Newfoundland Cold Plate – a traditional post Christmas favourite.

Newfoundland Cold Plate. A traditional post Christmas favourite. Here’s a simple guide to putting together this simple, nostalgic favourite of Newfoundlanders everywhere.

Newfoundland Cold Plate

A Newfoundland cold plate is something everyone in the province will know. In such, every family will have their own variations of essential additions to their particular version.

Growing up in the 60’s & 70’s in Newfoundland, a cold plate was actually a weekly occurrence. After the Sunday roast of beef, ham, chicken or turkey the leftover cold meats would be served up for supper with a variety of deli-type potato salads, pasta salad and coleslaw.

Deviled Egg Potato Salad. One of our latest additions to this collection. Click Photo for recipe.

Now mostly for special occasions.

Nowadays, this meal is recognized more as a bit of an indulgence. It’s served in my own family only a few times a year now, usually following big Holiday meals like at Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas.

A cold plate can also be the theme for a coordinated pot luck supper around the Holidays. Each person can be delegated to bring a particular cold sliced meat or a selected salad. It’s also a terrific buffet idea for parties or open houses during the Holidays which is how we most often serve it.

My take on the traditional Newfoundland Cold Plate.

For the purposes of this post I am going to concentrate on a few of our family favourites as pictured in the photo at the top.

Pickled Beet Potato Salad, recipe in box below.

Looking clockwise from the cranberry sauce at the top of the plate, you will see coleslaw, picked beet potato salad, mustard potato salad, egg and apple potato salad and a simple pasta salad. The pasta salad is shown using farfalle pasta for presentation sake, but one we most often made with plain macaroni growing up. 

Continuing past the pasta salad is leftover roast beef, ham and leftover turkey. Between the turkey and cranberry sauce is Traditional Newfoundland Dressing. This is a breadcrumb, onion and summer savoury based stuffing for poultry which is universally used in Newfoundland.

Newfoundland Cold Plate. A traditional post Christmas favourite. Heres a simple guide to putting together this simple, nostalgic favourite of Newfoundlanders everywhere.

To be honest, these are barely recipes at all really and any of the amounts can be adjusted to personal taste.

The coldplate photo got such a keen response when I posted it to our Facebook Page a few months ago. I resolved to write this post more as a guide for some of the many people who requested that I post the recipes included on the plate. I hope you enjoy trying some of them.

UPDATE:

By request I’ve added Pineapple Corn Salad to the recipes included below, even though it isn’t pictured on the plate.

Pineapple Corn Salad

A note about the corn salad.

We would have used canned corn and crushed pineapple in the past. These are both fine if that’s what you have available. Using frozen sweet corn (or even fresh, in season) along with fresh diced golden pineapple takes this simple combination of flavours up a considerable notch. 

2019 Update! I’ve now added a super easy, 4 ingredient Sweet Mustard Sauce recipe, that’s a great addition to any cold plate dinner.

Sweet Mustard Sauce

Other possible additions to your Newfoundland Cold Plate.

Some other cold salads you can try for this meal can include any of these that have previously appeared on Rock Recipes. 

1. Lemon Chive Grilled Corn Salad
2. Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad
3. Dijon Coleslaw
4. Deviled Egg Potato Salad
5. Copycat Kraft Macaroni Salad
6. Southwestern Chipotle Lime Pasta Salad
7. Bacon Potato Salad with Sweet Mustard Dressing
8. Garden Pasta Salad with Lemon Dijon Dressing
9. Honey Dijon Pasta Salad
10. Lemon Waldorf Potato Salad
11. Caesar Potato Salad
12. Puttanesca Pasta Salad
13. Penne Pasta Salad with Shrimp Chili & Lime
14. Lemon Mint Orzo Salad
15. Caesar Potato Salad
16. Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Like this Newfoundland Cold Plate recipe post?

You’ll find many more traditional and Newfoundland inspired recipes in our Newfoundland section and even more great dishes in our Fish & Seafood Category.

Newfoundland Cold Plate

 
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Yield: 12 or more servings

Newfoundland Cold Plate

Newfoundland Cold Plate - a traditional post Christmas favourite. Heres a simple guide to putting together this simple, nostalgic favourite of Newfoundlanders everywhere.

Print

Ingredients

For the Coleslaw

• 1 cup salad dressing
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• pinch salt
• 4 cups cabbage, shredded
• 1 cup carrot, grated

For the Beet Potato Salad

• 6 cups plain mashed potato
• 1 cup salad dressing
• 1 rounded tbsp sugar, optional
• 4 tbsp picked beet juice, approximately
• 1 cup picked beets, finely diced

For the Mustard Potato salad

• 6 cups plain mashed potato
• 1 cup salad dressing
• 1 rounded tbsp sugar, optional
• 1/3 cup plain yellow mustard, more or less to taste

Egg & Apple Potato Salad

• 6 cups cooked potato, diced or cut in small chunks
• 1 cup salad dressing
• 1 large Granny Smith Apple, diced or cut in small chunks
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
• 3 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped
• pinch salt

For the Macaroni Salad

• 6 cups cooked macaroni, rinsed in cold water and well drained
• 1 cup salad dressing
• 1 small carrot, finely grated
• 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
• pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
• 4 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped

For the Pineapple Corn Salad

• 3 cups frozen sweet corn
• 1 cup fresh golden pineapple, diced
• salt and pepper to season
• 1/2 cup salad dressing, more or less to taste

Instructions

To prepare the Coleslaw

1. Mix together the salad dressing, vegetable oil, sugar, vinegar and salt. Let sit 5 minutes, then stir again.
2. Toss with the carrot and cabbage. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Note: One variation I have seen on this basic recipe is to substitute the carrot for well drained crushed pineapple to make Pineapple Coleslaw.

To prepare the Beet Potato Salad, mustard Potato Salad, Egg & Apple Potato Salad or Macaroni Salad.

1. Simply mix together all of the ingredients until very well combined.
2. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To prepare the Pineapple Corn Salad

1. Blanch the frozen corn in salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes. 

Drain well and plunge into cold water. Drain for 5 minutes to get rid of the excess water.

1. Toss the drained corn with all of the other ingredients until well combined.
2. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Notes

SALAD DRESSING: Most potato and pasta salads call for salad dressing which is the jarred, spoonable type dressing, like Kraft Miracle Whip which looks much like mayonnaise. If you want to make a substitute using mayonnaise, simply mix together 1 cup mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, 1 rounded tablespoon of white sugar and a dash of paprika. Stir well and let stand for 5 minutes before stirring again and using in the recipe.

A cold plate is generally a make ahead meal at our house. Generally all of the salads are made a day in advance so that they are well chilled but a few hours refrigeration is will do. 

Recommended Products

Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.

• 
  KitchenAid Professional 6 Quart Bowl Lift Stand Mixer with Food Grinder Attachment, Empire Red
• 
  Rock Recipes: The Best Food From My Newfoundland Kitchen

Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 730Total Fat 41gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 32gCholesterol 103mgSodium 951mgCarbohydrates 79gFiber 8gSugar 19gProtein 13g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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