The Maido Salad Re-Creation

Some restaurant dishes are unusual and very good, tempting me to try them at home. Most are too complex, but some are able to be re-created at home in the kitchen.  The tuna head and tempura fried gobo root are examples.

まいど (Maido) Kushiyaki and Wine is one of our favorite restaurants. Everything there is excellent, although I admit the chicken liver pate and the chicken carpaccio will remain unknowns.  Besides kushiyaki, Chef Suzuki also serves some excellent salads. The one being honored here is called the Maido house salad.

This salad's flavor combination may get you away from the usual lettuce, tomato, cucumber and dressing salad.  It looks like your basic salad but its the corn and tuna topping that makes it unusual and is what really raises the salad to a new level.  To see how Suzuki-san's salad looks go to his salad page  and then click on the entry to the left of the 780 Yen entry (second from the bottom).

For a large bowl of salad
Ingredients:
- Salad greens, your choice
- Mayonnaise (5-6 tbsp)
- Worcestershire Sauce (3 tbsp)
- Whole grain mustard (2 tbsp)
- Regular yellow or Dijon mustard (2 tbsp)
- Anchovy paste (1 tbsp)
- Grated garlic (1 tbsp)
- Grated Parmesan cheese (to your liking - about 2 tbsp)

- Canned corn (half to full can drained - I used the whole can)
- One 5-6 oz. can of tuna in water (drained)


- One avocado (optional)
- Sliced cucumbers
- Sliced red onions
- Diced tomatoes

Mix the mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, anchovy paste, and garlic. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, corn, and tuna.

The chef at Maido makes his own mayonnaise from scratch. I was not about to do that, so instead bought some organic mayo. The whole grain mustard and anchovy paste I found out in a Japanese supermarket as it wasn't available at the base market.  If you can't find whole grain mustard then just using the yellow mustard or Grey Poupon would work. Anchovy paste can be optional too - and will have to be if you can't find it. Although his recipe called for salt, I left it out as the anchovy paste is very salty.

Before mixing in the dressing

Mix the corn, tuna, and mayo together.  If you have too much it can be saved in the fridge.

The avocado is an extra bonus. Maido does this on another salad but I tried it as a topping on this one. Take the skin off and grill the avocado slightly over a burner.

Chop it up and add it over the top of the lettuce along with the other toppings.

Final product

The amount of corn and tuna was a bit much for a large salad, but it can be saved in another container for future salads. The restaurant serves the salad with only about 3 tablespoons or so of the corn/tuna condiment. Use your favorite dressing. The restaurant gives you a choice of french, italian, or ranch.