Hi JoAnn – I am the author and I actually worked at Big Boy and made the pies. The pie filling we used at the restaurant came in a giant plastic bag and was probably ordered from a food service company. When I looked at the ingredients to a similar gel to use for this recipe, it was full of yucky stuff, so I decided to recreate it. When I made this recipe in my kitchen, it turned out very close to what I remember. Of course I hope for every recipe I publish to get great reviews, but everyone has different tastes and expectations. I appreciate you sharing your feedback – even if that was calling it garbage – but I did want to respond and at least let you know that I am a real human and all of my recipes are kitchen tested.

Ham salad doesn’t freeze well due to the mayonnaise, so if you’d rather, you can freeze ham itself, then thaw and make the salad when ready.

Ham salad won’t freeze well due to the mayonnaise, so I’d recommend freezing the ham itself, then thawing and making the salad when ready.