Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetite.
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Ask anyone who has set foot on Augusta National’s hallowed ground about their Masters week experience and they’ll likely be eager to share two revelations: The course’s elevation changes are unbelievable. And the food prices? Unreal!
Indeed, the concessions at Augusta National — like so much of the property — are a throwback to simpler times. The prices are refreshingly low, ranging from $1.50 for snacks and sandwiches to $6 for a glass of chardonnay — and nothing is made to order. Patrons line up to grab what’s available — in a tidy, logoed bag — and head on their merry way.
The concessions menu of two dozen or so items has remained largely unchanged of late, save for a few well-received additions over the years, like the coveted Georgia peach ice cream sandwich. When a new menu item does join the Masters concessions pantheon, it’s treated with considerable fanfare. Such was the case with the chicken salad sandwich, which made its Masters menu debut in 2021, complete with its own introductory Instagram post.
The public’s appetite to replicate the Masters’ simple yet beloved concessions staples is immense. During the pandemic, the club began releasing Taste of the Masters hosting kits, which included staples like pimento cheese and egg salad along with branded coasters, cups and more. The kits sell out every year.
While Augusta National is famously tight-lipped when it comes to sharing proprietary information like recipes, chicken salad is blessedly simple to make at home, though there are some best practices to keep in mind.
Marc Johnson, executive chef at Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., serves a popular curry chicken salad at his club and says the key to making chicken salad sing at home comes down to a few key elements: quality ingredients (like whole roasted chicken), good mayo and seasoning. You can get as creative as you want from there.
“I like to put a little fruit in there, too, to balance the fattiness of the mayo,” he says.
Slather the salad on a bun or white bread and pair it with a pilsner and potato chips, and you have a Masters-week meal worthy of a green jacket.
Basic Chicken Salad
-1 cup roasted chicken
-1/4 cup mayonnaise
-2 tbsp chopped celery
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Squeeze of lemon
In a bowl, mix the chicken and mayonnaise. Add celery sparingly, and salt and pepper to taste. “You want celery for the crunch factor and texture,” Johnson says. “But it can add a bitter note to the mixture, so a small amount goes a long way.”
The final step: a squeeze of lemon. “A little acid gives a nice balance and brightens everything up.”
