How To Make Waldorf Salad?

The character cooking series:

What characters eat in my books?
The character cooking series is about what my characters would cook or eat in the books or novellas I am writing. Characters in my book like to eat and cook so I that is a boost for me to take it to the next level and make a few good things while I am writing. Sometimes I even post some of the bloopers, mistakes, and lessons learned as I make the dish.

Currently, I am writing an interactive novel called Cranberry Moon Empire. However, this salad piece is more inspired by a book I started writing called Peach Pie Brings Snow by J.A. Jupiter.

Here is a little excerpt from Peach Pie Brings Snow.

Savannah, also known as Vannah is a character who loves to bake and she is excellent at baking pies. On a Saturday night, she calls her friends for a get together at her Fremont Townhome before they go for dessert-hopping and coffee. She and her friends pick a new dessert place once a month. This month, it’s her turn to host the get together. They usually get together end of every month, but she feels she can’t till the end of the month. She decides to make Waldorf salad and serve it with chicken, greens, and potatoes.

She makes this salad for her friend, Hessner, and three other friends who are also bringing appetizers, side dishes, and drinks.

To Fremont from Downtown

Hessner, he takes the bus from Downtown Seattle because he hates looking for a parking spot in Fremont on a Saturday night. Sometimes, he hops a ride with another good friend or take Uber. After shopping at Pike Place Market, he saw the bus to Fremont coming. In his hand, he has a bag full of groceries, which he will prepare at Vannah’s. He prefers to talk to people while he works in the kitchen.
Her place is a small, but cozily accommodates five to six people who don’t mind meeting in small spaces. She was looking for a tiny house before she got this place and she is ecstatic that she got this in the nick of time before another buyer did. At Fremont Ave and 34th street, he jumps off the bus. This used to be his stomping ground when he went to college. He heads towards the Fremont Troll and even waves at the big grey gigantic Troll under the bridge.

Arriving at her home

Passing a few more blocks, he arrives at her townhouse. His hand reaches for the doorbell.
Vannah still preparing the Waldorf salad wipes her hands on her floral apron and runs to the door to answer.
She opens the door. A balmy breeze blows in. Standing outside, he leans forward and greets her with a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Good seeing you honey,” Vannah greets him with a smile and kisses back on his cheek. It’s a habit she is still trying to pick up, pecking on people’s cheeks, something he picked up when he went to Italy after college.
“My pleasure to be here Vannah. I bought chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic for the hummus. I have some cucumber, celery, and carrots for the dippings,” he says entering her warm home.
“That was what I had hoped you would make today,” she says with a smile.
He is the first one to arrive at her house, and he wanted to be the first one because he enjoys talking to her.
“Let’s place your stuff on the dining room counter table. I am still finishing up on the salad, ” she says and runs back to the kitchen. He has been to her house several times, and he knows where she likes to have her things.

“What’s that toasty smell in your house?”

“That’s the nuts I am toasting for the salad I am making,” she replies, washing her hand to get ready to grab a box of golden raisins.
He places the dish in the center of the table and takes off his parka jacket and hangs it on the standing coat rack.
He follows her to the kitchen as she is tossing the raisins on top of the toasted walnuts.
“Vannah, what kind of salad is this?” he asks sniffing with a small grin.
“This, darling, is a no-bake pie, a cold pie, a cold pie that looks a salad, a salad pie. A salad pie that tastes like dessert, if you mix enough tang, salt, and syrup,” she says in that fading subtle southern accent.

“You mean this salad is almost like a pie minus the flour and the baking part,” he says.
The doorbell rings. That’s another friend that they are expecting.

Status of the book Peach Pie Brings Snow

Still working on it. However, since my character eats in the books I am writing, I can’t help it. When they eat, they make me hungry. When I get hungry, I must go and make what they eat.

In the meantime, let’s get back to nonfiction.

What is Waldorf salad?

It is a fresh fruit and nut and salad with creamy dressing like mayonnaise or yogurt. You can add dry fruits like raisins, cranberries, or other dried fruits you like.

History of this salad:

When I did some research, this is what I found out. Oscar Tschirky created this salad in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the late 1800s. The ingredients of the original salad have varied from the time it began, but the salad remains a classic because, like any good thing, you can build upon it.

There are several ways to make this salad. This is one way to make the Waldorf salad.

To make Waldorf salad

Ingredients
First, let us get all the ingredients together. This recipe is for five people
2 whole apples, chopped in bite-size pieces
1 pear, chopped in bite-size pieces
½ of a lemon half squeezed, remove the seeds
¾ cup of mayonnaise (Note: you can substitute yogurt)
3/4 cup of toasted walnuts
½ cup of golden raisins
¼ cup of maple syrup. This is the one ingredient in this mix that elevates the dish to a different level.
Salt to taste

Tools:
A deep bowl preferably with a lid
A good mixing spoon
A sample dish for tasting

Steps:
Mix the diced apples, pears, lemon juice, salt, mayonnaise, walnuts, and raisins.
Mix it thoroughly.

How do you know when you have mixed the salad thoroughly?

Every apple, raisin, and pear should be smothered in the mayonnaise or yogurt base.
It should look like this.
Chill it for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
Who else would make this salad from my books? The more I make this salad, the more I see that this is a versatile salad.

Would the people from the Cranberry Moon Empire make the salad?

The people from the Cranberry Moon Empire would make the same salad, and they would add cranberries on top. That is why this salad is great. You can add what you like, grapes, celery, onions, your favorite nuts, different types of apples, different types of pears. I have not tried with other fruits, but I have tried it with cranberries. My verdict with cranberries: You got to have a zest for the tart.

Changes I made:

• I used ½ cup of Greek yogurt and 1/4th mayonnaise

• The apples I chose: 1 Granny Smith and 1 Honey Crisp

• Previously I have made it with Golden Delicious Apple and Fuji Apples. It is better to use sweeter apples if you like it sweet. If you like a tang, Granny Smith would be the way to go.

• Last time I had made it with one Asian pear, a gift from a friend. That was the first time I had tried them, and they complemented the salad very well. It was juicier, sweeter, and crunchier. Yea, the Cranberry girl in the Cranberry Moon Empire book, would like it with Asian pear and tons of cranberries.

Bloopers:

I forgot the raisins after I made the salad and placed it in the fridge.
Not a problem. Just add the raisins and mix it up thoroughly.
I could eat it just like this. Yum!

Taste test

I didn’t add enough syrup the first time.
Yes, pour some more syrup on me said the apple, pear, nut, raisin salad.
Mix it well and chill.

Each time

I make the salad I vary the ingredients by adding a new fruit or omitting another fruit. Last time I added fresh green grapes. This time I skipped it, and it still tasted good.

To see more recipes for fruit and nut salad, click here.