Our family has some food quirks. I’ve told you about Hamburger Gravy. Read about that HERE if you missed it. I’ve told you about how we eat chili with rice. Read about that HERE if you missed that.
Today I’m telling you about funeral meat otherwise known as ham salad.
Growing up in southern Minnesota in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, pretty much every funeral luncheon served ham salad sandwiches as their meal to the mourners so at our house, Kramer always called it funeral meat, and to this day, we still call ham salad funeral meat.
As a kid, my mom would sometimes buy some but not all that often. When our kids were little, I bought some in the spring and fall when Kramer was busy in the fields farming. It is one of those things that I often forget about but then once I remember, I’m really excited to eat it again.
We hadn’t had it for a long time until last week I was on the phone with Kelli and she said something about having ham salad. The minute I was done on the phone with her I walked to the refrigerator, confirmed we had the ingredients, and there on the spot made ham salad.
My kids are CRAZY about it.
I had a bowl and ate it with those flat pretzels using the ham salad as a dip. YUM.
Kalissa came over and had some…then when Karl was home he ate the rest.
I was so sad it was gone. I guess I misspoke. I guess I should have said the kids AND I, are crazy about it. Proof?
The next morning I said to Karl, lets so to the Amish store and get more ham. We hoped in the car and away we went.
South of us is an Amish community and they have bent and dent grocery stores. They have recently gotten a freezer section and we love it. The meat there is so reasonably priced.
We got this big 8 3/4 pound bag of ham ends.
It was $8.75 so, $1 a pound for the ham. Many people wouldn’t like the ham ends as they aren’t creative in their cooking. I love them.
I slice some and chop some of the pieces and then use them when cooking. This time, I was making Ham Salad with some of it.
When I was a kid and only thought it was for funerals, I thought it must be something hard to make. YEARS later and better kitchen equipment later, Ham Salad is a breeze.
I threw about 2 pounds of ham in the food processor along with 1/2 cup Mayonesa (you can use regular mayo), pepper and garlic salt to taste, 2 pickle spears, and 1/2 onion. I turned on the food processor and in less than a minute I had ham salad. You might have to adjust the amount of Mayo depending on the moistness of your ham.
We like Mayonesa. It’s a little different than regular mayo. It has lime in it. It is so good and has become our family’s favorite. You can find it HERE on Amazon. I don’t think it’s available everywhere.
Anyway…the ham salad was awesome. I used honey ham and it was so good. That made two containers full plus a little for Karl and me to use as a dip with some chips. Oh my…what can I say. We are definitely on a funeral meat kick.
I ended up taking the two containers to Buck’s when we went last Sunday. I left what we didn’t eat there. I know Buck has loved funeral meat too.
Sorry, it’s not a better recipe. I’ve never had a batch fail. You can always add half the amount of pickles and add more once you taste it. I’m definitely a cook that makes food by taste!!
So curious minds want to know…is “funeral meat aka ham salad” a Midwest thing or a southern Minnesota thing, or just a Kramer thing. Please leave a comment and let us know.
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