Cranberry Salad?

[annecros]

The relish tray thread reminded me of a salad my ex husband's Grandmother made at Thanksgiving that I would like to include with Thanksgiving dinner. It was a congealed salad made from fresh cranberries (boiled in a simple syrup), oranges, celery and walnuts and knox gelatin. She put everything through a food mill, oranges with the peel and all. The only problem is that it made a terribly huge quantity, and there are only 6 of us for Thanksgiving dinner. She served it cut into squares in a side dish with a dollop of mayo as a substitute for cranberry sauce. I have lots of lovely old copper molds that would be suitable for a smaller quantity, and I would really like to use them sometime, though they look very lovely on the wall where they live. Anybody got any recipe ideas for a similar, smaller in quantity, substitute?

Also, when I was VERY young, a lovely older neighbor of ours would prepare a congealed salad for funerals and family gatherings and such that was to die for. All I remember was that it had cream cheese, was a lovely green color, and had sliced green olives stuffed with pimento over the top. Very pretty, and very tasty. If I can find a decent recipe, I might attempt something like it, and go with the canned cranberry sauce. We have both a jellied and a whole berry contingent in the family and it may be hard to wean everyone off Ocean Spray and onto the cranberry salad thing.

Thanks.

[robyn]

I have a recipe for a very retro cranberry jello salad. Cherry jello - walnuts - sour cream - pineapple and cranberries. I have no idea whether it's southern. It is - however - very tasty. If you're interested - give a holler and I'll type it out. Robyn

[SuzySushi]

I have a recipe for a molded cranberry salad that I've made on and off for the past 20 years. It came from a friend whose mother was a Southern belle. I never knew it to be a Southern dish: I just thought it was very 1950s!

It's somewhat different from the dish you describe as it doesn't contain a whole orange and the cranberries are left raw. You could always halve the recipe for a smaller group.

Molded Cranberry Salad

Serves 8-12

2 envelopes gelatin

1/2 cup water

2 cups cranberry juice

1 12-ounce package cranberries, ground

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 20-ounce can juice-pack crushed pineapple

2 11-ounce cans mandarin oranges, drained

1-1/2 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped walnuts

Soften gelatin in water, then heat gently to dissolve. Add cranberry juice and mix well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into a mold or glass bowl. Chill until set. Unmold if desired.

[Cucina]

My mother and my grandmother make something called Bing Cherry salad which is basically a black cherry jello where instead of water, you add some orange juice with whole bing cherries from a can and pecan pieces. (Sliced as you describe into squares and served ontop of lettuce).

Everyone in the family loves it - I don't so I haven't continued this particular tradition.

[robyn]

My mother and my grandmother make something called Bing Cherry salad which is basically a black cherry jello where instead of water, you add some orange juice with whole bing cherries from a can and pecan pieces.  (Sliced as you describe into squares and served ontop of lettuce). 

Everyone in the family loves it - I don't so I haven't continued this particular tradition.

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My recipe sounds similar - but it uses sour cream. It's hard to dislike anything that's made with sour cream . Robyn

[KatieLoeb]

Also, when I was VERY young, a lovely older neighbor of ours would prepare a congealed salad for funerals and family gatherings and such that was to die for.

Am I the only one grasping the irony in this sentence?

[annecros]

Thanks for the suggestions. Perhaps if I add some orange zest to the recipe, it will come closer to my exgrandma-in-laws?

Yep "to die for" was quite a mental slip on my part! Although it is a shame that the dearly departed did not get an opportunity to enjoy some of the funeral spreads I have seen!

[Panosmex]

I have learned how to make, and have enjoyed many a Perfection Salad. I prefer not to eat jellied salads with cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream nor (especially) baby marshmallows in them.

Perfection Salad

[Jaymes]

We have both a jellied and a whole berry contingent in the family and it may be hard to wean everyone off Ocean Spray and onto the cranberry salad thing.

I've been making this congealed Cranberry Salad for years. I don't usually make it at holiday time, however, because I have a whole berry sauce that we prefer with our traditional turkey dinner.

What I do is that at Thanksgiving, when turkeys are on sale as a loss leader, or even being given away as an enticement, I buy one or two extra, and have the butcher saw them in half. (There is kind of a trick to this...the butchers have powerful saws that can cut through the frozen turkeys, and they go right through the little bag of giblets and everything. They cannot, however, get through the metal thing that holds the legs together, so I take my turkey halves home and cut through that with a metal cutter.) I wrap the halves separately, and put them in the freezer.

The turkey half makes a great (and extremely economical) meal cooked out on the barbie on a warm summer evening.

With it, I serve this salad:

Cranberry Salad

2 3-oz pkgs Black Raspberry Jell-O (or other berry flavor)

1 1/2 C boiling water

1 1-lb can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 8 3/4-oz can crushed pineapple (do not drain)

1 red apple, chopped

1/2 C chopped pecans

1/2 C fresh orange juice

zest of 1 orange

Optional garnish: Miracle Whip or Mayo & grated cheddar cheese

Dissolve 2 packages of Jell-O in boiling water. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into 5-cup mold & chill. When firm, spread thin layer of Miracle Whip or mayo over, and sprinkle with cheese.

Annecros, I think your family will enjoy a salad like this in the summertime, when you're not messing with tradition. And, once you get them to like something other than what they're accustomed to, it should be much easier to transition them to something more adventuresome during the holidays.

[Smithy]

I just stumbled over this, and since our cranberry salad is a household standard at this time of year I'll resurrect the topic. Anne, did you ever find a satisfactory cranberry salad recipe? The family I married into has a version that - now that I think of it - has to be their own Southern tradition. (I hadn't realized it was a Southern thing, but it makes sense given the family history.) This cranberry relish was a revelation for me: at last, cranberries could be tasty! I can't abide that canned stuff, and never appreciated cranberries before I tasted this.

1 bag frozen cranberries

2 whole oranges

1 apple, cored

a cup or so of walnuts

sugar to taste

Grind it all together in a food mill or, if none is handy, a food processor. Add sugar to taste, and mix well.

That's it. No gelatin, no juice. (It won't hold its shape in a mold.) The family adds a soda cracker moisture barrier to the top, then tops it with whipped cream or the fake version of the same. I omit those items and, if I'm using this as dessert, pass the Cointreau for embellishment. It's a generous but not huge recipe: fills the small bowl from our old Hamilton Beach mixer to capacity; fits comfortably in the large bowl from that set.

When I can, I use navel oranges from our ranch. The peel of a navel orange that's never been in a packing plant packs quite an acid whallop, and can be bitter, so I generally peel one orange and withhold part or all of its rind, based on taste.