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Maurice Salad

A Homage to The J.L. Hudson Company
Though Hudson’s department store is now a part of Michigan’s history, its salad has long surpassed the infamous store’s existence.
The J.L. Hudson Company was founded in 1881 in the Detroit Opera house, specializing in men’s and boy’s clothing. In 1891 it moved its location and eventually took up the entire block between Woodward and Farmer. An impressive 25 story building with 2.2 million square feet, it was esteemed for being the world’s tallest department store until 1962 and had a reputation for style and elegance.
In its heyday, shopping and dining was an event. A trip to Detroit with my grandmother to visit Hudsons was a very grown-up event. Do keep in mind I was very very young at the time! It was a different time; a time that involved being together, touching and feeling beautiful items, and a ladies luncheon in the dining room.
In that dining room emerged a salad whose notoriety would surpass the life of the walls in which it was created. The Maurice Salad. It is a bit hazy on who actually invented it but it was definitely invented within the landmark building. It’s a salad of iceberg lettuce and julienned ham, turkey and Swiss cheese. It’s tossed with a velvety lemon mayonnaise dressing that includes grated hard-boiled eggs and the juice of grated onions. What gives this salad its unique pizzaz is the addition of pimento stuffed olives and sweet gherkin pickles.
The addition of grated hard-boiled eggs gives the dressing an extra creaminess. Other salad dressings that can incorporate grated eggs are Ceasar, Green Goddess and Thousand Island.
I couldn’t help myself; I had to throw my own twist into this classic salad. I thought a garnish of deviled eggs would complement this crispy creamy salad entrée.
So, this is a tribute to a beloved Michigan landmark and their beloved salad.
Course Main Dish, Salad
Keyword ham, salad, swiss cheese, turkey
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Deviled Eggs

  • 6+ Eggs
  • 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
  • 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons Sour Cream
  • 1 tablespoon Fresh Chives chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon Celery Salt
  • Fresh chives chopped for garnish

Maurice Dressing

  • 1 ½ teaspoons Onion Juice ½ cup chopped yellow onion, drained
  • 2 teaspoons White Vinegar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1 teaspoons Sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon Mustard
  • 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
  • 1 cup Mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley chopped
  • 1 Hard Boiled Egg grated
  • ¼ teaspoon Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Maurice Salad

  • 1 pound Ham julienned in to 2 inch pieces, ¼ inch thick
  • 1 pound Roasted Turkey julienned into 2 inch pieces, ¼ inch thick
  • 1 pound Swiss Cheese julienned into 2 inch pieced, ¼ inch thick
  • 1 head Iceberg Lettuce shredded
  • 12-18 Pimento Stuffed Olives
  • 12-18 Baby Gherkin Sweet Pickles
  • Fresh Chives chopped for garnish

Instructions

Deviled Eggs

  • Cook 8 or more eggs. 6 will be used for the deviled eggs, one egg for the Maurice dressing, and a couple extra in case they don’t peel well. You can also use the extra egg yolk in your deviled eggs.
  • Cover eggs with cold water. Bring to boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, remove from the hot burner and cover for 17 minutes. Remove eggs from the hot water and place them in a large bowl of ice water. Let them cool for 30 minutes.
  • Peel eggs and cut 6 eggs in half. Run a sharp knife under cold water before cutting. This will keep the egg yolk from sticking to the knife.
  • Put the egg yolks in a small bowl and smash with a fork.
  • Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, chives and celery salt to the egg yolk. Start with 1 ½ tablespoons of the mayonnaise and sour cream. Add more mayonnaise and sour cream if necessary. Mix well.
  • Stuff the egg whites with the egg yolk mixture. Garnish with fresh chives. Can be done a day ahead.

Maurice Dressing

  • In a mini processor, puree chopped onions. Place pureed onion in a cheese cloth or a mesh lined coffee filter, extracting the juice. You will need 1 ½ teaspoons of onion juice. Discard the drained onions.
  • You can manually grate the egg or grate it in your food processor.
  • Whisk the onion juice, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, Dijon mustard, dry mustard, mayonnaise, fresh parsley, ground egg, salt and pepper. You can also do this in a blender.
  • Refrigerate until ready to use.

Maurice Salad

  • Toss the ham, turkey and Swiss cheese with 1 cup of the dressing. Serve the remaining dressing on the side.
  • Place lettuce on a large platter or individual serving plates.
  • Top with meat and cheese mixture.
  • Garnish with deviled eggs, olives, gherkins and fresh chives.