Maylee at Beyond Gumbo 
I am very pleased with the results of my “retro” molded cranberry sauce salad. This recipe is “spot-on.” Let’s skip the canned cranberry sauce this year at the holiday dinner table. We can do much better. “Molded Cranberry Waldorf Salad” is a colorful and tasty way to include cranberries in the turkey feast. I am going back in time to a “retro” recipe which I found in a vintage cookbook to make a molded gelatin salad. The salad features homemade cranberry sauce. The tart cranberry sauce helps mellow out the rich flavors of the holiday meal. Strawberry jello adds a little sweetness and the apple, celery and pecans just make for a good waldorf salad. Wow.
Recipe Inspiration
Here’s yet another recipe which I found when a vintage cookbook literally fell out of my cookbook shelf while I was rumaging around. I don’t where Easy Gourmet Cookbook, published by Great American Opportunities Inc. in 1997, came from. It claims to be “easy to prepare” versions of gourmet dishes — whatever that is. And, why did I keep the cookbook? Hum, who knows. I browsed through the recipes and found several interesting ideas. The recipe using cranberry sauce caught my attention. Is a jello salad gourmet? You decide. And what is jello?
Jell-O Salad
It was slim pickings on the “Jell-O” isle at the grocery store. However, I did find generic powdered strawberry gelatin. Instant powdered Jello-O has been around since 1897. In the early 1900s, jello desserts were considered to be luxurious desserts of high society and the wealthy. The popularity of jello and congealed salads grew in the 1930’s – 1960’s. Every housewife had Jell-O molds. In fact, we just found a stack of these aluminum molds while cleaning through my 99-year-old mother-in-law’s kitchen. “Jell-O” is a registered trademark of Kraft Heinz and jello has become a generic term for instant powdered gelatin. Jell-O sales peaked in 1968 and sales have declined since that year. However, the brand pivoted and now convenience, prepared jello desserts and snacks have taken the market shares. Gone is old-fashioned cooking.
That is so true at our house — about the only time I purchase “Jell-O” is for a special occasion. I had to read the instructions on the box of strawberry gelatin to remember how to use this ingredient.
But I still knew where my special “Jell-O” Tupperware mold is kept. It is my last remaining piece of Tupperware.
Recipe
Here’s what I did to make this molded jello salad.
First, Make the homemade cranberry sauce and let it cool down. This can be done ahead of time. Simply mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a large pot and let them simmer on low heat on the stove for half an hour.
Then strain the cranberry sauce through a food mill. These vintage gadgets come in so handy for recipes when you need to remove the skin of cooked vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes) or fruit (cranberries, apples). (Good gift idea for the chef who has everything but this.)
No food mill? Press the cranberries through a fine scieve.
The yield should be 2 cups — use one cup in this recipe and the remainder for another application.
Find a jello mold and oil it ever so slightly, I have one remaining vintage piece of Tupperware left. This piece is perfect for “stunning” jello molds. It comes with a snap off lid whicn helps in removing the congealed mold. The reaminer of my Tupperware has long since disappeared. I have managed to hand on to this mold, partially by hiding it from myself.
Get the remainder of the ingredients prepped. Chop the pecans and celery. Peel and grate the apple.
To finish the congealed salad, dissolve the strawberry gelatin powder in a cup of boiling water in a medium-size bowl. Stir and stir until the jello is completely dissolved.
Add the cranberry sauce, chopped apples, celery and pecans to the dissolved jello and stir in.
Transfer to the oiled jello mold. Cover and chill until set — several hours to overnight.
When ready to serve, line a serving plate with lettuce leaves.
Remove jello mold from refrigerator and invert onto the serving plate. Since you have oiled the mold, the congealed salad should easily slip out of the mold in one piece. I believe that the lids to these Tupperware pieces have some sort of special seal which pops off. It somehow helps the gelatin mold release. (However, I did have to loosen the with a knife, first.)
Garnish with orange segments and pecans and a dollop of sour cream.
This really is an elegant salad. Festive, colorful and tasty for a holiday meal. And it was easy to make. I guess the Easy Gourmet cookbook folks had the right idea after all. There still is a place for old-fashioned cooking in our world and those vintage Tupperware molds and Jell-O. Enjoy!
Molded Cranberry Waldorf Salad
Ingredients for Cranberry Sauce:
- 12 oz bag fresh cranberries, sorted and rinsed
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice (or 1 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate with enough water to make 1/2 cup)
- 1 cup additional water
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
Ingredients for Molded Salad:
- 1 (3 oz) pkg strawberry gelatin
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup cranberry sauce (see recipe above)
- 1 medium-size apple, peeled and grated
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped, plus additional for serving
- Boston lettuce leaves or leaf lettuce, for serving
- sour cream or mayonnaise, for serving
- orange slices for serving, optional
Method and Steps for Cranberry Sauce:
- Bring the cranberries (sorted and rinsed), brown sugar, orange juice, additional water and ginger to a boil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. Stir frequently.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries burst and sauce thickens, about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the sauce, in batches, to a food mill. Turn and turn the food mill handle to press out the smooth sauce. The cranberry skins will remain behind. Alternately, strain the sauce through a fine scieve, pressing down to extract all the sauce. Discard solids.
Method and Steps for Molded Cranberry Apple Salad:
- Lightly oil a jello salad mold and set aside.
- Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water in a medium-sized bowl.
- Add the cranberry sauce, apples, celery and 1/4 cup pecans, mix well.
- Spoon into a salad mold.
- Chill until set.
- Unmold onto a serving plate which is lined with lettuce leaves.
- Garnish with a dollop of sour ceam or mayonnaise.
- Spinkle with reserved chopped pecans and garnish with orange slices, optional.
References:
It does look like something out of my childhood!
I wish fresh cranberries were available all the year, because I could eat this particular jello mold all year around. For some reason, the flavors just seem to “gel” perfectly. I have several Jell-O salad memories from growing up. Some are “way out there.” Yes, vintage! But, still quite good and I need to find time to post them.
We love cranberries and Waldorf salad, so I will need to make this. Last year I ran out of my stash of frozen fresh cranberries in April, and was sad until October! Stock up, people!
A word to the wise! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Cranberries are very high in pectin, so they naturally add jelling to a dish.
Pop some in the freezer, this would be delightful at spring celebrations!
A great idea! Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you New Englanders!
Thank you! Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!
Jell-O salad was a staple on my grandmother’s table at the holidays! Thank you for putting a smile on my face with this one. Also, I think everyone had that Tupperware mold back in the day. My mom’s was pistachio green! 😂
Yes, back in the day, I think that everything must have been put into a Jello-O mold! And my grandmother’s individual molds are so tiny and cute! Amazing what she kept. So, now that I have the molds, more recipes are sure to come this summer. Anyway, happy holidays to your family.