a beloved American classic from the Gelatine Hall of Fame. 

A bit of history.  Gelatine dishes (also called jellies and aspics) were long ago made through a slow process of boiling a calf’s foot.  Because of the labor involved, it was a serious dish.  However, In the late 1800s, along came the Knox Gelatine company started making gelatine in an easy-to-use powdered form that made a once labor-intensive dish very easy and accessible to ordinary women.  Recipe writers and home cooks developed a huge array of molded gelatines--both sweet and savory and started calling them “salads.” I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that the wonderful Laura Shapiro wrote a great book called “The Perfection Salad:  Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century,” in which she describes the era’s passion for technology and tidy, dainty food for the white middle class.  In her view, these salads were “decorative” food.  Hence: items like cabbage and vegetables suspended in gel that could be sliced.  It was considered a very modern and dainty dish.  But really, it was just the beginning of gelatine history. 

(I’ve always taken a special interest in gelatine, as my grandmother worked in the Knox rival JELL-O company’s Hoboken factory--but that’s another Hoboken tale.)

As to your own family recipe, well, the original perfection salad was probably invented in 1904, made with plain gelatine that was flavored with some lemon juice. It was quite popular.  Later versions feature lime gelatine like the one you recall, but of course there are many many variations out there.  This one I’m sharing comes from my little “Knox Gelatine:  Dainty Dishes for Dainty People,” a 1931 edition.  It has a complicated ending note for serving the gelatine cut up in pepper “molds.” Totally unnecessary.  Just use a mold like the photo, or whatever shape you wish. 

Perfection Salad
(12 Servings--For 6 Servings use half of recipe)_

2 level tablespoonfuls Knox-Sparkling Gleatine

1/2 cup cold water
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup mild vinegar
2 tblespoonfuls lemon juice
1 teaspoonful salt
1 cup cabbage, finely shredded
2 cups celery, cut in small pieces
2 pimentos, cut in small pieces or
1/4 cup sweet red or green peppers

Soak gelatine in col water about five minutes.  Add boiling water, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice and salt.  When mixture begins to stiffen, add remaining ingredients.  Turn into wet mold, and chill.  Remove to bed of lettuce or endive.  Garnish with mayonnaise dressing, or cut salad in cubes, and serve in cases made of red or green peppers or turn into molds lined with canned pimentos.  A delicious salad to serve with cold sliced chicken, veal, or other meat. 

Also a bit more digging revealed this wonderful Italian-American woman’s description of her family’s Pizza Chiena, on her blog Egg And Soldier. 

Nick Malgieri gives a recipe too, although his pizza chiena is baked in a bigger rectangular pan

I haven’t given you much time have I?  One day till Easter. 

Well, if you live around New York, another option is to buy it at the Arthur Avenue market.

But if not, well, then here’s one more recipe:

Arthur Schwart’z version:

For the dough

1 1/2 teaspoons dried yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons lard
3 eggs lightly beaten

For the filling

3 ounces soppressata, cut into 1/8 inch dice
3 ounces prosciutto, cut into 1/8 inch dice
3 ounces cooked ham, cut into 1/4 inch dice
3 sweet Italian sausages, boiled, skinned, and finely chopped (reserve the sausage cooking water),
8 ounces whole milk mozzarella, cut into 1/4 inch dice
2 ounces dried sausage with hot pepper (pepperoni)
peeled and cut into 1/8 inch dice
3 eggs lightly beaten
3 1/4 cups whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino or a combination
3/4 cup finely cut parsley
4 hard cooked eggs:  2 coarsely chopped, 2 sliced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Plus:  1 egg lightly beaten, as a wash.

To make the pastry:

1.  In a small bowl or cup, dissolve the yeast in the water.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt.  Pinch the lard into the flour to distribute it evenly.  with a wooden spoon, stir in the eggs and dissolved yeast until a dough forms.  Still in the bowl, knead the dough, sprinkling lightly with flour to make it less sticky.

3.  Turn the dough out onto a floured board and continue to knead, adding flour a little at a time, even by the teaspoonful, until the dough is very smooth and silky, about 8 minutes.  Dust lightly with flour, place in a bowl, cover with a clean dishtowel, and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, at least an hour.  Punch down and let rise a second time. 

To make the filling:

4.  In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the 2 sliced eggs and the egg wash, and blend very well, stirring in about 1/2 cup of the sausage boiling water.  It’s a thick filling.

To assemble and bake:

5.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

6.  Punch down the dough and divide into four equal pieces to make top and bottom crusts for two 10-inch, preferrably glass pie plates.

7.  On a lightly floured board, roll out a quarter of the dough into a 14- to 15-inch circle.  (It is very elastic dough and this takes some effort.) It should be thin and large enough to fit the bottom and sides of the plate.  Carefully drape the dough into the dish.

8.  Fill with half the filling.  Top with slices of 1 hard-cooked egg.

9.  roll out another quarter of dough to an 11-inch circle, large enough to cover the pie plate.  Cut off the excess dough, then roll the edges of the top and bottom crusts together, pinching well to seal.  Cut four slits in the center of the top crust, then brush with a beaten egg.

10.  Make a second pie with the remaining pastry, filling, and sliced hard-cooked egg.

11.  Bake for 50 minutes to an hour.  After 30 minutes, if the top is browning well, cover it with foil, shiny side out, to prevent it from burning.  Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pie plate and cool to room temperature.  The pie may be eaten soon after it cools completely, but it can be kept, well-wrapped, int he refrigerator.  It should keep well for several days. 

i>FRENCH CREAM CANDY. Put four cupfuls of white sugar and one cupful of water into a bright tin pan on the range and let it boil without stirring for ten minutes. If it looks somewhat thick, test it by letting some drop from the spoon, and if it threads, remove the pan to the table. Take out a small spoonful, and rub it against the side of a cake bowl; if it becomes creamy, and will roll into a ball between the fingers, pour the whole into the bowl. When cool enough to bear your finger in it, take it in your lap, stir or beat it with a large spoon, or pudding-stick. It will soon begin to look like cream, and then grow stiffer until you find it necessary to take your hands and work it like bread dough. If it is not boiled enough to cream, set it back upon the range and let it remain one or two minutes, or as long as is necessary, taking care not to cook it too much. Add the flavoring as soon as it begins to cool. This is the foundation of all French creams. It can be made into rolls, and sliced off, or packed in plates and cut into small cubes, or made into any shape imitating French candies. A pretty form is made by coloring some of the cream pink, taking a piece about as large as a hazel nut, and crowding an almond meat half way into one side, till it looks like a bursting kernel. In working, should the cream get too cold, warm it. To be successful in making this cream, several points are to be remembered; when the boiled sugar is cool enough to beat, if it looks rough and has turned to sugar, it is because it has been boiled too much, or has been stirred. If, after it is beaten, it does not look like lard or thick cream, and is sandy or sugary instead, it is because you did not let it get cool enough before beating. It is not boiled enough if it does not harden so as to work like dough, and should not stick to the hands; in this case put it back into the pan with an ounce of hot water, and cook over just enough, by testing in water as above. After it is turned into the bowl to cool, it should look clear as jelly. Practice and patience will make perfect.

Were you to just set out your jam in a cool place, it would grow bacteria. 

This is where the sugar comes in. You wonder if people didn’t have much back in the 1800s.  In general, sugar had become readily available to the middle class people living in urban areas of Europe and the U.S, thanks to European plantations in the Caribbean and slave labor.  (But that--and the whole big magilla of sugar history--is best for another day.)

In any case, sugar was not optional in making jam--it was essential.  Remember that “fruit preserves” were invented as precisely this--a method of preserving fruit for winter before refrigeration came along.  Sugar acted not only as a sweetener but as a preserving agent.  Cooking breaks down the fruit so it can absorb the sugar.  In some historic recipes, you also find the addition of vinegar for the same reason. 

The only way I’ve ever seen fruit preserves made without sugar is when it’s been cooked and pounded into sheets then then sun/air dried and rolled up for the winter.  This is called “fruit leather” in the old cookbooks.  But also, I’ve read of Indians of the Northwest who used to preserve fruit this way.  So cool.  I’m sure you’ve also seen kids eating these under the guise of “fruit roll ups.” These of course have LOTS of sugar--a la corn syrup.

So in sum, my vote is that unsugared uncooked jam is a modern invention, though please if there’s someone out there who knows otherwise, correct me.  I also think it’s probably more delicious--full of fruit flavor--and perhaps one way that modern recipes are sometimes better than old!

see also: Quince

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Hi Amy, thanks for your question. My Jewish grandmas didn’t bake hamantaschen, though they were major cookie mavens. Here’s a recipe that has a cookie crust texture like the one you seek. I culled this during the time I was a pastry chef. I love it and hope this tastes like the favorite one you miss from childhood. It’s got the poppyseed filling too. The orange is optional. Enjoy.
—Nancy

Orange Hamantaschen
Dough:
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
Very finely grated zest of half a medium orange

Filling:
2 cups poppyseeds
1 cup water or milk
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 t. salt
2 eggs (optional)

1. Combine poppyseeds, liquid, honey, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring to prevent scorching. Let cool.

2. Add eggs, beating in thoroughly. If egg thins out filling too much, return to heat and stir while cooking 1 – 2 minutes

3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add butter and mix briefly. Or, if you are not using a stand-up mixer, add the butter by rubbing it into the flour, using your hands or a pastry cutter. In either case, you should mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. In a small bowl, beat together sugar, egg, egg white, and orange zest. Add egg mixture to the dough, and use a wooden spoon or beat using stand-up mixer on low speed only until the eggs are incorporated and the mixture begins to mass around the paddle, be careful not to overwork the dough. Press the dough into a ball, divide in half. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 30 minutes or until cold but not hard and stiff.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or cover several baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

6. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out to about 1/4 inch thick between pieces of waxed paper, being careful not to let creases form in the bottom sheet of paper. Turn dough over, peel off bottom sheet of waxed paper and replace it loosely. Turn dough right side up and peel off and discard top sheet of paper. Cut dough into rounds using a 3 inch round cutter. Place a large teaspoonful of filling in the center of each round. Form each round into a pocket by folding over about a third of the edge over the filling. Fold another edge and pinch to form a point, then do the same with the last edge. Repeat until all hats are formed, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. If rounds become too soft to handle, fridge the dough until it is workable again. Gather dough scraps and fridge until firm enough to reroll.

7. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes, or until cookies are just tinged with brown. Keeps up to one week in an airtight container. Yields 30 cookies.
Variations: For prune filling: Combine 2 cups prunes, 1 1/3 cups orange juice, 2/3 cup honey, 1/8 t. cinnamon and the grated zest of half a medium orange in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil. Lower the heat slightly and simmer, stirring occasionally for 12 – 15 minutes, or until mixture is soft and most of the liquid is absorbed. Cool.

For apricot filling: Substitute apricots in the above recipe for prune filling.

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