Salt, 1 spoonful: pepper, 1/2 as much; oil, 5 saladspoonsful; tarragon, or other vinegar, 2 spoonsful.
DES CERNEAUX, OR WALNUT SALAD.
This is a common summer salad in France, where the growth of walnuts is generally abundant, but is not much served in England; though the sweet flavour of the just-formed nut is very agreeable. Take the walnuts when a pin will pierce them easily, pare them down to the kernels, and toss them gently, just before they are served, in a French or English salad-dressing (the former would generally be preferred we think), and turn them into the salad-bowl for table.
SUFFOLK SALAD.
Fill a salad-bowl from half to three parts full with very tender lettuces shred small, minced lean of ham, and hard-boiled eggs, or their yolks only also minced, placed in alternate layers; dress the mixture with English salad sauce, but do not pour it into the bowl until the instant of serving. A portion of cold chicken (or veal), cut in thin slices about the size of a shilling, may be added when convenient; the ham and eggs also may be sliced instead of being minced, and the whole neatly arranged in a chain or otherwise round the inside of the bowl.
YORKSHIRE PLOUGHMAN’S SALAD.
Mix treacle and vinegar, in the proportion of one tablespoonful of the first to two of the latter; add a little black pepper, and eat the sauce with lettuces shred small (with an intermixture of young onions when they are liked).
AN EXCELLENT SALAD OF YOUNG VEGETABLES.
Pare off the coarse, fibrous parts from four or five artichoke bottoms, boiled quite tender, well drained, and freed carefully from the insides; cut them into quarters, and lay them into the salad-bowl; arrange over them some cold new potatoes and young carrots sliced moderately thin, strew minced tarragon, chervil, or any other herbs which may be better liked, thickly over the surface, and sauce the salad with an English or French dressing just before it is sent to table. Very young French beans cut into short lozenge-shaped lengths, or asparagus points, can be added to this dish at pleasure; or small tufts of cauliflower may be placed round it. When these additions are made, the herbs are better omitted: a little of the liquor of pickled Indian mangoes may be advantageously mixed with the sauce for this salad, or in lieu of it some chili vinegar or cayenne pepper. The Dutch or American sauce of the previous pages would also make an appropriate dressing for it.