BS: vintage jello recipes

03 Mar 13 - 06:10 PM (#3486009)
Subject: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Desert Dancer

Making, and Eating, the 1950s' Most Nauseating Jell-O Soaked Recipes (Collector's Weekly)

Including...

I think there was such a proliferation of advertising that it created this mindset that, hey, I can use Jell-O as an easy dessert or an easy lunch. I don't have to mess around with it a lot. If you've looked through any stash of vintage cookbooks, invariably there'll be at least one Jell-O recipe book in it because everybody owned one.

It's really hard to say why the savory Jell-O salad became something. I was talking to my dad about this the other day, and he said it became this crazy thing in his family where every holiday, all my aunts would try to outdo each other with these fantastic, multi-layered gelatin molds.

Collectors Weekly: Were these served as desserts or side dishes?

Clark: They were everything. Some came as desserts, some as side dishes, and some were main-course stuff. It was freaky.


Presentation was a major feature of many mid-century recipes for entertaining, as showcased with these cracker kabobs a la grapefruit.

I really think at the time, their idea of food artistry was very different than ours, which is evident in all of the pictures from that era. I think that at the time, this fancy centerpiece was considered the epitome of class. I don't know if you've seen Charles Phoenix's weenie tree? Basically you take a Styrofoam tree, wrap it in tin foil, and stick little hot dogs on sticks into this tree and your guests were supposed to pull the hot dogs off and dip them in the sauces and eat them.

Think of things like the lamb cake or the gelatin mold. The idea of having this big, edible centerpiece was really popular back then, which I notice in a lot of cookbooks.

I haven't really heard a lot of food historians talk about this, but I've found that food mixed into Jell-O stays fresher much longer than if you have it by itself.

Collectors Weekly: Whoa, how long are you talking about, like weeks?

Clark: Like days. For example, Perfection Salad is basically coleslaw inside of lemon or lime Jell-O, so it's got cabbage and carrots and all kinds of stuff. But the cabbage will stay fresh for over a week. If you take a bite of it, it's still crunchy. My husband, Tom, tries all this. He's a chemist, so he'll keep tasting it long, long after I'm done with it. But if you make regular coleslaw and put dressing on it, the cabbage becomes soggy after three days. And after five days, you're not going to eat it.

We've done a lot of different Jell-O stuff and noticed that freshness is basically extended when you encase things in Jell-O. We've done cakes covered with gelatin, and the cake would still be moist after a week and a half. We made sandwiches with gelatin, open-faced sandwiches with flavored gelatin poured over the top, which was supposed to be like mayo. I thought it was going to be disastrous. Tom wolfed them down. He's like, "These are really good and the bread isn't soggy." I'm like, "Are you kidding me?" Two days later, they were still edible.

I don't know if being frugal and using up leftovers was part of the Jell-O trend, putting them in gelatin and then trying to force them down that way. But that's my theory.

More at the link, as well as lovely pictures. Anyone here remember salad flavored (savory) Jell-Os? As pictured in an ad: mixed vegetable, celery, seasoned tomato, and Italian salad were options. Makes more sense than using the fruit flavors for those savory recipes... and a bit more interesting than plain gelatin.

~ Becky in Tucson

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03 Mar 13 - 06:23 PM (#3486013)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Stilly River Sage

I have a bunch of my mother's old recipe books from various product manufacturers. I'm sure I've seen more than one Jello book in there.

SRS

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03 Mar 13 - 06:33 PM (#3486015)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: gnu

I got a new one...

One package jello... one package olddude... DO NOT MIX.

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03 Mar 13 - 06:36 PM (#3486016)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: catspaw49

Ohmydeargawdtakemenow.............I was the victim of many of these "classic" and while I remember the times quite fondly, growing up in the 50's was often marred by the myriad ways to combine crap! Why on earth would you put celery in lime jell, put a blob of Miracle Whip on top, and call it a salad? All those things you can do and shouldn't with Campbell's Cream of Whatsis soup...........I mean some was fine but some of it made no sense and tasted as though it was found in a catbox sitting in the rain.

Don't get me wrong, I still use some of the good recipes which I've modified some but so much of that stuff was just seeing what they could do and feel good about it. Personally I would never feel good about carrots in orange jello but it got even worse. I recall some hideous thing that was supposedly something or another in Aspic and whatever it was I wished it was back home in Aspic wherever that was.

Thanks so much for a trip down Memory Lane Becky! Now please pass the Phillips Milk of Magnesia...........


Spaw

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03 Mar 13 - 07:06 PM (#3486029)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Bill D

Anyone remember the song "Hopelessly MidWestern"?

That was us in Kansas in the 50s ... and my mom did make Jello 'salads' at times. Mostly desserts with little marshmallows in them. They were **cheap** and kids thought they were a treat.

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03 Mar 13 - 08:09 PM (#3486044)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Bat Goddess

By the way, I LOATHE Miracle Whip, which is what I grew up on. After I left home I discovered mayonnaise was something completely different...and I LIKED it. (I'm now a mayonnaise abuser, but there are support groups.)

Back to Jell-o. As a child of the '50s and '60s I endured a lot of that crap...dessert, salad, and even entrée. Definitely a major part of church dinners, meals at relatives' homes, and "Funeral Feasts and Sudden Death Quick Snacks".

In the early '70s my then-husband worked for Atlantic Gelatins, which was part of General Foods -- we're talking Jell-o R&D here -- in Woburn, Massachusetts. I think I threw out all the Jell-o recipe books we had -- I certainly never USED any of them. Wouldn't give Jell-o house room. If I used dessert gelatin mix at all (seldom), it was Royal. Most of the work Ed did was research on why Royal gelatin was so much higher quality than Jell-o...not that General Foods actually followed up on the reports. It was because Royal used better quality raw materials -- hooves and hides. I'm also well aware of how caustic gelatin is -- Ed went through shoes like you wouldn't believe. The gelatin would eat right through the leather.

Some of the research was to create a hand-dispersable, gel in cold water gelatin. They succeeded. It was very successfully test marketed. General Foods management declined to go into production because they were afraid it would sell more than their standard Jell-o. Go figure.

And miniature marshmallows don't taste anywhere near as good as regular sized marshmallows. And canned "fruit cocktail" tastes like crap -- even the cherries. Gawd, the hideous stuff we consumed in the god-forsaken Fifties and Sixties!

Linn

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03 Mar 13 - 08:12 PM (#3486046)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Bat Goddess

Correction -- a hand-dispersable, gel in cold water, gel in 15 minutes Jell-O.

Linn

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03 Mar 13 - 08:18 PM (#3486048)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Bat Goddess

I'm not sure when General Foods sold out to Kraft, but here's an article from 1996 --

Atlantic Gelatin

Linn

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03 Mar 13 - 09:02 PM (#3486059)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Rapparee

1. Make green Jello and pour it into the bottom of a clear bowl. Let it set up.

2. Make some really thick, white, opaque stuff using cream cheese, milk, and bits of white marshmallows. Spread this over the green jello -- about three inches of green jello and three inches of white paste-y stuff. Refrigerate.

3. Make some orange jello. Let it cool and pour it over the white stuff. Let it all set up in the fridge.

You now have the flag of Dear Old Ireland!!! Serve it on St. Paddy's Day!! After enough of the craytur no one will care what it tastes like.

Helpful hint: add raw shredded carrots the green jello and bits of chopped celery to the orange for the true orange-white-and-green feeling!

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03 Mar 13 - 09:13 PM (#3486062)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: gnu

After enough of a drop o the pure, jello or anything else that doesn't look like food will stay untouched by even the least discerning of the imbibers.

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03 Mar 13 - 10:44 PM (#3486088)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: frogprince

My mother once treated us to a recipe she brought home from the local woman's club. I don't remember everything that was in the jello, but near the bottom a bunch of graham crackers were half-dissolved into muck.

The jury acquited me 'n' Dad.

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04 Mar 13 - 09:22 AM (#3486190)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Rapparee

My mother made the best Jello in the WHOLE WORLD!!! She'd first boil up the colts' feet to extract the gelatin (did her own butcherin', she did) and serve the meat in a stew for dinner -- she never wasted anything. After gettin' the gelatin out she'd use it to make the Jello flavor of her choice: cucumber, beet, persimmon, alum, habanero, or whatever struck her fancy.

Boy! Mealtimes sure were a treat at our house, and Mom NEVER had to bring Jello stuff to the church things or family reunions.

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04 Mar 13 - 12:28 PM (#3486273)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Kraft is perpetuating the misery, updated by recipes to which they add their concoctions and spoil good food.
Got one of their recipe booklets at the supermar last week.

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04 Mar 13 - 12:35 PM (#3486276)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: LilyFestre

My family has 3 Jello salad standbys and I love all of them.

Orange Jello Salad (Orange jello, mandarin oranges, pineapple, cream cheese)

Green Jello Salad (Lime jello, cream cheese, pineapple and a secret ingredient)

Cranberry Crunch (Raspberry jello, walnuts, celery, whole cranberry sauce)

Mmm Mmm TASTY.

Michelle

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04 Mar 13 - 03:31 PM (#3486346)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Bat Goddess

I'll give it a miss...

Linn

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04 Mar 13 - 03:36 PM (#3486349)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Rapparee

One of the REAL treats we used to have was store-bought blackberry jello with sardines and miniature marshmallows in it. You never forgot the taste sensation!!

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04 Mar 13 - 04:29 PM (#3486370)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: olddude

OMG ... I hate you all ... the horror the horror

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04 Mar 13 - 05:43 PM (#3486387)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: olddude

The humanity has left mudville ... nightmares ... now I will have lime green nightmares ...

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04 Mar 13 - 05:51 PM (#3486394)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Rapparee

Fer goodness's sakes, St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner! Wash down some of that Irish Flag Salad with some green beer and be sick about it!

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05 Mar 13 - 07:53 PM (#3486815)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: Desert Dancer

The Gallery of Regrettable Food has a Jell-O section (click the "Next"s to page through the glory...) -- the images are from ads from the very early days -- ca. 1920s and '30s. The curator's text is pretty good. :-)

(Thanks to a commenter on the original link.)

~ Becky in Tucson

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05 Mar 13 - 08:46 PM (#3486830)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: ChanteyLass

I like the way the words Back, Home, Next jiggle when you move the cursor over them.

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06 Mar 13 - 08:32 PM (#3487319)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: RangerSteve

My Mom invited one of her co-workers and family over for dinner once. The woman brought a dish that was basically cole slaw gelatin. Being a fan of cole slaw, I liked it, but I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would do this. You have cole slaw. Then you put it in a blender, mix with gelatin and you have a finished product that tastes like cole slaw. All that work and you haven't changed or improved on the original in any way.

Jello tried their hand at veggie flavored Jello for salads. You've probably noticed that they don't make it any longer.

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06 Mar 13 - 08:51 PM (#3487324)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: olddude

The horror the horror the horror

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07 Mar 13 - 09:02 AM (#3487498)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: David C. Carter

Lime Green Jello was the Viet's answer to Agent Orange

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07 Mar 13 - 11:42 AM (#3487561)
Subject: RE: BS: vintage jello recipes
From: olddude

There isn't enough drugs or alcohol to make me even try it. My luck I will stroke out and some nurse will feed it to me ... That is my version of Hell on earth

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