[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rTFdLFIkJk&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
The name alone can make you do a full-body shudder: Frog-Eye Salad. Immediately, you may have so many questions, which only intensify the second you see a photo of the dish. And rightfully so.
Does it actually contain frog eyes? Or frog parts? What makes it a salad? Why is there nothing green in this salad, anyway? Why does it look so gooey?! And, for the love of Kermit the Frog, why, why, why does it have that name?!
The dessert—or, depending on where you live, side—garnered national attention last year when the New York Times researched the most-Googled unexpected Thanksgiving dishes, and frog-eye salad took the top spot in four states: Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. It ranks third in Utah, but we can only assume that's because so many people there already know the recipe by heart—it's particularly popular there, especially among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to The Atlantic.
To be clear, the dessert doesn't contain any amphibian parts. Frog-eye salad is likely named because it contains cooled acini de pepe, a bulbous pasta that's a lot like pearl couscous or pastina, which some might say looks like the creature's eyeballs. You know, folded into vanilla pudding, with a hearty helping of sweetened flaked coconut, mandarin oranges and mini marshmallows.
That visual may not be so appetizing, but the dish itself tastes a lot like ambrosia salad or a fruity tapioca pudding. Some recipes call for eggs, but when we set out to make our version, we settled on a classic take that focused more on creating a light, fluffy, piña colada-like dessert, rather than a thick, gelatinous side.
Try it for yourself and be the judge: Maybe frog-eye salad will become your new Thanksgiving dinner or potluck must-have. Stranger things have happened.
