Reser's Deli Salads

Deli salads.

I'm not talking fancy deli salads from a local place that makes their own fresh every morning.  Nope, I'm talking about mass-produced, totally generic, deli salads.  The kind you get at any grocery store, either from their deli counter where they scoop to order in a way that almost seems like they could perhaps make them there (spoiler: they probably don't), or, from the packaged section.  Macaroni salad, potato salad,  slaw, and the like.  You know what I'm talking about.  The classics.

"Reser's makes it easy to bring friends and family together for fun times and great food. We make our salads from scratch using farm-fresh ingredients and time-tested recipes. Grandma Reser's Original Potato Salad (from 1950!) is still our top seller, but check out our many other potato salads, macaroni salads, and cole slaws."

Reser's is a producer of said style of deli salads, distributed nationwide.  But they do have a wholesome history, started in the 19050s by Mildred Reser, known for her potato salad, who started selling it on the side to make a little money.   Yadda, yadda, yadda, now a major player in the ready-to-eat food game, with a line of meal kits and salads too.  But I stuck with the deli items.

American Classics

Reser's even brands their deli salads as "American Classics".  The lineup of choices is extensive to say the least.  

Cole slaw, macaroni salad, potato salad, chicken/tuna/ham/egg/seafood salads, baked beans, etc, etc, all simple picnic classics, but, with many varieties.  For potato salad, you can go for classic, deviled egg, southern style with egg, New York style (huh? NY has a style of potato salad?), loaded, mustard, red skin, or, uh, Amish?  Don't ask me the differences (much like Will's Fresh Foods, which makes 17 kinds potato salad ...).  

I tried the basic versions of them though, staying as traditional as I could.

Macaroni Salad.

"Craving classic creamy goodness? This deli-style macaroni salad is made with perfectly plump elbow macaroni and a sweet-tart mayonnaise dressing, finished with crisp celery, fresh red bell pepper and crunchy sweet pickles."

First up, macaroni salad.  Always my deli salad of choice.  When I worked at a grocery store one summer (Shaw's), this is always what I bought to eat on my lunch break.  I loved their macaroni salad.

Reser's version is a very classic, generic grocery store, macaroni salad.

It featured decently cooked pasta, but I always want it a bit more al dente.  It had little bits of red bell pepper, pickles, and celery for bits of color, and a tiny bit of texture, but, there weren't many of any.  Coated in a rather cloying mayo based dressing that left a strange aftertaste.

It was what it was.  Not bad, but not one I wanted a second scoop of.

**+.

(Side note: Want excellent macaroni salad in SF?  The best I've found, hands down, comes from Gambino's NY Subs, where, yes, it is made fresh every day.  But, really, it is fabulous macaroni salad!).

Original Potato Salad.

"True to Mildred Reser’s original recipe from 1950, this best-selling potato salad is a simply delicious blend of diced Russets, chopped celery and onions, with crisp sweet pickles in our classic mayonnaise dressing."

Next, I went for potato salad.  Now potato salad has a lot of variations, and I was curious to see what their basic, "original", version would be like.  It was, after all, the basis for the company.

I opened it and ... it looked ridiculous.  Do you ... see potatoes?  Besides on the front of the container?  Nope, not chunks of potato, it looked like creamy mashed potatoes!

But I loved it.  A best seller for a reason I guess.  But certainly not traditional, or at least, not what I think of traditional.

There were bits of potato, quite soft (I do prefer a bit of bite to mine).  But there was also sooo much mashed potato and mayo dressing, it was crazy creamy.  Little bits of onion, celery, and pickles weren't all that detectable, besides that it was very flavorful.  The consistency was totally unlike normal potato salad, but, I loved the result.  Quasi-mashed potato-salad.  Sure!

The ingredients and descriptions of this dressing and the macaroni salad dressing sounded so similar, yet I loved one and not the other.  I'm not really sure why.

I'd get this again.

****.