Fruit Salad (?)

I hesitated before adding this beloved recipe to the blog.

Though delicious, and a staple on our holiday dinner tables, it just seems a little ummmmm, low-brow, like something out of a "white trash cooking" tome.

I've heard this called "poor man's ambrosia" or "heavenly hash. "My mother just called it fruit salad. In her mind heavenly hash was Easter candy and this has nothing in common with it except for marshmallows and Easter.

It doesn't really have anything in common with fruit or salad either, hence the question mark in the title. You will find nary a strawberry, melon chunk, banana slice nor anything fresh in it except perhaps for the sour cream. I do recommend you take a gander at the expiration date on that (although really how much worse can sour cream get).

No, this is what they call a "pantry staples dish":

1 can of fruit cocktail (in heavy syrup), drained

1 small can of pineapple tidbits (or crushed pineapple) -- again in heavy syrup, drained

1 cup and a half of miniature marshmallows

1 pint sour cream

Dump it all together in a bowl, cover and let marinate overnight. You can add a cup of flaked coconut if you're so inclined (we never were). Or add a handful of chopped maraschino cherries (as we often did) or substitute canned mandarin oranges for the pineapple (which we only did once. Pineapple's better).

Now, while this might seem like a dish for undiscriminating palates, there really are a few details you should be discriminating about if you make it.

1.) Do not attempt to upgrade the recipe by substituting fresh fruit and creme fraiche. I've tried it. It doesn't work. Your pocketbook will be poorer and so will the overall flavor.

2.) Don't make this with "lite" fruit cocktail. If you're gonna do it, do it with heavy syrup. Even after draining the fruit cocktail, the syrup that coats the "fruit", absorbs, along with the sour cream, into the marshmallows and is a really key part of the flavor.

3.) Absolutely do not use those abominable colored miniature marshmallows. That's just an insult to the recipe and your dining partners.

4.) Don't toss this together minutes before serving time. The salad will be soupy and taste like what it is -- a bunch of thrown together convenience foods. This really needs to sit in the fridge overnight to absorb all the flavors and work its magic.

5.) At serving time, the mixture should have a fluffy airy texture. Serve in a pretty cut crystal dish. Presentation is everything. You may even be able to trick people into thinking it's real food.
Say what you will about it, I defy anyone to find a better accompaniment for ham.