The New York Times ranked Thanksgiving food Google searches by state. The Mormon Corridor received a backhanded compliment:

"The top-ranked dish in Colorado was “Frog Eye Salad,” which turns out to be something of a regional phenomenon, also appearing in the top 10 in Idaho, Nevada and Utah. It is especially popular among members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. The New York Times Stylebook warns against overusing the word “unique,” so we’ll just tell you that we’re not aware of any other salad that combines pasta, fruit, eggs, whipped cream and marshmallows."

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/25/upshot/thanksgiving-recipes-googled-in-every-state.html?abt=0002&abg=1&smid=tw-upshotnyt&_r=2

Sorry if anybody is whipping up a batch of this right now, but that stuff is disgusting. I have a TBM sister that always makes it...not just for Thanksgiving...whenever she's invited to bring a side. Thankfully, this will not be at my Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm laughing (not just at this...also at the other thread where "I've definitely been had" ;) )...

My favorite thing about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners when I was growing up (the same dishes were served at each), was what I, when I was growing up, renamed "Thousand Kings Salad" (because it was so good that it should have been the favorite dish of a thousand kings :D )...

Combine:

roughly chopped (into single-bite sizes) green raw cabbage
pecan pieces (not salted or roasted)
maraschino cherries (drained, without stems...at least a jar, maybe more)

In a dressing of:

equal (and generous) parts of really good quality mayonnaise, and WHIPPED, good quality whipped cream, with white sugar added to taste after the mayonnaise and whipped cream have been combined.

It's not Frog Eye Salad...but a quick reading of the ingredients puts it, I think, in the same general category.

And I don't know about Frog Eye Salad...but Thousand Kings Salad is really good!

Honest!! :)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2014 03:34PM by tevai.

Yuck, yuck and double yuck. And yuck on Mormon style "candied yams". All those years I thought I hated sweet potatoes...I love sweet potatoes--plain or with cinnamon and walnuts.

I grew up with the horror that is candied yams. For decades I was certain that I hated sweet potatoes.

I also thought I hated white rice, which was served with a snow cap of sugar on it.

Spinach canned and gloppy with gritty bits of sand in it. Never knew the fresh leafy stuff could be so good.

Ground, canned Salmon "loaf." Thought I hated salmon.

What the hell?!?

I grew up with the candied yams and my mom caught the marshmallow topping on fire every year. I still despise yams and sweet potatoes, no matter how they're prepared. BF and I have a solid foundation built on our mutual dislike of yams and sweet potatoes. :)

As for frog-eye salad, I'm not a fan. I remember eating it in 3rd grade when my teacher, Mrs. Weisner, brought it for a treat. Because I was a child and didn't know any better, I thought it was good at the time. A few years later I wised up. Years of eating cottage cheese and jello with "dressing" on a bed of nasty iceberg lettuce finally took its toll.

The pasta in frog eye salad could be any of these items: Acini di Pepe, Tapioca (still hate tapioca pudding too, blech) or Israeli Couscous. I found out the latter when I bought some, put it into a yummy tuna pasta salad and realized the texture was made in hell. I'm not too picky of an eater, but I truly detest the texture of that kind of pasta, except in soup.

I also don't understand canned spinach. If you feed that to your kids when you can afford fresh or frozen, you hate your progeny. Canned salmon is decent ONLY if you know how to prepare it right. A mixture of soggy crackers and creamed mushroom soup doesn't count.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2014 10:54AM by Itzpapalotl.

That "salad" sounds disgusting to me, and the "candied yams" isn't just a Mormon thing, but one that became popular in the US as a Thanksgiving dish, as my very Catholic grandma made that. To this day, I gag at the thought of sweet potatoes because that dish ruined them for me.

I'm a nevermo and I like frog eye salad. Much better than the midwest favorite snicker "salad."

"Snickers salad or a variation of it is searched throughout the Midwest, showing up in the top five in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska. It stood out most in South Dakota, where it is 34 times more commonly searched than in the country over all."

Thank goodness my state has persimmon bread. It was noted that yams are popular in CA; we're having a sweet potato pie along with a pumpkin pie on thanksgiving. We also have real whipped cream. My son makes homemade cranberry sauce to die for. No wine this year, as I'm on the wagon. But there will be handmade mashed potatoes, real gravy and herbal stuffing. I got a hold of a turkey breast the size of Rhode Island and a good time is projected for all.

donbagley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank goodness my state has persimmon bread. It
> was noted that yams are popular in CA; we're
> having a sweet potato pie along with a pumpkin pie
> on thanksgiving. We also have real whipped cream.
> My son makes homemade cranberry sauce to die for.
> No wine this year, as I'm on the wagon. But there
> will be handmade mashed potatoes, real gravy and
> herbal stuffing. I got a hold of a turkey breast
> the size of Rhode Island and a good time is
> projected for all.

I love persimmons (I eat both kinds all the time when they're in season)...but I've not yet had persimmon bread, and it sounds really good!!! :)

Sweet potato pie...pumpkin pie...and real, homemade, whipped cream are all on our menu (we get our pumpkin pie and whipping cream from Whole Foods...our butter, too---so it's all organic, and really good).

I love homemade cranberry sauce (this is usually one of the things I do)...and Paul makes great garlic-and-real-butter mashed Yukon gold potatoes (he grew up in Alaska; Yukon gold potatoes mean "Alaska" to him :) ), and his favorite gravy, too.

Sounds wonderful and delicious, Don.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2014 04:22PM by tevai.

I like frogeye salad. My wife makes it with pudding instead of just whipped cream. I'm not aware of any eggs either.

We've always called acini di pepe. I thought only Utahns called it frogeye salad.

I think "Frog Eye Salad" was what the recipe was called that was on the back of the acini di pepe box. At least it was on the packaging 40-50 years ago.

I have had Menudo here in the states and it is great, but when I was stationed in the Azores the Portuguese would fix this and it was just horrible, disgusting and just plain awful. I would rather chew on an old boot than eat that crap.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2014 04:51PM by scmormon.

So many ghastly sounding foods out there. And a few delicious ones.

I haven't had it for years, but my grandma would make it for holidays and special occasions.

It ranks up with Hawaiian haystacks, carrot-raisin salad and funeral potatoes in Mormon cuisine.

Ugh. Now I want to make it for Thanksgiving. They used to serve it at all kinds of potlucks when I was growing up in Utah. Maybe since people from Colorado like it too it would be okay.

What is that salad made from tapioca, whipped cream, and green jello? I think it had pineapple in it, sometimes...recipe came from Southern Utah Mormon relatives.

In California, my Mormon family used to make "ambrosia salad" which was equal parts whipped cream, sour cream, mini marshmallows, mandarin oranges, and maraschino cherries.

I always hated those sweet canned yams with the marshmallows on top and (gag) maple syrup--even too sweet for my very sweet tooth. I had the same experience of learning to love a real sweet potato, and sweet potato fries.

I brought Frog Eye Salad to an Exmo get-together a few years ago and everyone LOVED it. My version used acini de pepe, crushed pineapple, drained mandarin orange slices, cool whip, chopped pecans, no eggs, no mayo.


Kathleen Waters

I used to love jello "salads," and frog eye salad. Sometimes I think about making a frog eye salad for one of our potlucks. But the idea of eating jello is something I just cannot stomach anymore. Last Thanksgiving my sister-in-law made the most incredible salad that was actually along the healthy lines. She said it's real popular in mormon circles now, so maybe the younger generation is nixing the jello thing.

Yuck!! I despise most weird mormon foods. I love jello, plain old jello, but not weird casserole dishes and weird combos of side dishes and desserts.

I am not sure what candied yams are either. I've always eaten fresh sweet potatoes although I do make a nice sweet potato side dish that has pecans (but no marshmallows) on top.