Entry tags:	christmas, recipe
Crossposts:	http://telophase.livejournal.com/2293358.html

At Mom's place for Christmas, and I started poking through the big accordion file of recipes that used to belong to my grandmother. Mom told me I could keep it, woo!

There are some excellent things in here, like the recipe for Orange Balls, which were cookies that my grandmother was known for, and which people asked her to make, and the recipe for Luci's Chocolate Cake, which I believe is attributed to Luci Baines Johnson (but which is not her wedding cake, which wasn't chocolate).

And then, many of these recipes having been collected and developed from the 1930s through the 1970s, there are quite a lot of not-so-excellent recipes. My grandmother loved to put margarine, or oleo, as she termed it, into everything, although I'm surprised at the relative lack of Velveeta, and there is a plethora of Jell-o and other gelatin salads.

So, in honor of these and other mid-century awful foods, I present to you Perfection Salad, transcribed from my grandmother's handwritten recipe card, a salad of which Mom says she has many very bad memories.




Perfection Salad

2 envelopes (2 tbsp) unflavored gelatin
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cup cold water
1 1/2 c vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped pimiento

Mix gelatin, sugar and salt. Add boiling water and stir until gelatin dissolves. Add cold water, vinegar, and lemon juice. Chill til partially set. Add vegetables. Press into 6 1/2 cup ring mold. Chill til firm. Unmold on greens. If desired, fill ring with tiny whole, cooked, or [illegible] carrots that have been marinated overnite in French or Italian dressing.

Olive Trim: chill gelatins until partially set, pour 1/2 cup into mold. Arrange trios of sliced stuffed olives in mold and chill til firm. Add veg. to remaining gelatin and pour over. Chill til set.