1956 A&P fruit salad

[tvini.livejournal.com]

Comments

[albear.livejournal.com]

Mayonnaise on fruit salad! WTH?

[koboldmaki.livejournal.com]

Why?

[dunkler-ort.livejournal.com]

That sounds utterly disgusting.

[blackshini.livejournal.com]

I kind of want to make that just to see what the appeal was...

[whoseline_wlsc]

eeuw, Why can't people just leave gelatin alone? haha Mayonnaise with fruit? That sounds disgusting.

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

Is it supposed to be a sweet or salty? both?

And did anyone ever actually made these mayo-and-gelatin foods?

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Whole cookbooks were devoted to scary food (http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/), so it stands to reason that someone had to.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

What is that horrible mound in the photo? Cow patty pie? Blech!

I think I may have to give that book to my brother & sister-in-law though. They love to cook, so they'd get a real kick out of it.

[cactuswren.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Lileks surmised it might be Jabba the Hutt's prostate.

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

Yaiks! And now I want that book! :D

[craving-vintage.livejournal.com]

I seriously almost threw up. ugh

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Oh, 1950s, your product placement recipes are so very, very nauseating. I'm glad my mother never made any of these culinary atrocities when I was growing up.

[thebazu.livejournal.com]

is the mayo supposed to go IN it or ON it???

[parkerbenchley.livejournal.com]

Both.

In it with the whipped cream to make the jello creamy, and on it as garnish.

Hell, I grew up with my mom putting mayo and sugar on tomato slices, so it doesn't seem that odd to me.

Then again, we did live within a 5 block radius of an A&P so that might have had something to do with it.

[chicklet-girl.livejournal.com]

On what planet does it make sense to add mayonnaise to strawberry gelatin? I'm surprised you're not supposed to top this with grated Cheddar.

[craving-vintage.livejournal.com]

OMG, is she going to put a dollop of mayo on that salad. No!

[eleraama.livejournal.com]

That.
Is.
Disgusting.

[glitterberrys.livejournal.com]

oh god I was eating when I saw this D:

[mwittier.livejournal.com]

Fruit and mayo isn't that uncommon: has no one here ever had Waldorf Salad (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/waldorf_salad/)? It's delicious. My mom also makes a citrus fruit salad that has pineapple, orange segments, banana slices, and a dressing comprised of mayo, whipped cream and grated orange peel. It's also pretty damn tasty.

[paularubia.livejournal.com]

My mother makes a similar fruit salad, but with sour cream, not mayonnaise.

And there's also the old favorite (of mine): carrot salad, with shredded carrots, raisins, mayo, and, occasionally, pineapple.

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

But Waldorf is a "salty" salad, not a sweet one. It's main ingredient is celery (actually it's root celery and not the stick celery like in that recipe, and the original recipe contains only apple as a fruit and not grapefruits). With the mayo-and-cream dressing its delicious.

I kind of understand the use of mayo instead of cream in desserts, as its mainly oil and egg yolks and was at the time probably pretty good substitute: oil is cheaper than milk fats, and the product lasted longer than fresh milk product. I'm only wondering if the salt and the distinctive "mayo" taste from the egg yolk came through in the foods.

[mwittier.livejournal.com]

I'd argue that Waldorf's main flavor is umami, and not 'salty', specifically due to the mayonnaise. But that savory flavor is punctuated strongly by the counterpoint of the apple's (and the celery's for that matter) sweetness; it's the second, but barely secondary note. The contrast of the two, umami and sweetness, (and the wonderful texture) are what makes the salad so appealing.

I'm not sure where you're getting "grapefruit" from; the recipe I linked to (the first one on google's list: I was lazy) includes red seedless grapes, which it mentions are not a traditional ingredient.

I think that the use of mayo in fruit-based desserts has little to do with the cost or the ubiquity and shelf-life; my original point is that the mayo's umami flavor and fatty creaminess paired with the sweetness of fruit (Waldorf Salad being a great example) is delicious, and was and still is employed intentionally (see paularubia's comment as well.) It doesn't need an excuse; it's just a great combination.

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

Yup!