The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #120: Tangy Cabbage Salad

Howdy, Jigglers! I guess my husband just wanted to spite me this time because, when I asked him to pick me out a Jell-O recipe, he chose Tangy Cabbage Salad. Now when I think of yummy Jell-O delights, no three words swim more quickly to the top of mind than those, am I right?

. . .

This recipe is a hodgepodge of everything briny: pickles, horseradish, pimiento, vinegar, savory Jell-O (which, of course, is no longer manufactured--RIP), with a light dusting (by which I certainly don't mean a cup and a half) of shredded cabbage for roughage. It claims to form a relish to accompany meats.

This bizarre concoction comes together as simply and straightforwardly as most Jell-O recipes. You boil the water, mix in your Jell-O, add more liquid ingredients, chill until thick, and then mix in the solid ingredients so they get evenly incorporated. Finally, you let it chill until hardened. I followed the recipe exactly except for omitting pimiento (as I didn't have any and it doesn't taste like anything anyway) and substituting unflavored gelatin and celery salt for the Jell-O and salt. Of all the salad Jell-O flavors (mixed vegetable, celery, Italian, and tomato), I figured the celery would clash the least with the rest of the ingredients. Horseradish and Italian seasonings together? No thanks.

Predictably, Tangy Cabbage Salad looked a little snot-esque. I didn't add as much gelatin as I typically do to a recipe of this size because the description says it should be soft set, so it was very jiggly without having the definitive bite to it that I enjoy in gelatin. 

 

Aside from its texture, which was not improved by all the raw cabbage in there, the flavor was just bad. It tasted like pickle juice-flavored Jell-O. I was expecting to get a spicier horseradish-y tang, but that's drowned out by a wall of vinegar from the pickle relish and just literal vinegar hanging out in there. The celery flavor doesn't even come through. The only thing that peeks through the acid is raw cabbage. Now, I'm a cabbage lover. I love blackened cabbage wedges with sriracha mayo, I love corned beef and cabbage, and I love coleslaw. I even enjoy sauerkraut on my brats. But all of those cabbage applications have one thing in common: they have something fatty, with lots of flavor, to balance out the cabbage. Particularly in the case of cole slaw, where the cabbage is raw, you need salt, sugar, and fat in the dressing to make it palatable.

Tangy Cabbage Salad on the other hand, has virtually no fat, and the cabbage just hangs out, raw and unimproved. It's really terrible. I did manage to eat it all, but I didn't enjoy a single bite. I can't imagine anything it would accompany well. Poor show, General Foods.

The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #83: Cranberry-Apple Molds

Howdy, Jigglers! I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've posted any manner of gelatin-related content. Turns out I've been spending the last several months cooking up a different kind of jiggler, which has made me abnormally busy and sugar averse. However, my husband recently reminded me of my long-lost Jell-O quest, and so with his help I found a recipe that was both simple and quick to make and on the healthier side (as these things go): Cranberry-Apple Molds!

 

 

I already had the cranberry sauce, and we were trying to use up old cans of things--we still have some pandemic-era stock that's close to expiration--so this recipe was perfect for helping on that front.

In an effort to make this recipe a little healthier (key word: little), I used two cans of strawberry Jumex and unflavored gelatin instead of strawberry Jell-O, as at least the Jumex contains a little juice. I also added a glug (very technical term) of 100% cranberry juice for a little extra tart cranberry hit, as I know that Jumex is also loaded with sugar. Other than that, I made the recipe as written. I believe I used Pink Lady or Fuji apples, for reference.

 

I used some individual molds that I have, but I also molded this recipe in two larger molds, including a new one that has a scorpion in the top! Now, the colors of this mold make it a little hard to see (I'll have to do a mayo-or-cream-based mold in it sometime to really show off the shape), but you can more or less make out the scorpion there.

 

Then there was this mold I have barely ever used, and I thought this recipe would be pretty in it.

 

"Okay, yes, I see that it's pretty, but how does it taste?" I hear you exclaim. Well, you're in luck. This mold is pleasantly sweet, balanced with a nice cranberry tartness, and the apples are somewhere in between. Their crisp texture provides a lovely contrast from the gelatinousness of the rest of the mold.

Something extra impressive about this recipe is that the gelatin keeps the apples fresh and crisp for a very long time. I was eating this over the course of about 10 days, and the apples never browned or went soft. Now, I was conscientious about making sure that all the apple bits were dunked into the gelatin, thereby leaving them coated and thus protected from oxidation.

 

This recipe is in the Two-Way Salads chapter. I can see where you might serve this atop some butter lettuce or alongside coleslaw on the buffet table. But it would also be at home as a dessert. I'm amazed at General Foods' restraint in not recommending you to top it with mayonnaise--you know they wanted to. So good job, General Foods: good recipe, no mayo recommendation.