Hearty Corned Beef Salad – A Mid-Century St. Patrick’s Day Recipe Test

St. Patrick’s Day is almost here! And what better way to celebrate then with a corned beef gelatin mold!

This is Hearty Corned Beef Salad.

And yes, I’m serious.

Hearty Corned Beef Salad Author: Betty Crocker Step by Step Recipes, 1975 Ingredients 1 cup boiling water

1 pkg (3 oz) lemon flavored gelatin

2 T vinegar

1 can (12 oz) corned beef

2 medium stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 medium green pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

1 cup mayo or salad dressing

2 tsp horseradish

1/2 tsp salt

salad greens Instructions Pour boiling water on gelatin in large bowl; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Stir in vinegar and refrigerate until slightly thickened, about an hour Break up corned beef with a fork. Stir corned beef and remaining ingredients (except salad greens) into gelatin mixture. Pour mixture into 6 1/2 cup gelatin mold. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Unmold on salad greens. Salad can be stored up to 48 hours. 3.5.3208

When you are making crazy stuff like this, you have to take some joy in the small, non-insane details. Every time I use my vintage metal egg slicer, it makes me happy. No modern egg slicers are even half as good as this one!

To bad this poor sliced egg is going to end up in a corned beef gelatin mold.

Yep. This seems about right.

Of course, this thing smelled pretty terrible. But there was worse to come.

This is where this recipe gets a little crazy. It molded just fine and unmolded fine as well, but when I went to cut this thing I got a horrible surprise.

It made this sucking sound. This horrible, wet sucking sound, like when you pull the skin off of half frozen chicken. Or when you are cutting raw meat off the bone. It was incredibly creepy. I could feel the little hairs on the back of my neck standing up every time I did it.

So, of course, I kept doing it.

Tom came in the room just as I was cutting the mold into it’s last slice.

“Holy crap, is that coming from that corned beef thing?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a frickin’ creepy sound.”

“I know!”

“It sounds like someone eating someone else. It should be on The Walking Dead.”

“Okay, that’s gross.”

“No, what’s gross is that sound.”

“Well, guess what? Now you get to eat it.”

“Great.” He took his slice and sat down, and cut a piece off with his fork. “Ugh. It’s making that sound again.”

“How horrible is it?”

“I love it.”

“Shut up! Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“You know, maybe you have been eating too many gelatins.”

“Or drinking too many drinks. There might be lots of reasons.”

The Verdict: Good

From Tom’s Tasting Notes –

Surprisingly sweet yet delicious. Raw onions are a bit overpowering. A bit like a sweet (German) potato salad. If there were fewer onions, I could eat a lot of this…or maybe it’s the grasshoppers talking.

From Ruth’s Tasting Notes –