Kitschmas by Request: Kriss Kringle Wreath Salad!

 

Tomato Aspic. With Starbursts!

contributed by Spencer H.

You may be sick of seeing aspic recipes, and maybe so am I, but after receiving a pleading letter from a fan, I just couldn't resist this one.

Spencer, the aforementioned fan, writes:

Hi, Dr. Bobb and Dr. Husband:
The above is the most revolting mold recipe I've ever come across. Please please make it!

He also adds,

Thanks for all the great content. You two are adorable.

Thus ensuring that I would make it immediately.

Now, then, have you ever wished you could find a whole book of recipes incorporating your favorite M&M/Mars brand candies? Well, YOUR WISH HAS COME TRUE. Rather, your wish did come true, roundabout 1978, when Sweet Treat Cookery was published. Don't worry, I'd never heard of it, either, but rest assured that my copy is now on its way.

Ostensibly filled with ways to spice up your next desert buffet, there's apparently also a main courses section, which is where we find today's offering.

A pretty standard aspic recipe, which I think I could make in my sleep by now...but with Starbursts!

2 tablespoons (2 envelopes) unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
4 cups tomato juice
2 (1-11/16 oz.) pkgs. STARBURST Fruit Chews (22 candies)
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 drops hot pepper sauce
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/3 cup sliced green onion
Salad greens
Mayonnaise

Combine gelatin and water. Let stand 3 to 4 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup tomato juice and candies. Melt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Add celery salt, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and gelatin mixture. Stir until gelatin melts. Blend in remaining tomato juice, green pepper and green onions. Pour into an oiled 6-cup mold. Chill until firm, 4 to 5 hours. Serve on salad greens with mayonnaise dressing. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

I should mention that this recipe has already been made and tested, on a rival blog. Her husband couldn't even stomach the first bite, let's see how mine does:

Our Rating: Five 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.)

Swedish Meat Ring!

Swedish Meat Ring
Electric Blender Recipes p. 149

A recent second hand shop find was the charming "Electric Blender Recipes", by Mabel Stenger, copyright 1952. Ms. Stenger has included a lovely dedication:

To Fred Waring

An outstanding musician, a fine person, a good friend,

creator of the Waring Blendor

If you're young, or an uncultured barbarian, you may not know that Fred Waring was an influential bandleader and choral director from the 1930's onward, and yes, he was a financial backer and promoter of the Waring Blendor (which is spelled that way on purpose, so no smart remarks.) My own family has a long and storied history with Mr. Waring and his Pennsylvanians, and my own hoped-for career in corn belt crooning was cut short only by the untimely death of Waring just as I graduated high school.

Ms. Stenger exclaims that, "Working with electric blenders has been a pleasant and exciting experience, of which this book is the joyous fruition...our results have proved conclusively that the electric blender is not a luxury gadget but a useful, practical piece of household equipment...[if] you demonstrate the wonders of your blender to neighbors, friends, and guests, you may discover that you have generated such enthusiasm that until they own a blender you cannot keep your in its appointed place on your kitchen counter!"

And so, we come right to it...The Swedish Meat Ring. HOW COULD I NOT MAKE IT?

I have no idea if people in Sweden eat, or ever ate, anything resembling the Swedish Meat Ring.  Though after ABBA and IKEA, I suppose anything's possible.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

1/2 pound liverwurst

1 1/2 cups tomato juice

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1 thin slice onion

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

6 stuffed olives

1/4 cup diced green pepper

Coarsely cut liverwurst and place in glass container of electric blender. Add tomato juice and gelatin, which has been softened in the cold water 5 minutes and then dissolved over low heat. Add remaining ingredients in order given. Cover container and turn on blender. Run until contents are smoothly blended, about 30 seconds. Pour into lightly oiled 1-quart ring mold. Chill until firm. Serve in molded on cold platter, surrounded and filled by crisp salad greens. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

I'm a great lover of liverwurst, so the central feature of this recipe didn't fill me immediately with revulsion, as it surely did to most of my reading audience.  I was a little more hesitant about the addition of tomato juice, actually, as everyone knows that liverwurst (when eaten on a sandwich) must be paired with yellow mustard, not tomato catsup. 

I'll spare you the fascinating and scientific process of working with unflavored gelatin, since I already covered it.  I'm sure, also, that there's some science behind the admonition to add the ingredients in the order given, so I did.

The blended result was surprisingly liquid-like. I had expected to arrive at a highly-viscous glop that would take me forever to clean up, but it poured right into the mold very easily, and a quick rinse cleaned the blender just fine. 

The final product, once chilled, lacked a certain....visual appeal.  I mean, imagine the color of liverwurst, with a tinge of tomato juice mixed in.  Kind of like something that was either passed painfully of surgically removed from your body, that you're probably grateful to be rid of. My own addition of paprika sprinkled on top didn't help matters. No matter how people in Sweden eat, or how tastes in America have changed since 1952, it's still going to look like that. No telling what Bridge Clubs of the day must have thought when served this for their luncheon.

But what you're dying to know is what husband thought, right?

What we thought: Finally, something he didn't love (or at least kind of like)!  Surprisingly, "too salty" seems to be the biggest complaint. If you're tempted to try this at home, I'd suggest eliminating the added salt (you'll get enough from the liverwurst and tomato juice, I'd imagine.)  I might even be tempted to use lemon Jell-O as a base instead of unflavored. But eliminate the added sugar if you do.

Our Rating: Three 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.)

(Not my) Granny's Tomato Aspic Ring

Granny's Tomato Aspic Ring
submitted by Stefania Butler, The Internets

So, here's how it all went down; Husband informed me we were to host a birthday potluck for a work associate of his.  Besides supplying my regionally-favorite Sky-like Chili and Pigeon Pea Dip (both to be featured soon in this very spot!) I was determined to try my hand at supplying a molded salad and subjecting my party guests to a taste test.

So as not to completely overwhelm them (I mean, at the moment we're pretty dependent on Husband's salary to survive, so...) I decide to go with a simple, classic tomato aspic.  I have dim memories of eating such a thing on occasion in my childhood, and my mother still extols the virtues of the dish, but my memories weren't recent enough to recall the taste, and certainly not the making of.

There are so many variations of the recipe, that I let my Googling skills determine one of the simplest, which I found here.  The recipe, as printed:

1 quart tomato juice
1/3 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup finely cut celery leaves
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 small bay leaves
4 whole cloves
2 tbsps unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup thinly sliced celery
crisp salad greens
for garnish: mayonnaise, avocado, and/or small bay (salad) shrimp

Combine tomato juice, onion, celery leaves, sugar, salt, bay leaves, and cloves in an enamel or glass saucepan. Simmer five minutes over medium heat. Strain.

Soften gelatin in cold water and stir into hot tomato mixture. Add lemon juice. Chill until partially set. Add celery. Stir gently.

Pour into lightly oiled 1 1/2 quart ring mold. Chill until firm. Unmold onto salad greens. Fill center with cold mayonnaise and/or with sliced avocado and shrimp.

One problem - I didn't adequately anticipate my shopping needs. Thinking I had tomato juice at home, I didn't buy any.  What I thought was tomato juice turned out to actually be V-8...exactly 1 quart.  So I took a chance and used it (as one party guest remarked, "it's probably what saved it.")

Working with unflavored gelatin is still new to me and still gives me a thrill.  I feel like I'm doing a science project. Seems like some enterprising young buck could do a bit of creative brainstorming and see what sorts of crazy flavor combinations he could come up with.  Oh wait, that's me.  Stay tuned!

The rest of the recipe came together fairly easily.  Because I was working with V-8, I cut back a bit on the onion, celery and salt, but went full in with the brown sugar.

The mold chilled about five hours in a copper mold, and was just a bit runny when I unmolded it, but didn't fall apart.  In a nod to the directions in the recipe, I surrounded the ring with avocado and canned salad shrimp, but left the mayonnaise on the side to be used at the diner's discretion.

What we thought: Me - anything reminiscent of a Bloody Mary is aces in my book. I'm thinking of adding horseradish and vodka and trying for a Bloody Mary Jell-O shooter next time.

It really wasn't bad at all, but as with the Ring-Around-The-Tuna, a dab of mayonnaise makes it go down pretty easy.  The salad shrimp and avocado were a nice touch, but not completely necessary other than for presentation purposes.

Husband - "The Tomato Aspic had a nice refreshing flavor, a nice balance to the heavier dishes in the potluck. I don't know why people stopped making it."  I can confide that husband didn't care for the salad shrimp at all.

Party Guests - admittedly, I didn't interview them all individually, but there were ten guests, and only about a serving and a half left at the end of the night. So someone must have liked it.

I'm going to make it again on Easter Sunday for mother and see if it stands up to her standards. In all, I think it's probably something I wouldn't mind making, non-ironically,  and on occasion, perhaps alongside a chicken or fish dish.

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.)