St. Patrick's Day Salad

contributed by Dr. Bobb

 

As long-time followers will know, today's ingredients are very dear to my heart, as the very first recipe on the blog, Guess What Salad, involved corned beef and Jell-O.  I was anxious to try something similar, now that my methodology is more precise, and my palate for gelatin-meat combinations much more refined.

Knowing that I wanted my dish to incorporate both corned beef AND cabbage, I went in search of a suitable recipe. The closest to what I had in mind was from Knox On-Camera Recipes (1960), the instructions to which are found below:

I followed the instructions to the letter - as you know, working with Knox requires the accuracy and precision of a scientist - but for whatever reason, the cabbage layer just wouldn't set up right. In desperation, I just went ahead and mixed it all together, in hopes that the gelatin in the corned beef layer would prime the cabbage gelling process, and left it overnight to chill, but no dice. So i dumped the whole mess down the disposal and started from scratch with my own concoction, a mélange of the above and this recipe, with lime Jell-O replacing the Knox just to make it extra-St. Patricks-y.

1 box (3 oz.) Lime Jell-O

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded green cabbage 

1 cup mayonnaise

1 12-oz. can corned beef, diced

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add cold water, lemon juice, and salt.

Spread cabbage in bottom of  8-inch square baking dish or ring mold. Add just enough Jell-O mixture to cover cabbage. Chill until slightly firm.

Meanwhile, add remaining ingredients to the remainder of Jell-O mixture. Spoon onto cabbage layer. Chill several hours or overnight. To serve, unmold and cut into squares.

Guest taster Patrick (because it's St. Patrick's Day - see what I did there?) has a go at the finished product:

Our Rating: Zero Screaming Husbands!

(all dishes are rated from one to five Screaming Husbands. One Screaming Husband equals a happy home where all problems are solved during cocktail hour. Five Screaming Husbands signals the beginning of divorce proceedings.)