In every kitchen with an active cook, baker, or chef, all across the country, experiments are going on almost every day. The vanilla poppy seed muffins which I like to make, shown in the photo above, came about because of my own experiments. I wanted a good vanilla muffin with a streusel topping and poppy seeds and all I could find were lemon poppy seed recipes. After creating my own recipe, I eventually found other recipes for a similar vanilla-based muffin with poppy seeds. But the one I have was entirely crafted by me.
I, like many other denizens of the kitchen, love to experiment. Sometimes these adventures involve only subtle changes with ingredients. Others involve complete remakes of something old into something new. And some sound crazy when first verbalized but then turn out great when completed.
One of the weirdest things I have ever heard of, though, I read about this past week. There is something called a sequin salad that used to be made several decades ago. In fact, Jell-O even put out the recipe as something to use it's product for, sometime back in the 1950s, I think. I'm not sure whether Jell-O originated it or if it came from someone else, but here's what it is.
Sequin salad - vinegar soaked vegetables, such as cauliflower, red peppers, onion, pimentos, etc., seasoned with salt and pepper (sometimes) and suspended in lime Jell-O.
I can't imagine even in my wildest creative, most imaginative moments that I ever would have come up with an idea like this. I didn't find a lot of information online about whether or not this was really enjoyed back when it was made. I only could discover that it doesn't seem to be made anymore, and most people who come across this example of wild food experimentation are also as incredulous as I am.
Now, if anyone who reads this has ever tried this or is willing to try it and report back, then please do so. As for me, I can't even bring myself to put this salad together.
I will continue to experiment, but probably never with something as wild as this idea.
I haven't heard it called sequin salad, but Jim's mom most definitely has served jello with veggies in it. I haven't ever had the guts to try it, and I'm certain Jim hasn't. Fortunately, she hasn't served it in years. We were visiting this weekend, and I prepped a bowl of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and supremed oranges, and she wanted to add an overripe banana she had. I finally told her that I hate bananas in fruit salad and I really hate overripe bananas, so I was able to enjoy the fruit! She's an excellent cook, but that generation really does some icky things with food.
ReplyDeleteI find myself chuckling more than once as I read through your comment. If Jim's mom ever serves it again, please be brave and try a bit so that you can report on it here. And I agree with overripe bananas not going into fruit salad. Those should be reserved to make banana bread!
Delete