Yes! Lots of tomato aspic, sometimes with chopped green olive/cucumber suspended in it, served with either homemade mayonnaise or cottage cheese. Sometimes tomato juice was the base, but also V-8 or Clamato juice, and it was seasoned with worcestershire, lemon and tabasco. Delicious with chicken salad and yeast rolls.
My mom also made the above-mentioned red-white-blue jello for July 4th. Her white layer was a cream cheese gelatin, and she decorated the top with cream cheese stars.
My mother (who had very good taste in food, otherwise) fancied herself an artist in jello, too! Different colors, or pastels made with something creamy mixed in. There'd be a jello mold in the fridge in some state of eaten-ness more often than not when I was growing up. Look under "Salads" in a random church/community cookbook from the 60s and early 70s and I bet 1/3 of the entries are jelled. I'll never forget a recipe in one that called for lime jello and leftover turkey.
My mother didn't do jello molds, but she did do a layered jello salad with pretzels on the bottom, then there was some sort of a cream cheese on top of that and finally a layer of strawberry jello with strawberries in it. We had it every year for the holidays. I actually really liked it!
Is my mother the only one who made jello mold salads? Seems there was one at every party. I hated them , but they were very popular. Particularly in green, with sour cream or whipped cream mixed, they really looked like mold. I think she folded in canned fruit drained of it's juices.
Sometimes she got really fancy and did multiple layers, each with a different color jello and a different filling, and she tipped the mold on its side as it jelled in the refigerator so that the layers would be angled. These were not considered dessert though, but salads.
My mother didn't do Jello molds...and as a small child, I felt totally deprived! I had a friend whose mom always made a red, white and blue one for July 4th (I think the white layer was lemon jello with cream cheese or sour cream...maybe - yikes - Cool Whip?) I was lime-Jello green with envy. My mom was a terrific cook, but her homemade pate or ratatouille or whatever just wasn't patriotically bedazzling enough for me back then. Ironically, I've never even liked Jello - or anything gelatinous - but that was irrelevant; it was about being disenfranchised to my right to a Jello mold, damn it!)
oh god...brings me back...what about taco salad--ice berg, taco meat, cheddar, doritos, olives etc combined with thousand island...maybe there is a reason that went out of favor but we loved it as kids..
Just thought of another one: any salad stuffed in a tomato. Tuna, egg, chicken...very 70's 'ladies-who-lunch.' Actually, my mother - not a lady who lunched at all - used to make a rice salad with peas (Risi e Bisi) stuffed in tomatoes for outdoor parties - not exactly classic retro American, but really good.
I remember eating a lot of spinach salad, with bacon bits, chopped hard boiled egg, red onion and sliced mushrooms. The bacon wasn't necessarily real and the mushrooms were raw (if I made it now, I'd use real bacon and saute the mushrooms - not a fan of raw ones.) At the time, this seemed very sophisticated.
I remember 1,000 Island Dressing (Mayo, Ketchup & pickle relish) and Green Goddess. Iceberg Lettuce, Pineapple halves mixed with cottage cheese, grapes & carrots & celery and lots of jello/aspic type stuff. Oh, and tiny square hard croutons.
Half a canned pear or peach. A dollop of mayo (or Miracle Whip) in the center. Top with grated sharp cheddar. This was the salad on the dinner plate from my home ec degreed mom many nights in the 70s. Sounds horrid; tastes delicious. Typing this makes me crave it ...
While maybe not '70's. The classic salads where popular then. A Cobb salad, a Caesar salad, a Waldorf salad. Salads from Julia Child and the Galloping Gourmet and the previously mentioned layered salads. (Gotta have that big glass serving bowl tho!)
Blue cheese was pretty popular then too. Ranch was just starting on the mass market, but Green Goddess was popular.
And of course shrimp cocktails, in the special glasses, with the inserts for the ice and a small chopped salad topped with cocktail surrounded by shrimp in the center.
We didn't eat any finicky baby lettuces (I just hate it when all those stems stick out of my mouth anyway. Usually when I'm in a restaurant trying to look sophisticated). Green or red leaf lettuce, Romaine or iceberg. Especially iceberg w/blue cheese dressing.
I just consulted my copy of Private Collections: A Culinary Treasure, which was put together by The Women's Committee of the Walter's Art Gallery, copyright 1973, with an introduction by James Beard. Here are the salads they list cauliflower & broccoli salad, marinated tomatoes, cole slaw with beans, lentil salad, white bean salad, tomato aspic, sauerkraut salad, Bermuda salad, tomato and pepper salad, cucumber salad, cold spinach mold with tart cream dressing, shrimp and rice salad, artichoke and shrimp salad. I also understand Good Seasons dressing was popular.
Back in the 70's is when Good Seasons came out with their salad dressings packets and cruets. You bought the set and made your own dressing with their seasonings and your own oil and vinegar.
I remember we used to make those and pour over salads made from head lettuce or romaine and just about any veggie you could think of!
Yes, the Good Seasons, or a homemade version with wine vinegar, oil (not necessarily olive), herbs. We might rub the wooden bowl with a cut garlic clove.
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My mom also made the above-mentioned red-white-blue jello for July 4th. Her white layer was a cream cheese gelatin, and she decorated the top with cream cheese stars.
a large group...and good...could make ahead ..
then toss and serve..
Google it for numerous recipes.
Blue cheese was pretty popular then too. Ranch was just starting on the mass market, but Green Goddess was popular.
And of course shrimp cocktails, in the special glasses, with the inserts for the ice and a small chopped salad topped with cocktail surrounded by shrimp in the center.
Here's Thomas Keller's updated version from "Ad Hoc at Home".
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120133084#120069454
I remember we used to make those and pour over salads made from head lettuce or romaine and just about any veggie you could think of!
Voted the Best Reply!
Here's one:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/08/layered-salad/
Iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, sliced tomatoes and bottled Thousand Island Dressing, i.e. Kraft. Or you can make your own French Dressing
French Dressing
1 can Campbell’s tomato soup
½ cup sugar
1 ¼ cups Wesson Oil
1 tbsp. onion powder
Put in jar, shake well and serve
P.S., you said retro, not tasty!