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Surprise Pear Salad (Fill the center of halved)
Fill the center of halved canned pears with hot cheese balls prepared in the following manner. Form small balls out of cottage or cream cheese generously seasoned with paprika, roll in finely mashed cracker crumbs and fry in plenty of fat. When a golden brown serve immediately in the pears, topped by chopped walnuts and mayonnaise on lettuce.
A hot-and-cold composed salad of the bridge-luncheon era: fried cheese balls dropped into chilled pear halves at the last second. The whole thing lives or dies on timing and on how wet the cheese is.
- Dry the cheese firstCottage cheese as sold now tends to be wetter than the drier pressed curd often used in this period, and a wet ball will burst in the fat. Drain it in cheesecloth for several hours, or use full-fat block cream cheese, which needs no draining.
- Chill and double-coatRoll the balls, crumb them, then refrigerate at least 30 minutes before frying. A second pass through beaten egg and crumbs gives a shell that will actually hold the softened cheese together.
- Fat temperature"Plenty of fat" implies deep frying, though the recipe gives no temperature. Modern practice would be around 365-375F: much below that the crumbs soak and the ball collapses, much above it the crust browns before the inside warms. Golden brown should take roughly a minute.
- Cracker crumbsSoda or oyster crackers are the likely intent, and were generally plainer than many crackers sold now. Saltines crushed fine are a reasonable match; season the crumbs only lightly, since the cheese is already heavily paprika'd.
- Drain the pearsCanned pear halves carry a lot of syrup. Blot the cavities dry and set them on the lettuce before frying begins, so nothing waits.
- Serve immediately means itThe contrast of hot fried cheese against cold fruit and mayonnaise is the entire point of the dish. Held even five minutes, the ball steams itself soft and weeps into the pear.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantities. One pear half per person suits a luncheon salad course, two a light main, with one small cheese ball per half.
Salads like this belong to the American bridge-party luncheon, a form of entertaining that was popular between the wars and generated whole chapters of small, decorative, largely cold dishes meant to be eaten from a plate balanced near a card table. Canned pears, cream cheese and mayonnaise on a lettuce leaf were a familiar combination in that repertoire, endlessly recombined; the "surprise" here is simply that the filling arrives hot rather than cold. Paprika, cheap and vividly red, was a very common garnish and seasoning of the style, used at least as much for color as for flavor.