Yesterday I posted a lunch menu from my husband’s Houston elementary school, circa 1974, and we had a fun discussion of our own school food memories. You can check out the post and the many reader comments here.
Meanwhile, my friend Gretchen spotted a mysterious item on the menu — “Perfection Salad,” served on the same day as the rather ominous sounding “Seafood Pattie.” What on earth could Perfection Salad be, we wondered? Well, thanks to the wonder of the Interwebs, I can now answer that question, although I’m not sure any of us are prepared for the answer.
It turns out that “Perfection Salad” came on the scene in the early 1900’s when it was the prize-winning entry in a cooking contest, and it was popular, especially in the South, until at least the 1960’s. The blogger at Retro Life decided to recreate it and here’s what it looks like:
What’s going on there, you ask? Recipe Curio has a detailed description and another photo:
It’s essentially a lemon-vinaigrette-flavored Jello to which you add finely shredded cabbage, chopped celery, chopped pepper, diced pimento and sliced, stuffed green olives. If that doesn’t make you blanch, you’re instructed to “pass a bowl of mayonnaise” along with slices of the salad. (Raising the troubling question: can something even be called a “salad” if it can also be “sliced”?)
Conclusion: I think we can say definitively that at least one thing is better about school lunches today than in 1974. On the other hand, can you imagine the mindset that expected school kids to eat a concoction involving vinegar-flavored Jello in which vegetables were embedded? Now we’re afraid to offer roasted potatoes instead of fried tater tots lest we shock their sensitive little palates.
Maybe a better approach would be to threaten them with the return of Perfection Salad if they don’t eat what we want them to. And the Seafood Pattie won’t be far behind.
[Ed. Note: I realize that I’m revealing here my definite bias against the vegetable/nuts/fruit-in-Jello genre of cooking, one which many people, especially Southerners, hold dear. So if you’re a fan of Perfection Salad (or its gelatinous brethren), feel free to let me have it.]
Donna says
While I’ve eaten my share of jello mold in my early years, it was always a sweet variety. I have never heard of this concoction and wish it had remained a mystery! Yikes!!
shira says
I don’t know what to say, except for – GROSS!!!
Tari says
Mt MIL would love that salad! She still gets grief every Thanksgiving from her boys about the kind of stuff she served like this on holidays past. Their favorite for a while was picking on her for once serving lime Jell0 with lettuce floating in it. She took the teasing for a number of years, and then one year indignantly burst out with “that wasn’t lettuce, it was cabbage!” Because of course, if it was cabbage, it makes it all okay … 🙂
bettina elias siegel says
Hee! 🙂
Renee says
LOL!!
Charles Kuffner says
Oh, Bettina. The atrocities committed in the name of “salad” are legion, and often quite hilarious. See http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002685.html#002685 for some excellent examples, and be very sure to click on the “candle salad” link. Enjoy!
bettina elias siegel says
Charles: Like all the wonderfully bizarre food you always inform me about, this might merit it’s own Friday Buffet entry. Many thanks, I think.
Charles Kuffner says
Here’s some more:
http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=4497
The true joys of Jell-O, indeed.
Viki says
That is just Gross. Did children really eat that? It was never served in my school. Cubes of Red jello, Green jello, Orange jello…yes.
My MIL made a sunshine salad that was Lemon Jello with shredded carrots in it. (She grew up in PA and lived in NJ so this wasn’t a Southern thing…)
My mother from the mid West now in KY will make a Lime jello with pineapple and cottage cheese in it.
Both would have called a pear half with cottage cheese a salad. Where I might be more inclined (if I were to eat it) to call it breakfast. Maybe.
bettina elias siegel says
Yeah, you’re right. This may be less a Southern thing than just a product of the 30’s-50’s.
From the Heartland says
Yes! I and my generation grew up on them. And except for excessive sugar in some, they were good for you. We only had olives in another version though so I’ll probably leave them out. And I never used vinegar but maybe it makes it more tangy. And only Miracle Whip for us, thinned slightly with just a little milk or cream. And my mom often stirred cottage cream in either the dressing or the salad. And pimiento put it over the top.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Ah, thanks for this info, From the Heartland! TBH, all these years later, I still haven’t tried to make one of these salads! 🙂
Em says
Oh, the savory Jello salads of yesteryear! A step down from aspics, I guess. Not that I’m championing aspics. There’s something about gelatin that I never liked, even before I became vegetarian….
Gretchen says
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was sitting in my office reading this and when I scrolled down to the picture I actually laughed out loud! Then I did it yet again when I got to the part about the bowl of mayonnaise! My colleagues may wonder what’s going on in here, but this was a much-needed moment of levity in my otherwise uninspiring Wednesday.
EB says
This tasty treat is still a staple at many potlucks in the South. It also shows up at the door in South & Midwest when folks bring food to grieving family at time of loss/funeral (speaking from personal experience).
And I’ll have to admit now — I love this stuff, though I’ve never made it for my family and likely never will.
When you posted about this earlier and were off to Google, I didn’t want to spoil the “perfect” surprise, LOL!
~ ~ ~
On the topic of the 70’s lunch menu, I’d like to add that it (written one) has something sorely lacking in today’s school lunch menus: simplicity and readability! Oh!! The font, the clear print, the lack of graphic/clipart overuse and abuse! While there doesn’t need to be a government mandate as to readability there ought to be some commons sense: parents should not need to get out a magnifying glass or have a kid translate the weird clipart pic so we have a clue as to the upcoming food . . . 😉 ~e
bettina elias siegel says
EB: I recognize that it’s totally unfair of me to disparage Perfection Salad without tasting it. And my husband (who is a TX native and much more accustomed than I am to the stuff-in-Jello genre) thinks it sounds good and actually wants me to make it. I’m considering it. Maybe. 🙂
EB says
Bettina,
If you like a good Bloody Mary, or other “savory” type of beverage (V8? — oh, don’t look at the sodium!) or even green olives — then you should give it a whirl.
NO, not *that* kind of whirl! LOL! 😉
~e
bettina elias siegel says
Maybe if I start off with a Bloody Mary, the Perfection Salad will look a whole lot more appealing?
Kit says
It was delicious! I’m looking for the recipe!
Em says
Incidentally, there’s even a book:
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780520257382
I may need to get my hands on this one….
Kim says
Perfection salad sounds to me both gruesome and delicious at the same time. My mother and grandmother frequently served sunshine salad – lemon, lime, or orange Jell-O with shredded carrots and crushed pineapple – and we slathered it with Miracle Whip rather than the aforementioned mayonnaise. It was innovative convenience food at its finest. I grew up in St. Louis. Depending on where you’re from, you might consider that the North, the South, or “back east,” but we consider ourselves midwesterners.
Thanks, Bettina et al, for finding and sharing links. I got such a kick out of this!
Pat Frizzell says
I have used this recipe for 65 years (that’s how long I’ve been married!). My husband is 87 years old and it was his grandmother’s recipe. If you haven’t tried it, don’t deride it!! (oh tell me I didn’t say that!). I love, love, love it.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Pat: You’re absolutely right! I really shouldn’t disparage Perfection Salad without trying it. And I love that you’ve been making your husband a favorite dish for 65 years – that’s really wonderful! Thank you for coming by The Lunch Tray. 🙂
Pat Frizzell says
As a P.S. I would mention that I chop veggies a bit smaller than shown in these pictures, and the miracle whip is sorta smeared on top. I use a jello mold with an indention on top for it.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I gotta say, Pat, this is really not my “thing,” but I’m willing to try. I’ll report back. 🙂
Beth Glick says
that’s exactly what my mother in law did!
Amanda @ Tales of an Amateur Mommy says
The texture of jello totally grosses me out, and so I will only eat it if it also has alcohol in it– and I already have a few drinks under my belt for the evening. Furthermore, I’m recovering from stomach flu, so these lovely pictures totally made me want to throw up.
Can’t wait to see if your family actually eats it! As others said, you’re very brave 🙂
Esther says
My school 1960-1972 served perfection salad and I loved it and I have made it home for my family. I also like fruit cake! Yes, otherwise I am basically a normal person and I have never been incarcerated for any reason. Maybe no one has ever been quick enough to catch me!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
LOL! I’ve been meaning to make it ever since this post but haven’t gotten to it yet. I really need to try before I judge! And I love fruitcake, too, so they’ll have to catch both of us. 🙂
Elizabeth says
I love this stuff! My grandmother used to make it and I make it upon occasion. It’s the bomb!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I still haven’t tried it!
Suzy Lidstrom says
Perfection Salad also reminds me of tomato aspic. Now, there are two dishes to NEVER serve up in a school cafeteria! Even the sound of the word “aspic” is disgusting—probably why I hated it as a child. Call it ‘word prejudice.’ You have to be old enough to enjoy either one, I think. I made a layered jello salad for my book club recently, sort of as a joke, because of what the characters were eating in the story. I also served a casserole with potato chips on top; same reason. My guests all had funny jello stories to share! But they ate the salad.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Suzy: I do think it may also have to do with what you grew up on. We were not a big Jello family but my husband was often served the “Jello salad” as a side dish growing up. I guess that’s why he wants me to make Perfection Salad, something I still haven’t brought myself to do! Thanks for sharing here.
Beth Glick says
The term aspic always made me laugh. In the 1939 movie “Dinner at Eight” they make an aspic and it has little flags on toothpicks in it, and I think it’s a lion mold (it’s been awhile since I saw the movie) but it’s quite an elaborate presentation, the pride of the dinner. I can’t imagine most kids wanting to eat that or perfection salad even though we’ve always loved perfection salad.
Dave says
I know I’m coming late to the table here, but I have a version of Perfection Salad in my refrigerator right now. As a child of the 50s-60s growing up in Ohio, I was served lots of jello concoctions that ranged from salad/appetizer to dessert.
I have made one closer to the original with unflavored gelatin, fresh lemon juice, a tad of vinegar and a bit of sugar (plus the celery, onion, and cabbage – but no olives). Actually, olives invoke a negative memory of elementary cafeteria. Yep, we kids were served four big black olives as the vegetable of the day! My fourth grade teacher used to patrol the lunchroom and make all her students finish everything on their trays. It wasn’t until I was in college that I tried – and liked! – black olives again …
The perfection salad I like best could be described as “salsa jello” or a really really really REALLY thick gazpacho … To the gelatin, lemon, vinegar, and sugar, I add two cans of petite diced tomatoes, a few shots of hot sauce plus cabbage and onion and fresh chopped parsley and cilantro. Serve a slice over a bed of lettuce with a drizzle of ranch dressing.
Dee says
Perfection salad is delicious!
Beth Glick says
my mother in law used to make this and after she died my husband missed it and so now I make it! We really like it. It’s better than you’d think except for we don’t put olives in it.the dressingused is Miracle Whip, not mayonnaise.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Beth – sorry for the delay in getting your comments posted – I was off for Thanksgiving. And thanks for your input on Perfection Salad!
Katherine Boyer Coble says
I’m late to the party but I have to weigh in and say that Perfection Salad is the dish for which I (born in 1970, raised in northeastern Indiana) am most frequently nostalgic. Our version–which is merely the cabbage and pineapple (no celery or carrot or olive) with miracle whip on top was both refreshing and delicious. I’m a die-hard foodie, and I think there is some undeserved bad rap for gelatin-based foods at times. And I laugh to think what all this perfection-salad-making ladies of the mud century would say if we handed them a book of sushi recipes.
Food is not just food. It’s culture and context. And perfection salad is a very good example of how people in the culture and context of “fix-ahead food to eat after the farm chores are done ” celebrated Flavour. I hope someday you do get to taste it. 🙂
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I totally take your point re: sushi, Katherine. It really is all about context. And though I promised to do so here, I actually never did get around to making Perfection Salad but my Texas-native husband would be delighted if I did! You’ve inspired me to get on this project! Thanks so much for coming by and for your comment.
Dave says
Exactly! How many times do we eat something or smell something that transports us back to a previous time or place? Those good memories are conjured by “comfort food” … I don’t think we have a name for food that invokes bad memories!
Maryw says
If you want to be really horrified, Google lileks gallery of regrettable food.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Oh, that sounds promising. Thank you! 🙂
Mairi says
Just attended a 100th anniversary dinner to commemorate the departure of our local battalion to WWI. The dinner featured very small portions of this salad. Apparently it was on the original menu. It wasn’t too bad, despite my strong reservations!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
That’s really cool – do you remember what else was on the menu?
Stefanina says
Keep in mind, gelatin used to be a time-intensive process which pretty much meant it was only for the wealthy.
When instant gelatin was invented, it put this rich-folks-only food onto the middle-class plate. You bet they took advantage of that.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Interesting point! Thanks for commenting, Stefanina.