"Pineapple and Cheese Salad" by Senator Josh Lee
Salad is not a word that connotes leafy greens and ranch dressing on this website. More than likely, I will never create a salad that has lettuce in it; I’m much more likely to make a salad using jello or in today’s case, American cheese. Senator Josh Lee’s Pineapple and Cheese Salad.
Chef Josh Lee
Democratic Senator from Oklahoma
As always, I followed the recipe word for word from the excitable senator from the 1960s (you know what kind of salad it’ll be now…), no alterations:
INGREDIENTS
Number 2 canned sliced pineapple, drained
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp water
1 egg
1/2 lb. American cheese
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Combine pineapple juice and water and bring to a boil.
The Ingredients list did not say to keep the pineapple juice (it says “drained”) so be mindful not to toss that liquid gold.
2) Mix sugar and flour and add to boiling juice.
3) Stir until it thickens and then stir in well beaten egg. Let cool.
It should be the consistency of Liquid Plumbr.
4) Cut pineapple in chunks and grate cheese.
My pineapple was already in chunks and I could not for the life of me find a block of American cheese — please let me know if you can, because I ended up using pre-grated.
5) Put layer of pineapple, layer of grated cheese and layer of sauce, until all is used ending with sauce on top. Chill and serve. Serves 6 to 8.
I found myself wanting to use a significantly smaller dish after I began layering — there simply isn’t much to layer here. Twenty ounces of pineapple is two layers max, and the sauce reduced down a bit. Maybe No. 2 cans (this just means a 20oz can) were bigger in the 60s…plenty of cheese though.
Voila! If you want to actually watch me attempt to eat it, go to the CwC Instagram or TikTok. Look at that sheen! Positively glistening. Color-wise, it’s three different shades of yellow — pineapple, then pineapple + egg yolk, then American cheese. A golden treat. I was afraid it wouldn’t come out congealed enough, but it seems the sauce did just enough to glue it all together. While other desserts might show off their fine layering, this one allows them to run together, making me wonder why it was layered in the first place and also why the American cheese was never melted. A missed opportunity?
Verdict:
Foul. It starts off tasting like an over-sweetened dessert, and then morphs into cold fast food cheeseburger. It’s slightly eggy at moments. Overall this marks one of the weirdest, most discordant combinations of ingredients I’ve ever tasted.
