SIMPLE SALADS
A salad with mayonnaise dressing is an ideal pièce de résistance for luncheon. It furnishes the necessary carbon in a light and easily assimilated form, and, if well made, is always palatable.
Strictly speaking, there are but two salad dressings, [French] and [mayonnaise]. The boiled dressing, with all its variations, is, technically, a sauce. A true salad dressing is made almost entirely of oil.
To make French dressing, put into a bowl or soup plate a pinch of salt, a dash of red pepper, and three tablespoonfuls of olive-oil. Stir with a silver spoon until thoroughly mixed, then add one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, and stir until thick. French dressing must not be made until it is to be used, as it very quickly wilts a vegetable salad. Four or five tablespoonfuls of oil may be used to one of vinegar or lemon-juice if desired, and French dressing may also be seasoned with tabasco sauce, Worcestershire, dry mustard, celery salt, or any preferred condiment.
To make mayonnaise, put into an earthen bowl the yolk of a fresh egg and a pinch of salt, a dash of red pepper and half a teaspoonful of dry mustard. Place the bowl on ice or in ice water. Pour one cupful of olive-oil into a small pitcher from which it will drop easily. When the egg and seasoning are thoroughly mixed, begin to add the oil, using a silver teaspoon, and rubbing rather than stirring. Add the oil until a clear spot is formed upon the egg, then mix until smooth. Only a few drops can be added at first, but the quantity may be gradually increased. The clear spot upon the egg is an infallible test of the right quantity of oil. If too much oil is added, the dressing will curdle. A few drops of lemon-juice and long beating will usually make it right again. If this fails, set the bowl directly on the ice in the refrigerator, and let stand half an hour. If it is still curdled, begin again with the yolk of another egg and add the curdled mayonnaise by degrees to the new dressing.
When the mayonnaise is so thick that it is difficult to stir it, add the juice of half a lemon, or more if desired. If wanted still thinner, add a little cream at serving-time, but a stiff, creamy-yellow mayonnaise is a culinary triumph.
With a little experience, mayonnaise is very quickly made. It need not take more than ten or fifteen minutes to make enough abundantly to serve six people. Packed in jelly glasses, and covered with wax paper, or the cover of a jelly glass, mayonnaise will keep a week or more in a cool place.
A quick mayonnaise can be made by putting into a bowl half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of red pepper, half a teaspoonful of dry mustard, the yolk of an egg, four tablespoonfuls of olive-oil, one tablespoonful of lemon-juice or tarragon vinegar, and beating all together with the egg beater. If it fails to thicken, it is because the egg is not strictly fresh, but even if it does not thicken, it is palatable. A small jar of mayonnaise dressing, kept upon the ice, is an ever present help in time of trouble.
All vegetables used for salads must be in prime condition. Lettuce must be crisp, and only the perfect leaves used. Ragged edges may be trimmed off with the scissors. The head lettuce is best for all salads, but the leaf lettuce may be used if the other is not obtainable. It is sometimes shredded into ribbons with a sharp knife or scissors, but lettuce should be torn rather than cut, as cutting breaks and bruises the fibres.
Salads with mayonnaise dressing are too rich to serve at dinner, and hence are relegated to luncheons, Sunday-night suppers, and hot-weather dinners, where no other meat is served.
The variety of salads is inexhaustible, and new combinations are invented every day, many of them elaborate and very difficult to make. The following salads, however, will be found simple, convenient, and in every way satisfactory.
CHICKEN SALAD
Mix cold, cooked, shredded chicken with half the quantity of finely cut celery, mix with [mayonnaise dressing], and serve on a bit of lettuce. Garnish with parsley and slices of hard-boiled egg. Canned chicken may be used, but it is not as good.