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 blanche, you are 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.]
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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!!
I don’t know what to say, except for – GROSS!!!
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 …
Hee!
LOL!!
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!
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.
Here’s some more:
http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=4497
The true joys of Jell-O, indeed.
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.
Yeah, you’re right. This may be less a Southern thing than just a product of the 30′s-50′s.
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….
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.
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
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.
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
Maybe if I start off with a Bloody Mary, the Perfection Salad will look a whole lot more appealing?
Incidentally, there’s even a book:
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780520257382
I may need to get my hands on this one….
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!
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.
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.
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.
I gotta say, Pat, this is really not my “thing,” but I’m willing to try. I’ll report back.
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
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