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Lemco Celery Salad
Into a pint of boiling water put one tablespoonful of lemco (beef extract). Soften two tablespoonfuls of granulated gelatin in half a cup of cold water, dissolve in the other mixture. Set small molds that have been rinsed in cold water on chopped ice, and partially fill with the liquid; when it hardens a little add two tablespoonfuls of chopped celery and a slice of hard-boiled egg to each mold, then fill with the remainder of the liquid. Set in ice box to stiffen. Turn out on a platter and surround the forms with finely shredded red cabbage.
A savoury aspic built on beef bouillon, set in individual molds with celery and egg suspended in the middle. The technique is straightforward; the only real skill is in the layering.
- LemcoUse one beef bouillon cube or a teaspoon of concentrated beef base per pint of boiling water. If the base is salty, taste before adding more — aspic tastes flatter cold than hot, so season slightly stronger than seems right.
- Gelatin quantityTwo tablespoonfuls of granulated gelatin is roughly two to three standard ¼-oz envelopes for the recipe's total of about 2½ cups of liquid (a pint of broth plus the half cup of cold water used to soften). That is a firm, sliceable set, which is what you need for turning out; a softer set will slump on the platter.
- Bloom then dissolveSoften the gelatin in the half cup of cold water for five minutes, then stir it into the hot broth off the heat until no grains remain. Do not boil the mixture after the gelatin goes in — prolonged boiling weakens the set.
- The hinge: partial settingThe first layer must be tacky but not fully firm before the celery and egg go in, or the garnish sinks and the layers will not bond. On ice this takes about 10 to 15 minutes; test with a fingertip rather than by the clock.
- Chopped iceA bowl of ice water with the molds set in it does the same job. Keep the remaining broth at room temperature so it stays liquid while the base layer sets.
- "Set in ice box to stiffen"Three to four hours in the refrigerator, or overnight. Rinsing the molds in cold water, as directed, helps release — a very brief dip of the mold in warm water and a plate inverted over the top will finish the job.
- YieldAbout 2½ cups of liquid fills roughly five ½-cup molds, or more if the molds are smaller. Serve as a first course or on a lunch plate; the shredded red cabbage is the only other component.
Savoury jellies of this kind were a mainstay of American and British cookery from the 1890s well into the 1950s, and they depended on two industrial products arriving at once: reliable powdered gelatin sold in packets, which removed the day-long business of boiling calves' feet, and concentrated meat extract, which put beef flavour in a jar. Lemco was the trade name of the Liebig's Extract of Meat Company, founded in 1865 on the extract process the chemist Justus von Liebig had published in the 1840s, and drawing on South American cattle otherwise slaughtered chiefly for hides and tallow; the company's Oxo brand descends directly from it. That a household book could assume a jar of it on the shelf, and casually specify chopped ice for the setting, says a good deal about the era's kitchen — refrigeration still meant an ice box, but the pantry was already stocked with branded shortcuts. The molded salad also flattered the cook visibly, which is much of the point: a clear jelly with celery and a disc of egg suspended in it announces that someone took trouble.