Kitchen

[wagirl]

what do you think of when you hear----relish dish--- as in the food kind not the actual dish----I think of olives, tiny pickles etc. am bringing one for a family early T-Day dinner. Was thinking of getting the yummy pickled veg  from my local grocery stores deli. I think when my mom did one, she included cranberry sauce--the canned solid kind--yuk!!! Just curious---kind of an old fashion thing--

[kittyloo]

@wagirl  i am sorta on the same page as you. although, i've never heard ask for a relish dish, always a relish tray. 

but yes,.... olives (black/green or both) raw veg (carrots, celery, cauli, brocc) a dip, pickles, sometimes cheese cubes, or salami cones,  nope, never heard of putting the cranberry sauce on it. 

[judy0330]

Google relish tray recipes.  Lots of good ideas!  Thanks for the post.  I think I am going to make one too!!

[Sooner]

@wagirl  OK.  Just giving you the honest answer here, it may not be popular!  LOL!

Relish dish was a term I had never heard until I went to work in 1980.  We did not eat pickles and such with a meal (just with sandwiches) and didn't have pickles, olives, etc. on the table with meals.  We did have cranberry sauce when we had dressing.

My next thought on relish dish is the lady at work who, for 35 years I remember, signed up to bring the "relish dish" when we had a pot luck and she basically cleaned out her fridge that day and bought a bunch of stuff nobody ate.

And that, is the rest of the story!  Sorry!  It's something that has never been a part of meals for me.  I have never made one.

[jubilant]

There are different kinds of relish trays.  My grandmother and mother usually always had one for the holidays.  I think for me, it kind of took the place of a salad.  We had celery, carrots, broccoli,  cauliflower, radishes, cheese (cubed), and dip.

[CinNC]

My mother always did one. The normal one was olives, small pickles, carrots, celery, radishes.

For holidays, she would make strips of carrots and curl them around the olives, radish roses, cream cheese in the celery, pickles, and sometimes cream cheese balls covered w/shredded dried beef. 

[drizzellla]

The relish dish varied in our house. My Mom had several of them. One was quite large (dinner plate sized) in the shape of leaves. And the rest were in different sizes. It always seemed to be carrots, celery, olives (green and black) and tiny gerkins. Maybe another item or two added depending on the meal.

If we (the "kids") wanted something to eat before dinner we could eat from the relish dish. My Mom was a huge believer in eating fruits and vegetables as snacks. 

Hope your family enjoys the pickled vegtables. I always keep Paisley Farms 5 bean salad and pickled beets on hand. I could eat them everyday.

[Alison Wonderland]

I had to look that term up. I've always called it a veggie tray, a cheese platter, or crudites.

[loriqvc]

We always have a relish tray for Thanksgiving, especially if we push back the time we eat into the mid-afternoon . . . which is happening more often as the years go by to accommodate the schedules of as many people as possible.

Our traditional setup is black olives, grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, celery sticks with cheese, gherkins or dill pickle spears, and deviled eggs. The color combination and the oval and line shapes look great on a platter, and everything goes quickly. 

[RespectLife]

Due to our Italian heritage, our Relish Trays always include:

pepperoni, (or small Italian salamis such as Sopressata)

cheeses,

olives (several kinds),

peppochini or other Italian peppers

carrots, celery