Representative Paul Kilday's "Lime Souffle"
What, in your mind, is a souffle?
Chocolate comes to mind immediately for me. It’s light, airy, maybe a little particular in terms of getting it just right. Maybe it’s eggy or corn-based or made almost entirely of cheese. If I had to guess what’s going through your mind, it is not green and it is not surrounded by cucumbers.
I guess we don’t know souffle.
Chef Paul Kilday
Democratic Representative from Texas
As always, I followed the recipe word for word directly from the congressman whose granddaughters had the incredibly funny-to-me last name “Drogula,” no alterations:
INGREDIENTS
1 pkg lime Jello
1 cup hot water
1 cup dairy sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
few drops red pepper seasoning
1 large cucumber, finely chopped
12 thin cucumber slices
romaine or endive (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Dissolve Jello in hot water; stir in sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and red pepper seasoning.
“Drops” of red pepper seasoning? What is Rep. Kilday talking about here? Drops to me says liquid, but the variation in spice level is so wide that I didn’t want to risk adding hot sauce. Red pepper seasoning in the 1960s…I figured this meant something mild, so I went with a dash of paprika.
2) Chill 30 minutes.
3) Fold cucumber into thickened gelatin mixture. It may be mixed in a blender to make it fluffy.
I chose not to mix it in the blender. For transparency, it is because my blender was already dirty and I was not feeling like doing the hard labor of 70 seconds of washing it.
4) Pour into mold and chill. Unmold when set.
5) Trim a sliver from each cucumber slice and stand them flat around mold. If a ring mold is used, fill center with crisp romaine or endive.
I used a ring mold and chose crisp romaine as my filler in the center, upping the green quotient even more.
Voila! If you want to actually watch me attempt to eat it, go to the Cookin’ with Congress Instagram or TikTok. Am I crazy or is this thing a flagrantly green work of culinary art? Sure, you can practically smell the mayonnaise from the photo, but the cucumber garnishes, the lettuce in the middle, the Ecto-cooler green — I’d bet this looks exactly like it did on Representative Kilday’s dinner table 60 years ago.
One last note — Paul didn’t add the accent to the “e” in soufflé, keeping it souffle instead, so I kept it his spelling. Since Paul was from Texas, I bet he just didn’t want to look too French.
Verdict:
It looks better than it tastes, though it’s oddly simple — I’ve had a LOT of Jello creations, and the cucumber flavor being spread throughout really pulls it together. It’s sweet and strange, like a relish-based dessert, yet I sort of liked it. Surprising.
