Pour in dry macaroni, and cook to al-dente. Drain and cool. You can do this at the same time you are hard-boiling eggs, but will need to pay attention.
Cook macaroni, drain and cool well.
Chop cooled potatoes into roughly the same size as the cooked macaroni (eyeball it). Mix together potatoes, eggs, macaroni, tuna, and onion. Add mayonnaise to hold the salad together. Salt and pepper to your taste.
Add the optional stuff. Or don’t.
Notes and Talking Story
- Even within families, mac salad can vary. Elbow macaroni, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, onion, and Best Foods mayo define the base, with a few favorite add-ins.
- There are many deeply held mix-in opinions, for example, my mother-in-law swears by canned chicken vs. tuna, and a friend of our says French's mustard is an absolute requirement.
- Here's we most agree: no sweet pickle relish, no Hellman's mayo, no added sugar, no alternate macaroni shapes.
- Why "Hawaii" Homestyle Mac Salad and not "Hawaiian" Mac salad?
- Mac salad is is not ethnically Hawaiian food (e.g., poi and laulau), but Hawaii-food specific to the region, where a lot of different cultures and ethnicities came together.
- This is very important because being from Hawaii is not the same as being ethnically Hawaiian. You can be both, but many, many people from Hawaii are not, like me.
