Even if you’ve never had Thanksgiving dinner in the South, you probably know what to expect on the table: piping hot cornbread, the cheesiest macaroni ever, and mashed potatoes soaked in butter. BTW, you’re right, but you’d be missing the star of the show. You see, while some families may serve a “real” Thanksgiving salad with greens, crisp pears, and candied pecans, in the Deep South, Thanksgiving is nothing without watergate salad (or ragweed salad, or jelly salad…) It’s not complete. It’s a retro dish, and unlike the weird gelatin mold with the hot dog inside, it’s a food from the past that actually tastes delicious and I think it’s about to make a comeback.
I grew up seeing green jelly salad on my grandma’s table every year – she’s from West Virginia and we spent most of our childhood in Georgia and Florida and yes, jelly salad is still It is a staple food in churches and festive meals. Her product is a mixture of lime gelatin, crushed pineapple, cold whip and cream cheese poured into a baking dish and topped with mini marshmallows to gel. My mom said Mimi first found her recipe in something like women’s day or Good housekeeping servicea book she would leaf through while waiting in my great-grandmother’s beauty shop. The dish is a bit comically wobbly when you put it down, but if you’re willing to take a big bite, it’s delicious.
After my parents divorced, my dad met a woman he spent about five years with, and we were welcomed by her family — all Floridians — at Thanksgiving that first holiday. Three huge folding tables lined the walls of Memaw’s restaurant, laden with an assortment of steaming side dishes and piles of meat, as well as a strange bowl of green fluff topped with cherries. Not the jelly salad I’m used to, but it does look like a relative. I turned to my father, who was behind me in line, and asked what this might be, and we both inquired before we learned its name: Watergate Salad. One bite and I was hooked – it was pineapple flavored, like Mimi’s jelly salad, but with enough crunch to satisfy thanks to the chopped nuts hidden inside, and the pistachio stir The ingredients were different from anything else on the menu that day. I looked forward to it every year after that.
No one is entirely sure how Watergate Salad got its name. Rumors that it was created by a chef at the infamous Watergate Hotel have never been confirmed, and furthermore, the pineapple and gelatin mix recipe has been around since the turn of the century, NPR Report. Everyone’s best guess is that this particular dish emerged in 1976, after the first instant pistachio pudding mix hit the shelves. For Watergate Cake (also for unknown reasons) – they started sharing a name. Personally, I like the hunch that maybe the name is a nod to the bright green hue of these two dishes with all the nuts and other ingredients covered underneath, like the Watergate scandal itself.
so what yes Watergate salad? If you’ve never seen something like this before, you might turn your nose up at it, and I wouldn’t blame you based on looks alone. It’s essentially a bowl of marshmallows with chopped pecans – a delicious start – then slathered with a pistachio and crushed pineapple whipped cream mixture that you just have to try. The recipes never change because the point is that it’s quick, easy, and always the same (although some may have more fluff than others to cover the contents of the dish). So, whether you use Food.com, Southern Life Museumor the one that looks most legitimate farmers almanac First, you get roughly the same dish.
This is how I learned to make it from my Memaw family, and this method requires almost zero measurements, which is why it’s so easy to remember. you need to:
- 1 box of ready-to-eat pistachio pudding mix (no sugar because Thanksgiving is not a day for fuss)
- 20 oz. Can I crush the pineapple?
- 1 cup mini marshmallows, give or take
- About 1/2 cup chopped pecans, but measure carefully depending on your desired texture
- 1 8 oz. cold whip container
- black cherry
- Pour the pineapple and its juice into a bowl and add the pudding mixture and stir until combined.
- Add marshmallows and nuts and stir.
- Fold in until your whipped ingredients are nice and green and everything in the bowl is coated in fluffy pistachios and looks amazing.
- Chill it for a few hours before serving so it can set a bit, and top with maraschino cherries and a few extra nuts if you like before serving. (I personally recommend lots of cherries. Everyone wants to put a cherry on top.)
Honestly, the Watergate Salad is pretty silly because it requires so little effort to make. If you need everyone to argue about something over dinner (other than, you know, the state of the world), tell them that some Southerners think watergate salad is a side dish rather than a dessert, and I guarantee you the debate will burn for at least 10 minutes.
