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Jellied Vegetable Salad
1 tablespoon gelatine 1/4 cup cold water 1 cup boiling water 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup vinegar 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup chopped raw cabbage 1/4 cup cooked beets, well drained 1 green pepper, minced Soak the gelatine in the cold water, add the boiling water, sugar, vinegar and salt. Stir well and when beginning to thicken add the vegetables. Pour into a mold and let remain in refrigerator until thoroughly chilled and firm. Serve on lettuce with mineral oil mayonnaise.
A standard 1930s gelatin salad, straightforward apart from the dressing it is served with. Two things need attention: the mineral oil mayonnaise, and the fact that the liquid-to-gelatine ratio here is on the soft side.
- The mineral oil dressingMineral oil (liquid petrolatum) was sold in the 1930s as a calorie-free substitute for salad oil in reducing diets and was whipped into mayonnaise for exactly this purpose. It is a laxative, not a food fat: it passes through undigested, carries fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K out with it, and aspiration of it can cause lipoid pneumonia. It has no place on a plate. Dress the salad from a current mayonnaise or vinaigrette recipe instead.
- Gelatine quantityOne tablespoon of granulated gelatine is roughly one standard envelope (about a quarter ounce), rated to set two cups of liquid firmly. Here it has only a cup and a half of liquid to carry, so the set will be firm enough to unmold; the quarter cup of vinegar will soften it a little, as will any water clinging to the vegetables.
- "Beginning to thicken"This is the hinge. The mixture should be the consistency of raw egg white before the vegetables go in, usually 40 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator. Add them to warm liquid and the cabbage and pepper float to the top while the beets sink.
- The beetsCooked beets bleed. Blot them dry, fold them in with a light hand at the last moment, and accept that the aspic will take on a pink cast regardless.
- Green pepperA whole minced bell pepper yields close to a cup, several times the volume of either other vegetable. Half a pepper or less keeps the proportions closer to what the ingredient list implies.
- Mold and chillingTotal volume is about two and a half cups, so a three-cup mold or six individual timbales. Allow four hours to set firm, or overnight. To turn out, dip the mold to its rim in warm water for a few seconds and invert onto chilled lettuce.
- YieldFour to six salad portions as a first or luncheon course.