The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #126: Fruited Perfection

Howdy, Jigglers! Today we are going to talk about a Jell-O recipe that I put off for the longest time. Fruited Perfection is a molded salad featuring pineapple (no sweat), nuts (still perfectly normal), olives (I can deal with that), and cabbage (what are we doing now, General Foods?) all mixed together in a gelatin matrix of consomme (what is this?) flavored with vinegar and tropical Jell-O flavors. Of course. You might start to recognize why I postponed making this recipe for so long.

But the deal here at the Actual Joys of Jell-O is that I make all the recipes, so I couldn't skip it, and I just happened to have some broth I could use to make consomme, so why not? Or so I thought at the time.

First, I started with the consomme. I had read about how to make it before, but I had never actually tried it. I took some quail-and-chicken stock (long story) and brought it to a simmer with whipped egg whites in it, which did mostly work to clarify it, though it wasn't the most beautiful consomme ever devised. Then I skimmed off everything I could from the top and ran the consomme through a strainer, because what could it hurt?

 

To this I added two tablespoons of unflavored gelatin and heated it until almost boiling. After allowing the consomme to cool a bit, I added the vinegar and the lime juice that I used instead of lime Jell-O. This is where things first started to go awry: upon adding the acidic ingredients, the nice, clear consomme turned a sickly, milky white color. As instructed, I added some of the consomme-gelatin mixture to my mold on its own, arranging a few olive slices on top as it started to thicken. However, even at the time I figured you wouldn't be able to see the olives from the top, since the opacity slider on the gelatin had moved far past its initial setting.

 

Once the rest of the gelatin got to the "very thick" stage, I mixed in the rest of the ingredients, then added the newly chunky mixture to the other gelatin in the mold and refrigerated until completely hardened. Upon unmolding, I found myself with this:

 

 

The first practical problem with this mold is that it does not cut nicely. The cabbage strips make it turn into a gibbering pile of goo however delicately you try to slice it.

The second problem with this recipe is everything else. It doesn't look nice (I guess it looks kind of like molded coleslaw, which would be much better) and it tastes awful. I hate to be crass on this blog, but the taste of this dish is like if you went to a barbeque, ate some coleslaw, fruit salad, and chicken, then vomited all of that up, only if it were cold as it came up.

The writers of this recipe went very wrong when they were arguing over whether to make this a savory salad or a fruit salad and ultimately decided to make it both. The acidity of the vinegar and lime juice do not complement the consomme, neither of which are complemented by the cabbage and pineapple combination. The nuts and olives are fine on their own, but don't fit in with the other components one bit.

 

Before I tasted this, I thought that this recipe read like someone constructed a "Things that Work Well in Jell-O" dart board and threw five or six darts at it to determine what they would include. It tastes like it, too. I forced myself to eat about half of a "slice", then tossed the rest. My goal with all of these recipes is to make the best possible version of each one, and I believe I did that here, but much as an actor cannot transcend an asinine writer in a play, the best possible ingredients cannot transcend a garbage recipe.

I tried. Don't subject yourself to Fruited Perfection. I don't think the recipe writers did.

The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #135: Sunset Salad

Howdy, Jigglers! Today I am tackling what is probably one of the most popular non-dessert Jell-O recipes ever invented, the Sunset Salad. Even my mom, who doesn't cotton to the idea of using Jell-O for anything outside of fruit salads, liked this colorful mold of carrots and pineapple.

 

Before proceeding any further, I would just like to say how much I love the look of this salad as styled here. It is a triumph, and it sets a big, scary precedent for how this salad should look. Even the garnishes look luxe, and I'm particularly happy to see that carrot ribbons predate Instagram.

Back to the actual recipe, though. Because this salad is so beautiful when clear, I broke down and just bought orange Jell-O and followed the recipe to the letter instead of using orange juice and unflavored gelatin. I also omitted the pecans. Okay, I did make one substantial change: I added another tablespoon of unflavored gelatin to the Jell-O to make sure the molds would hold their shape nicely, plus I just prefer harder gelatin in general.

The recipe is very simple to make, but I was disappointed in how little it made. I filled four individual molds of various sizes (one small, two medium, and one large), but I couldn't have filled my Bundt pan even halfway with this recipe, and it wouldn't have filled my fish mold either. Again, my suggestions are to follow.

I think this turned out looking close to as nice as the photo from the book. It certainly looks nice, and I  enjoyed how it tasted as well, enough to eat it with lunch all week and then miss it when it was gone. The carrots provide a crunchy contrast to the tropical fruit flavors of the gelatin, but they are sweet enough not to be incongruous with the overall taste. It tastes very bright and summery as well--this would be a perfect side at an Easter dinner or a spring picnic to get you out of those winter blues.

Now, if I were to make this again (and this recipe might have to go into the venerable "I plan on making this again" pile), I would do it a little differently. For best visual and taste appeal, I would leave all ingredients the way I left them except I would double the quanity of water and dissolve a package of pineapple Jell-O alongside the orange Jell-O. This would achieve the orange-pineapple effect that the recipe calls for, and it would make the mold prettier and bigger. If you try this, you might want to increase the amount of carrots and pinapple a little, maybe a quarter or a third, but no more. That way the mold will be a little clearer and provide more of a "things are floating in the Jell-O" aesthetic, as seen in the recipe photograph.

 

As-is, though, the Sunset Salad was still a superb success for a Jell-O recipe with vegetables in it. For anyone who doesn't dig carrots, this might be just what you need to get that beta carotene in. General Foods gets a gold star for this one.

The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #176: Cherry-Glazed Ham

 Howdy, Jigglers! For our Christmas dinner this year, I roasted a shank portion ham, and that provided a perfect excuse to try one of the more creative recipes from Joys of Jell-O--Cherry-Glazed Ham!

This recipe has you baste a mostly roasted ham with a sweet, cherry-flavored gelatinous mixture and bedazzle it with cloves. It's very simple, but I reckoned that cherry Jell-O would be too sweet with all the added sugar, and the cherry flavor would be a little too much or too artificial. I remedied this situation by replacing the water and Jell-O with pure black cherry juice and two tablespoons of unflavored gelatin.

I did everything else exactly as specified in the recipe, and look how nice and shiny this ham turned out!

Clearly this was the piece de resistance of our entire holiday meal. Even now I can't get over how pretty it was!

The ham tasted great, too. The outside, glazed part was just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of spiced, and ever so slightly sticky as well. Here are some slice shots.

This made a perfect centerpiece for our parmesan-encrusted roasted zucchini and our garlicky green beans. We followed the instructions on how to use the drippings as sauce, but a word of caution here: At least with the kind of ham we used, the drippings are about 70% grease and 30% gelatin mixture, and the two don't mix. For best results, try to separate the two entirely (easily done through refrigeration for leftovers, but at the first serving, try pouring off the fat into a separate container), discard the grease or reserve it for other uses, and only use the gelatin mixture for your sauce.

Despite that minor detail, this recipe is stellar, but it gets better. This recipe could easily be altered for other occasions or seasons. Imagine an Easter roast ham with a pineapple-cayenne glaze (made with canned or otherwise cooked pineapple juice, of course). Or a Thanksgiving ham with an apple cider-cinnamon glaze. Orange juice-glazed ham is a classic too, and gelatin is just the thing to make it stick. Glazed ham has just become an entire genre of cuisine for me thanks to this recipe!

Great job, General Foods, on doing something novel with Jell-O that actually works exactly as intended!

The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #63: Pineapple Snow

Howdy, Jigglers! It's been forever since I've done a Jell-O recipe, but I've been looking forward to doing this one for a long time. Whipped Jell-O never should have gone out of style--it's so bubbly and fluffy, and the calorie count per unit of volume has to be way low. Pineapple Snow takes the fluff factor and cranks it up with the addition of an egg white for extra volume, so you know this is going to be fun.

 

For once, I actually followed the recipe's ingredients list as closely as possible. I don't think the orange-pineapple flavor of Jell-O exists anymore, but I found Island Pineapple. For the juice, I cheaped out and got Jumex pineapple nectar, which worked fine.

 

 

As a side note, I have always loved this Dog 'n' Suds mug, but it broke on me not three days after this photo was taken. Rest in peace.

The method in this recipe is very simple: mix your boiling water and Jell-O, then add the juice. Chill until very thick, then add egg white and whip until fluffy and chill until hardened. I suppose you could mold this recipe, but you would have to be very careful not to heat the mold up too much when unmolding, or else the exterior of the mold would lose its delicate texture.

 

 

 

The only hiccup I had while making Pineapple Snow is that I don't think I waited quite long enough to start whipping. It whipped up fine, but some solid Jell-O accumulated in the bottom of each dish, as seen in the photo below. This in itself is not bad, but if I had waited a bit longer, I bet it wouldn't have happened, so have patience.

 

 

 

The end result of this recipe is truly fluffy while maintaining its pineapple-y richness. I have been on a pineapple kick for a month now, but this is really good, even with the actual Jell-O. While I have not tried the pineapple Jell-O in regular jiggly Jell-O form, with this preparation, it's excellent. I think all the bubbles, and thus dilution of the gelatin, keep the flavors from becoming overpowering.

 

In addition to the taste, I like how simple and easy this recipe is, as well as that it's not instantly recognizeable as Jell-O. Pineapple Snow would be just as at home at a kid's summer party as it would be at a holiday table or a luncheon adult friends.  I guess I would describe it as a fruity, mousse meringue.

 

Pineapple Snow is among my favorite recipes that I've made with Jell-O specifically, if not my very favorite. The only thing I might alter about it someday is to add some coconut milk or something coconutty (toasted coconut flakes on top?) to make Pina Colada Snow. That would be tiki bar heaven for me. 

 

We have to commend General Foods heartily for their addition of the Pineapple Snow recipe to the Joys of Jell-O cookbook. Next time, we will dive into a recipe much less firmly planted in the "This has got to be good" camp and much more firmly planted in the "Why would anyone do this with Jell-O?" camp.

Gelatin in the Wild: Lala Yomi Gelatina Fresa (Reduced Sugar)

Howdy, Jigglers! In this installment of Gelatin in the Wild, we are going to make a sequel to the Lala Yomi Gelatina Uva with its strawberry-flavored counterpart. Just like last time, I encountered this cup o' gelatin all of a sudden and only had a chance to get this photo before scarfing it down:

 

 

Strawberry is and has always been my favorite artificial gelatin flavor. It doesn't quite taste like strawberries, but it gets the point across, and this was no exception. I really found the artificial sweeteners less pronounced in this version as compared to the grape flavor, too. As with the grape variety, though, the strawberry Yomi has that bouncy texture we were all hoping for. 

 

All in all, Lala Yomi Fresa doesn't disappoint. Consider it a perfect substitution for a reduced-sugar Jell-O cup!

Gelatin in the Wild: Lala Yomi Gelatina Uva (Reduced Sugar)

Howdy, Jigglers! I'm taking a little break from The Joys of Jell-O to show you a gelatin that I found out in the world: a reduced sugar Lala gelatin cup in grape from Mexico!

In appearance this product is definitely similar to a Jell-O cup: same color, same consistency. The flavor is that of a strong grape soda, and even though it's reduced sugar and you can taste some artificial sweetener, it tastes very sweet. Overall the Lala gelatin is pretty good, and I give it a soft recommendation, mostly on account of the fact that they really don't skimp on the flavoring.

The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #96: Fruit Cocktail Salad

Howdy, Jigglers! Much like the last recipe I made, my choice of the Fruit Cocktail Salad was largely based on a can of fruit in my cupboard and a gifted banana. Together with some apple juice to flavor the gelatin, I had a perfectly coherent mix of ingredients for this dessert, only needing to purchase some pecans and a lemon to round it out.

As with most of these recipes, the method of preparing this was bog standard. The amount of liquid in the dish is a little less than normal, so I didn't want to mold the salad because it wouldn't have filled any mold very well. Instead I chose to put it in a nice china serving dish to make it pretty. And pretty it was!

I love the rich, warm colors of the salad. Even though this is just some bargain basement fruit with a couple of pecans thrown in, it looks fancy. It would make a perfect early autumn dessert for when it's still warm out, but everyone already wants to get into the pumpkin spice and apple cider mindset.

The Fruit Cocktail Salad tastes quite nice as well. Between the banana, the apple juice, and the syrup from the fruit cocktail, it is certainly sweet, but the lemon juice and the savory nuts balance that a little, and there is nothing heavy about it. This is one of those gelatin dishes that would not be controversial at a potluck.

If you want to use actual Jell-O flavors, I would recommend lemon, orange, or cherry. If you are into new-fangled Jell-O flavors, peach or apricot would work nicely as well. I have not yet had the good fortune to try the apricot flavor, but if it is anything like what it says on the tin, it should do the trick here. Other than switching up the gelatin flavor, though, I cannot for the life of me think of any further improvements that could be made here. The Fruit Cocktail Salad simply does what it's supposed to do, just as it is.