Today’s offering is what would be called a Jello salad or gelatin salad. These are not my favorite dishes, but in general I don’t love jello or jellied things. Other people will likely enjoy it, so I’m not judging. I posted one of Gram’s recipes for a similar salad early in the days of this site. A site reader back on my previous post explained that Tomato Aspic similar to the recipe above is very popular in the South of the US and it is served for all holidays and events. Traditionally, Aspic is a jellied dish that includes meat, vegetables, even eggs, and is served to be visually pleasing as well as taste good. These dishes go back hundreds of years, with the earliest recipe for a meat aspic recorded in the 1300s! As I understand it, the jelly added moisture to meats and fishes, making them more pleasing to consume. They are found in kitchen across the globe with regional variations. Jellied salads and aspics had a resurgence in 1950s America, and while I’ve  had my share of the sweetened types, I haven’t tried a savory one. Have you had this or something similar? Tell us what it’s like in the comments.

PS Happy birthday to my mommy, GrammaA!

I’m going to list the ingredients and then the method because it becomes a smidge confusing when I try to take it apart.

Tomato & Cheese Salad (Elsie Norton)

2 tbsp Knox’s Gelatine soaked in 1/2 c water

1 green pepper

Piece of onion

1 can Campbell’s tomato soup

2 pkg Philadelphia cream cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 cups celery cut

Season, mould & chill

Grind together the green pepper and piece of onion. Combine the ground pepper, onion and tomato soup in a sauce pan and heat to boiling. Stir in the gelatin. Mash up the cream cheese, then gradually add it to the hot soup mixture. Then add the mayonnaise and celery. Season to your taste. Pour into desired mould and chill until set. Turn out on a plate to serve.