The Salad is Against the Waldorf

Partner was somewhat excited to try this dish as he's a big fan of Fawlty Tower's and wanted to know what all the fuss was about when it comes to Waldorf Salad. He's a little suspicious of putting fruit or nuts in salads, though I'm a fan, but even he admitted that for the most part he's liked all the food I've served so far and was willing to try it!

I have to say though, if ever I wanted to invent a time machine and head across to the Waldorf Hotel, and ask them what the hell they were thinking, this was the recipe for that! Which is a shame, because I was looking forward to this, even with the obscene amount of mayonnaise in the salad. But I thought, if that's what the recipe calls for then that's what the recipe calls for! I assumed that there must have been something redeeming about the salad if everyone liked it so much in the 20s, but then this was also the decade of aspic being the be all end all! Don't even ask me if I'm going to put anything in aspic, I don't care that it was popular in the 19th century, 20s, 50s, 60s and 70s, it's not happening.

Waldorf salad starts off ok-ish, the grapes, apple and walnuts are perfectly good things to add to a salad, especially for a good amount of sweetness, bite and crunch. I bet if you combined them with a salty cheese or parma ham, it would be perfection. The Romans knew what was good and I would definitely recommend the Columella Salad I made several weeks back! But no, you combine it with the worst vegetable, celery, and then drown it all with so much mayonnaise that it's impossible to tell what colour everything was to begin with. Some recipes even call for raisins, but not being a monster, I decided we had both suffered enough. Neither of us were fans of it and we're both definitely looking forward to a good old Mac and Cheese tomorrow!

Waldorf Salad

• 1 apple (I used a granny smith) 
  
• Handful of grapes, halved
• 2 stalks Celery, diced
• Small handful of walnuts, roughly chopped.
• 1 Gem Lettuce, chopped
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp Sour Cream

Method

1. Chop everything up, add it to a bowl, add the Mayonnaise and Sour Cream. Serve.

2. Wonder if the fuss that American guy made at Fawlty Towers was really warranted, seeing as Waldorf Salad is without doubt a truly terrible dish.