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Salad

Perfection Salad

A chilled cabbage salad with celery, peppers, pimentos, onion, and a gelatin-based dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Perfection Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gelatine base

  1. Dissolve one package of Knox's gelatin (plain) in enough water to dissolve it.

  2. Add white wine vinegar (weakened and sweetened to taste), salt, and pepper to the gelatin mixture.

  3. If the gelatin and vinegar are heated to dissolve, allow the mixture to cool before pouring over the cabbage.

Prepare and set the salad

  1. Prepare shredded white cabbage, finely chopped celery, green sweet peppers, canned pimentos, and onion.

  2. Ensure the liquid is enough to make the cabbage slightly juicy.

  3. Stir the mixture a little and pour it over the cabbage, then pour all into small molds.

Make the dressing and serve

  1. Whip thick, sweet cream until stiff.

  2. Add a little French's Cream Mustard Dressing, lemon juice, and sugar to the whipped cream.

  3. Mix until the dressing stands stiff in the mayonnaise bowl.

  4. Serve the salad with the dressing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

24Calories
1 gProtein
0 gFat
6 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,816 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable gel that holds the vegetables together.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the cream dressing.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour to the cream dressing.

The step that matters

Cool the gelatine mixture before pouring it over the cabbage. Gelatine that is still hot can wilt the cabbage and weaken the set, while a cooled liquid sets evenly and keeps the vegetables crisp.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, mustard):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Avocadofits about as well
  4. Cherryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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