Perfection Salad

Perfection salad . . . my first memory of what I think is a most delicious salad comes from the early 1960's. My father and his friend Louis used to go hunting and fishing together. On one particular foray my mother took the three of us and we spent the weekend with Louis's wife Irene, while the men were off doing man-things.

Irene had been one of my mother's friends since her early working days as a secretary and I believe they had roomed together in Truro, Nova Scotia. This whole weekend had almost a holiday feel to it . . . at least to me it did. We did not often go anywhere as a family. Mom was not a fan of the Great-Outdoors, so in the summer we might spend one day at the beach. That was it.

Getting to stay for a few days at someone else's home was a really big deal. I remember Irene and Louis had a huge vegetable garden and we were allowed to help them pick peas and beans and lettuces for supper on the first night.

There was also an element of danger involved as several bears had been seen in the area (which was quite remote) and so we were well aware of the need to keep a watchful eye out. On the first night I was sleeping in a small bedroom off to the side of the house. There was a box of Muffets cereal on the dresser and I remember being awakened by noise and what I felt was a bear trying to get in the open window to get at the Muffets. I screamed blue murder of course and refused to sleep there the remainder of our stay. My mother's bed was very crowded after that!

Another thing I remember, with much more clarity . . . is that Irene made Perfection Salad as a part of one of our meals, and it was delicious. So much so that it has stayed in the annals of my favourite food memories ever since.

It isn't perfect . . . its a coleslaw of sorts and has a history that goes back to the beginnings of powdered gelatin way back when. The original recipe was devised by a woman named Mrs. John E Cooke of New Castle, Pennsylvania. She entered her recipe in a contest sponsored by Charles Knox in 1905 (the major gelatin producer in the US at that time). Interestingly enough one of the judges was the Fanny Farmer of the Fanny Farmer Cooking School fame. (One of my all time favourite cookery books. I have worn out three copies in my lifetime.)

Mrs Cooke won third prize (a sewing machine) and people have been enjoying Perfection Salad ever since that time!

I have seen it created in many versions, most using boxed Jello (another American invention, fruity flavoured gelatin), normally lemon or lime, and they are good. My favourite version however is this one. The made from scratch one, using all natural ingredients.

The gelatin mixture is fairly simple. Its just some powdered gelatin softened in cold water and then mixed together with a bit of boiling water, sugar, fresh lemon juice and vinegar, along with some seasoning.

That gets chilled in the refrigerator until it thickens somewhat, about the time it takes you to chop all the vegetables . . . .

I like to hand shred and chop my vegetables. Its not that hard and I actually find it quite relaxing standing at the counter with my knife cutting the cabbage into thin shreds. I think if you were to grate it, it would be too fine and you want a bit of texture . . .

There are also celery and some red and green bell peppers. I also chop these by hand and they are actually chopped quite fine. Minced. Again, I fine this a very relaxing enterprise. Once I have the vegetables all done the gelatin has usually thickened enough so that I know that when I stir them into it they will be evenly distributed and not end up floating on the top. I also add some coarse black pepper.

You can either put the mixture into a mold to chill for several hours or into a square cake dish/casserole to chill. Either way is very nice.