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Cucumber Jelly Salad
1 pint grated cucumber Salt and paprika 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon oil 1 teaspoon gelatin 2 teaspoons cold water 6 halves of walnut-meats Mayonnaise Lettuce leaves Peel cucumbers, removing most of the white as well as the green skin. Grate enough to give one pint and season with salt, paprika, vinegar and oil. Add gelatin mixed with cold water. Place over the fire until warm and well mixed, not boiled. In the bottom of individual molds put a half kernel of walnut, then pour in the cucumber mixture and set on the ice to cool. When ready to serve, turn each mold on to a nest of young lettuce leaves, and add a spoonful of mayonnaise.
A small, cold, savory mold from the era when granulated gelatin had just made jellied salads a weeknight possibility. Two things decide whether it works: how much water you leave in the cucumber, and how gently you treat the gelatin.
- Never let it boilWarming is only to dissolve the gelatin and marry the seasonings. Sustained boiling weakens gelatin's setting power, and a mixture this lightly set has none to spare. Heat to about 110-120F, stir until no grains remain, and take it off.
- Drain the cucumberA pint of grated cucumber can shed a great deal of liquid. Salt the gratings, let them stand 15 minutes, and press out the excess before measuring, or the mold will weep on the plate.
- The gelatin is very lightOne teaspoon of granulated gelatin to a pint of liquid gives a barely-there set that will slump within minutes of unmolding. A full envelope (about 2 1/4 teaspoons) per pint is the standard modern ratio for something meant to hold its shape in individual molds.
- Bloom, then dissolveTwo teaspoons of cold water is barely enough to wet a teaspoon of gelatin; if you increase the gelatin, increase the water to roughly four times its volume and let it stand five minutes before warming.
- "Set on the ice"Chilling, whether on a bed of ice or in the icebox. Allow at least four hours in individual molds, or overnight for reliable release.
- UnmoldingRinse the molds with cold water before filling, and dip the filled molds in warm (not hot) water for five seconds before turning out. Cucumber jelly is pale and fragile; a quick dip is safer than prying.
- PaprikaMost likely the sweet, mild sort, used as much for color against the pale green as for heat. Smoked paprika will overwhelm the dish.
- YieldSix small molds, as the six walnut halves indicate. It is a first-course or luncheon salad, not a main.