Hello Everyone! Welcome back to our third instalment of "A Taste of Transcona" as we continue to work our way through the 1964 Cook Book published in the Transcona News. I chose a recipe for a 24-hour salad. This recipe caught my eye because the Cook Book stated it was a 1st prize winner. I just had to see what all the fuss was about. This recipe was also chosen as a special dish for the Transcona Museum's food theme for #MuseumWeek.
I was a little apprehensive about making it at first due to the amount of canned fruit and whipping cream it called for. But nonetheless, I trudged forward and was eager to see the final product!
This was a fairly inexpensive dessert to make. If you're a fan of jellied salads, this would probably be up your alley. I don't normally have whipping cream in my fridge, canned fruit cocktail, canned pineapple or candied cherries - unless it's Christmas time. So I had to go out and buy a lot of the ingredients required to make the salad.
Scroll down to see my results!
The first step called to put beaten eggs in a double boiler, adding vinegar and sugar, stirring constantly until thick and smooth. A double boiler isn't something used people use today to make any kind of food. You can't even buy one in stores. So I had to do a make-shift double
broiler using a stainless steel bowl in a pot with enough water to cover the bottom.
To beat the eggs, I didn't use a mixer or a whisk, like most people use today. I used a small fork to beat the eggs. I was afraid of the vinegar and sugar burning with the eggs in the pot. The recipe didn't tell what temperature to put the stove at, so I guessed and put it on high for about a minute until the pot was hot.
The next step was to remove the double broiler from heat, add butter and cool. Once the butter was added, it started to look more like a custard consistency.
The recipe also didn't tell me how long to cool the bowl for either. So I guessed again and put it in the fridge for about 5 minutes.
When the 5 minutes was up, I removed the bowl from the fridge and added the other ingredients. The next step was to fold in whipped cream, fruit mixture and marshmallows. The folding was really difficult for someone who isn't used to baking. My hand was starting to get sore after a while. The chopping of the marshmallows was also really hard (see below for a picture of chopped marshmallows). To fold, it requires you to flip the mixture towards you and down, similar to rolling bread.
Both the canned pineapple and fruit cocktail had to be strained before stirring it into the mixture. The next step in the recipe was adding in the whipping cream with the fruit cocktail, pineapples and mandarin oranges and marshmallows.
I found cutting the mandarin orange pieces apart and taking off the skin to be difficult. I could've gone the easy route and purchased store-bought, pre-cut orange pieces, but I was up for a challenge and always prefer to use real ingredients when cooking or baking anyways.
Once the whipping cream was added with the fruit mix, it was a definite custard texture now. The marshmallows were folded in last. This was also really difficult to do. They didn't seem to want to fold in, and just kind of sat on top.
The last step asked the person making the recipe to turn the mix into a fancy ring mould and refrigerate for 24 hours. The recipe also told me that if I was to be serving it in a bowl to decorate with red and green cherries I left it in a bowl and will be serving it in the same bowl with some candied coloured cherries too.
The final image shown above is right before the staff of the museum tried the salad.
Alanna (Museum Curator) loved the taste of the salad and said it reminded her of the jellied salads she used to eat as a kid at church functions.
Janelle (Summer Programming Assistant) seemed to like it as well. She said that in the Filipino culture, pineapple is consumed often, as well as high fat, high sugar foods such as this.
Jennifer (Assistant Curator) did not care for it. She claimed that she is a picky eater who doesn't like pineapple. She proceeded to pick apart the salad once she got her portion to find the pineapples.
Rheanna (Research & Collections Assistant) thought the salad was alright. She didn't quite care for the candied cherries and thought the salad was a little sweet.
For myself, I didn't quite care for the salad either. Like Jennifer, I am not a pineapple person. I tried to pick the pineapples out, but the taste was already in there. It was also really really sweet, especially with the candied cherries added. I like sweets, but this was a mix of sweet and sour fruit. Not something I particularly cared for.
Stay posted for videos of staff reactions to the salad!
24 hour salad
2 eggs beaten
4 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1- 15 oz. can fruit cocktail drained
2 cups pineapple drained and cut in pieces
2 oranges cut in pieces
2 cups marshmallows cut in quarters
1 cup whipping cream
Put beaten eggs in double boiler and add vinegar and sugar, stirring constantly until thick and smooth. Remove from heat, add butter and cool. When cold, fold in whipped cream, fruit mixture and marshmallows. Turn into fancy ring mold and refrigerate for 24 hours. This makes a delicious party salad and serves 12 to 14 people. If served in a salad bowl decorate with red and green cherries.
Mrs. B. Patterson (pictured below making her 24 hour salad).
