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Splendiferous Salad Ring
1/2 cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt juice 1 lemon 1/3 cup hot water 1/3 cup cold water 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1 small can grated pineapple 3/4 cup whipped cream 2 tablespoons gelatine 1/2 cup chopped nuts Bring sugar, salt, lemon juice and hot water to boil. Dissolve gelatine in the cold water, add to the hot liquid. Cool mixture, then add pineapple and cheese. When very cold add cream and nuts, and pour into wet mold. Use ring mold. Let stand several hours or over night.
A congealed salad of the sort that anchored a Sunday dinner plate in the 1930s. The proportions work, but a few of the measures need translating before you start.
- The gelatine2 tablespoons is roughly two and a half to three 1/4-oz envelopes of unflavored powdered gelatin. Against the roughly 4 cups of liquid and solids here that is a firm set, which is what you want in a ring that has to be unmolded and sliced.
- Bloom it, do not dump it"Dissolve gelatine in the cold water" means sprinkle it over the 1/3 cup cold water and let it stand five minutes until spongy, then stir it into the hot syrup off the heat. Powdered gelatin added dry to hot liquid clumps and never fully dissolves.
- Canned pineapple onlyA "small can" of grated pineapple is about 8 oz, drained. Use canned, not fresh: fresh pineapple contains bromelain, which digests gelatin and leaves you with a soupy mold. Canning heat destroys the enzyme.
- Timing the cream"When very cold" is the hinge. Chill the mixture until it is syrupy and just beginning to thicken at the edges, then fold in the whipped cream and nuts. Too warm and the cream deflates and separates into a foam layer on top; too cold and it sets in streaks.
- Cottage cheeseSmall-curd creamed cottage cheese is probably closest to the period product. For a smoother texture you can press it through a sieve first, though the recipe does not ask for it.
- Wet moldRinse the ring mold with cold water and pour out the excess without drying it. The film of water breaks the seal and lets the salad drop free. Allow for a mold of at least 5 cups' capacity, since the mixture makes something over 4 cups.
- UnmoldingDip the mold in warm water for 10 seconds, run a thin knife around the inner and outer edges, then invert onto a chilled plate. Chill several hours or overnight, as directed.
- YieldServes 6 to 8 as a salad course. Traditionally the center of the ring is filled with lettuce or additional fruit at serving time.