This little magazine was published monthly by the Armour meat-packing firm of Chicago in the early years of the last century (who knows, possibly as damage control after Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle). In it were gardening tips, household hints, and plenty of recipes, using Armour products, of course. This one was submitted by Mrs Sadette Harrington, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. It sounds absolutely ghastly.
JELLIED BOUILLON SALAD. Make a clear bouillon, using one teaspoon of Armour's Extract of Beef to one pint of hot water. Dissolve one spoon of powdered gelatine and stir into the hot liquid. Stir in a few button mushrooms sliced, or some cold veal. Add the pulp of one orange, having it peeled, sliced and torn in sections. When cool turn into cups or molds moistened with cold water. Stir and divide the material about equal in each cup. Set on ice to harden. Slice firm tomatoes and lay one each on lettuce leaf. Turn the bouillon molds onto these and place a large spoon of dressing over each.
The cookbook may be downloaded from Project Gutenberg.
I know it sounds rather gross, especially in light of today's jello salads where the fruit is surrounded by sugary sweetness. But in the 19th and early-mid 20th centuries molds or terrines consisting of meats,vegetables, and occasionally fruits in aspic (meat-based broth jellies) were considered a delicacy, served by the finest of hosts. I have very distinct memories of dining with my parents at the Empire Room in the Palmer House Hotel on a trip to Chicago in 1974. I was 16 at the time. My mother swooned over her aspic salad...which I thought tasted terrible!
ReplyDeleteI think I could have gone with the mushrooms or cold veal the the orange?
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