My Mother’s Cookbook — Winter Salads: Jell-o, Salads of the Era, and Pickled Beets

In summer months, my mother would procure beets from the women in town who cultivated large gardens and sold their surplus to non-gardeners like us. She'd cook the small, tender beets, then toss them with salt and butter before serving. Mom considered the greens of these young beets a great delicacy, although I could never figure out why. Later in the season, larger beets were pickled to save for wintertime meals.

These days beets are included on just about every food list that promotes good health and longevity. Mom lived to be ninety-three, never denying herself butter, rich cream, and animal fats, so the beets and greens must have offset those artery-clogging habits. Pickled beets, stored in the refrigerator, come in handy for use in green salads or as a side dish or garnish.

Pickled Beets

1 pound fresh beets (about 2 cups) or canned beets

Marinade:

1/2 to 1 cup sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cinnamon stick and 3-5 whole cloves or 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

To prepare the beets, cut off the leaf stems a little above the beet to preserve color (beets bleed when cut into). Cover with water, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook until tender when pierced with a fork. Cool thoroughly, then skin and slice the beets into a glass dish or jar that has a lid.

Heat the vinegar and stir in the sugar gradually, tasting until a good balance of sweet and sour is achieved. Pour the liquid over the beets, cover, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving.

Waldorf Salad was another of my mother's favorite wintertime salads. She let the whims of her taste buds decide what to fix for dinner, and occasionally she'd say to me, "I'm hungry for Waldorf Salad. Let's have it for dinner." This innocent-sounding suggestion triggered a stubborn resistance in me, because I knew that the oft-used phrase "let's do…" meant that I would be the one making the salad. Having grown up as the oldest child, Mom was skilled at giving orders.

And I, as the youngest of my siblings, had the necessary inclination to follow, even though I didn't share her enthusiasm for Waldorf Salad. Conceived in the 1890s as something special to serve a large group of society folk at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, in New York City, at first the salad consisted of apples, celery, and mayonnaise. Some twenty years later chopped walnuts were added to the mix. Mom sometimes liked the further embellishment of chopped dates, a delicacy she loved but, again, could rarely find in local markets.

The proportions for this salad can be approximated. Start with two firm crisp apples, unpeeled, cut into small pieces. Then add a stalk of chopped celery and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. If using dates, 1/4 cup chopped will do. Toss the ingredients with enough mayonnaise to moisten well and serve on a lettuce cup.

As we both grew older, my mother enjoyed the luxury of having me do most of the cooking whenever I came home to spend time with her. Together we'd plan to invite a few of her friends, who had become my friends too, for lunch. We collaborated on the menu and table decor, and I prepared most of the food, according to her expert direction. My old resistance to her "let's do" ideas had dissolved by then, and helped us grow even closer. She would tell me that she liked my cooking as much as her own, which is surely the highest compliment one cook can pay another.

Recipes are from the collection of Anna May Cullison.

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My Mother’s Cookbook — Winter Salads: Jell-o, Salads of the Era, and Pickled Beets

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