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Pimiento Salad
2 tablespoons gelatine 4 tablespoons cold water 2 cups boiling water 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon mustard 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1 cup celery (chopped) 1 cup cabbage (shredded) 1/2 green pepper (chopped) 2 slices pimiento (chopped) Soften gelatine in cold water and dissolve in two cups boiling water. Add vinegar, sugar, and seasonings. Just before it sets add vegetables and pimiento. Turn into mold and chill for 2 hours. Serves 6.
A firm, sliceable vegetable aspic of the sort that anchored a 1930s buffet table. Everything hinges on adding the vegetables at the right moment.
- The hinge: add vegetables at the right stage"Just before it sets" means when the gelatine has thickened to raw egg white and a spoon leaves a trail. Add the vegetables earlier and they float to the top; wait longer and the mixture sets in lumps you cannot smooth out.
- Gelatine quantity2 tablespoons of granulated gelatine is roughly two 1/4-oz envelopes, setting the roughly 2 1/3 to 2 1/2 cups of liquid called for here (4 tablespoons cold water, 2 cups boiling, 2 tablespoons vinegar). That is a stiff set, about double the usual proportion, so the mold can be turned out and sliced; for a softer, spoonable texture use about one envelope.
- "Mustard" means dry mustard"Mustard" most likely means dry mustard -- an unqualified teaspoon or half-teaspoon of mustard measured alongside salt and paprika in recipes of this era usually indicates powdered rather than prepared mustard. Whisk it into the hot liquid so it dissolves rather than sitting as grit.
- Pimiento slicesTwo slices from a jar or can of pimiento is about 2 tablespoons chopped. Pimiento here is for color against the pale cabbage and celery, so drain it well or it will tint the whole mold pink.
- Chilling timeTwo hours is enough in a shallow mold; a deep 1-quart mold may need longer, up to several hours, to firm through enough to unmold cleanly.
- UnmoldingRinse the mold with cold water before filling, and dip the set mold in warm water for 10 seconds before inverting. Do not oil it; oil leaves a cloudy film on an aspic that is meant to look clear.
- ServingServes 6 as written. Cut in squares or wedges onto lettuce, with mayonnaise or boiled dressing alongside; it fills the role a raw slaw would.
Molded vegetable salads like this descend from the clear-aspic "perfection salad" style that spread through American cookbooks after packaged granulated gelatine made setting a mold a matter of measurement rather than of boiling calves' feet. The combination of celery, cabbage and sweet pepper suspended in a tart, mustard-sharpened jelly was common by the 1920s, and canned pimiento was the period's favorite splash of color, cheap, sweet and available year round. Practically, a mold like this can be made a day ahead, holds on a crowded table, and provides a crisp, acidic note against rich food that a fresh salad would otherwise supply.