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Cranberry Salad (Envelope Knox Gelatine pt)
1/2 envelope Knox Gelatine 1 pt. cranberries ¾ C diced celery Mrs. Henry Smith. 1/3 C nut meats 1 C sugar 1½ C water Cook cranberries in one cup of water for 20 minutes. Stir in sugar and cook for five minutes. Add gelatine which has been softened in 1/2 C of the water for 10 minutes. When mixture begins to thicken add celery and nuts and turn into pan which has been rinsed in cold water and chill. When firm cut in squares and serve on lettuce leaf with Mayonnaise dressing. Excellent with holiday dinners. 1 C sugar 1 C water
A molded cranberry salad of the sort that anchored the relish end of a holiday table. The method is sound; only the measurements and the gelatine need translating.
- The gelatineOne envelope of Knox unflavored gelatine is about 2 1/4 teaspoons, or 7 g. Half an envelope is a rounded teaspoon. On its own that would set only about a cup of liquid firmly; here the pectin and sugar in the cooked cranberries help the mixture set enough to cut.
- Water, dividedThe 1 1/2 cups of water is split: 1 cup cooks the berries, 1/2 cup softens the gelatine. Do not add extra.
- A pint of cranberriesA pint is about 8 oz by weight, roughly two-thirds of a standard 12-oz supermarket bag. Fresh or frozen both work; frozen need no thawing.
- Dissolve, don't just softenGelatine bloomed in cold water must go into the cranberry mixture while it is still hot from the stove, and be stirred until no grains remain. If the fruit has cooled, the gelatine will stay grainy and the salad will weep.
- Celery quantityThe diced celery reads as 3/4 cup, which suits a pint of berries. Add it only when the mixture has thickened to the consistency of raw egg white, or it will float to the top of the mold.
- The panThe recipe does not specify a pan; a small square pan rinsed in cold water will give squares of a reasonable thickness. Chill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, before cutting.
- YieldAbout eight squares, enough for eight servings alongside a roast.
Knox gelatine, sold in pre-measured envelopes, offered a convenience that is generally credited with putting molded salads on ordinary American tables. Church and community cookbooks from the first half of the twentieth century are thick with them, and cranberry molds were often understood as the sharp accompaniment to roast meat rather than a course of their own. The combination of cooked cranberry, celery and nutmeats is a durable formula, and the closing note about holiday dinners tells you exactly when Mrs. Smith expected it to appear.