In an English book is told a story of a famous French salad-dresser who began very poor, and made a fortune by dressing salad for dinners in London. He would go from one place to another in his carriage, with a liveried servant, and his mahogony case. This case contained all the necessaries for his business, such as differently perfumed vinegars, oils with or without the taste of fruit, soy, caviar, truffles, anchovies, catchup, gravy, some yolks of eggs, etc. I confess to a lively curiosity as to how these perfumed and scientific mixtures would taste; however, we will be satisfied with the hundred and one ways of arranging our simple and delicious salads, within the comprehension of all.
A Frenchman thinks he can not eat his dinner without his salad. It would be well if every one had the same appreciation of this most wholesome, refreshing, and at the same time most economical dish. It is an accomplishment to know how to dress a salad well, which is especially prized by the fashionable world. The materials used for salads are generally those shown in the list on the following page:
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Lettuce, Celery, Endive, Garden-cress, Sorrel, |
Onions, Garlic, Radishes, Beet-root, Pepper-grass, |
Cold boiled potatoes, Cabbage, Cives, Tarragon, Nasturtium blossoms; |
or salads of mixed vegetables (salades en macédoine), selected from this list of vegetables:
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Cold boiled potatoes, String-beans, Navy-beans, Lima beans, Beet-root, |
Olives, Tomatoes, Pease, Cauliflower, Asparagus-tops, |
Cucumbers, Carrots, Truffles, Turnips. |
Salads are also made of cold boiled fowls or fish, as follows:
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Chickens, Lobster, |
Salmon, Prawns, |
Shrimps, Sardines. |
There are two kinds of dressing which are the best and oftenest used: the Mayonnaise and the French dressing. Epicures prefer the simple French dressing for salads served without fish or fowl. For chicken and fish salads, and some vegetables, as tomatoes and cauliflowers, they use the Mayonnaise sauce. This arrangement of dressings is almost universal in London and Paris. In America we use the Mayonnaise for all salads. I prefer the foreign custom. The simple salad with the French dressing is, after all, the most refreshing and satisfactory, if one has a heavy dinner served before it. The receipts are as follows:
Mayonnaise Sauce.
Put the uncooked yolk of an egg into a cold bowl; beat it well with a silver fork; then add two salt-spoonfuls of salt, and one salt-spoonful of mustard powder; work them well a minute before adding the oil; then mix in a little good oil, which must be poured in very slowly (a few drops at a time) at first, alternated occasionally with a few drops of vinegar. In proportion as the oil is used, the sauce should gain consistency. When it begins to have the appearance of jelly, alternate a few drops of lemon-juice with the oil. When the egg has absorbed a gill of oil, finish the sauce by adding a very little pinch of Cayenne pepper and one and a half tea-spoonfuls of good vinegar; taste it to see that there are salt, mustard, cayenne, and vinegar enough. If not, add more very carefully. These proportions will suit most tastes; yet some like more mustard and more oil. Be cautious not to use too much cayenne.