Sometimes salads can seem a bit boring, so I was delighted to find a hundred-year-old recipe for Cabbage and Beet Salad. This salad makes a lovely presentation that is just a tad dramatic. And, a subtle homemade French dressing adds just the right amount of flavor to the salad.
Here’s the photo and recipe for Cabbage and Beet Salad in the hundred-year-old magazine:
And, here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Cabbage and Beet Salad
1 small cabbage, shredded (about 5 cups shredded cabbage)
2 medium beets, cooked and diced into 1/2 inch cubes (about 1 cup diced, cooked beets)
French Dressing
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons onion, finely minced
Put shredded cabbage in a bowl; gently stir in 2/3 of the French dressing. Put in refrigerator, and chill for at least 2 hours.
Put diced beets in another bowl; gently stir in 1/3 of the French dressing. Put in refrigerator, and chill for at least 2 hours.
To serve: Drain any excess dressing from the shredded cabbage, then arrange the cabbage in a ring with a hole in the center. (I pressed the cabbage into a circular mold, covered with the serving plate, and then quickly flipped and removed mold – but a mold is not necessary.)
Drain any excess liquid from the beets. Place beets in the center of the ring. Serve immediately.
To make French Dressing: Put olive oil, vinegar, salt, mustard, and paprika in a small bowl; stir to combine. Stir in minced onion.
A Hundred Years Ago 
Never tasted this kind of salad! I love vinegar base salads so I’m sure I would fine this one enjoyable. You did a lovely job of making a beautiful salad!
This is a salad where I liked the left-overs even more than the original salad. I mixed the beets and cabbage together to store the left-overs – and the next day I had an absolutely beautiful, very modern-looking salad which was quite tasty. We are having friends over next week-end, and I’m considering making this salad again, but just mixing everything together right from the get-go.
Interesting combination!
It really was quite tasty. The cabbage and beets work well together.
Simple yet looks refreshing. Beets are always a great addition to any salad!
I agree- beets are a wonderful addition to any salad.
This sounds like a tasty easy recipe for me to try! I happen to haver beets & cabbage from our garden at the moment! Yummy dressing too! 🙂
I think that you’ll like it.
Your salad looked much better than the original. It sounds delicious.
Thank you! I was pleased with how nice it looked.
A great looking salad. I love beetroot. I like raw beetroot salads, too.
It’s interesting that beets are called a beetroot in New Zealand (and probably lots of other places).
Yes, always sold as beetroot. Perhaps it’s an English thing, to distinguish beetroot from sugar beets.
Glad I read the comments before commenting, because I was wondering what if you mixed it together? Now I’ll give it a try. Also, I never really knew how to make French dressing (nor did I wonder, after I started just eating variations of vinaigrette my whole adult life). Will give both a try before summer’s end!
This French dressing is a very nice vinaigrette that contains some paprika. It is very different from the typical modern orange-colored commercial French dressing. Several years ago I did a post for Endive Salad with Homemade French Dressing that included three different hundred-year-old French dressing recipes. None sound similar to the modern French dressings.
I missed them! Good to know.
I love beets and think your updated salad has lots of pizzazz!
Thanks! It is yummy.
Yum! I love beets and I love cabbage! This is a salad I need to work in to my salad rotation.