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Tomato-Jelly Salad, No. 2
Make the jelly and mould as before. Fill in the centre of the ring with shredded cabbage, pimentos and pecan nuts, mixed with boiled dressing.
A variation rather than a standalone recipe: it assumes you have already set a tomato jelly in a ring mould, and only tells you what to put in the hole. Most of the work is in the parts it does not restate.
- "As before" means a gelatine tomato jelly"As before" points back to a tomato jelly not restated here -- presumably strained, seasoned stewed tomato or tomato juice set with gelatine and poured into a ring mould. Absent the earlier recipe, quantities are a guess; roughly 1 tablespoon powdered gelatine softened in cold water per pint of tomato gives a sliceable set, and period moulded jellies were generally set firmer than modern palates like.
- Ring mould and unmouldingChill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Dip the mould in warm water for a few seconds, run a thin knife around the outer edge, and invert onto the platter; a wet plate lets you slide the ring into position if it lands off-centre.
- Boiled dressingNot mayonnaise. Boiled dressing is a cooked dressing of egg, vinegar, mustard, sugar and a little flour or butter, thickened over water and cooled -- sharper and thinner than mayonnaise. It should be cold before it touches the cabbage or the shreds go limp.
- PimentosMost likely the canned sweet red peppers, though the recipe does not say so and fresh sweet red pepper would serve. If using canned, drain and blot well and cut in thin strips; wet pimento will bleed pink into the dressing.
- Cut the cabbage fineShred on the thinnest setting or with a sharp knife, not a food processor, which bruises it. Salting and draining the cabbage for 20 minutes then patting dry keeps the filling from watering down the dressing as the salad sits.
- Toast the pecansThe recipe says only "pecan nuts" and assumes them ready to use. Ten minutes at 350F, cooled completely, gives a better result, and toasted nuts stay crisper against a moist dressing.
- Assemble lateDress and fill the centre no more than half an hour before serving. The jelly ring can be turned out and refrigerated on its platter well ahead.
- YieldNo mould size is given. A 1-quart ring mould would serve about six as a first course or luncheon salad; the centre well holds appreciably less than a quart, so start with about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of the cabbage mixture and add as it fits.
Moulded tomato jelly belongs to the period in which commercial granulated gelatine had become cheap and reliable enough for ordinary households, and cookery writers took it up for salads that could be made ahead and looked composed at table -- the ring mould in particular gave the cook a built-in serving arrangement, with the sauced filling in the middle. The combination here is characteristic of the American salad of the period: a savoury jelly, a crisp raw vegetable, pimento for colour, native nuts for richness, and a cooked dressing rather than mayonnaise. The "No. 2" heading reflects a common habit in books of this kind, which gave one full method and then a run of variations that referred back to it.