Eels, Mayonnaise of.—Put into a salad-bowl two heads of bleached endive, each leaf having been previously examined. Take six pieces of potted eels about two inches long; remove the bone; break the eels into neat pieces, and arrange them on the endive; add a mayonnaise, garnish, and serve.
Egg Salad.—Put into a salad-bowl the small crisp leaves of a head of lettuce; add four hard-boiled eggs sliced. Mince a dozen capers; sprinkle over the eggs, and add a plain dressing.
Endive Salad.—The curled endive is excellent for fall and winter salads. Pick the leaves over carefully; separate the green from the white; put the latter into a salad-bowl; add minced salad herbs, and a suspicion of onion. Serve with plain dressing.
Escarole Salad.—This is one of the best salads known. Serve it as follows: Take two heads of escarole; reject all green and decayed leaves; place the white bleached leaves in a salad-bowl, after being thoroughly washed and dried in a napkin; take a small piece of crust of bread, and a clove of garlic, dip the garlic in salt and rub it a few times on the bread; add the piece of bread to the salad-bowl. Next add half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and four tablespoonfuls of the very best olive oil; toss the salad gently; then add a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar; toss again; remove the piece of crust, which is known as "Chapon," and serve. Escarole is the broad-leaved variety of the well-known endive.
Frog Salad.—This is a delicious salad. Soak two dozen frogs' legs in salt water for one hour; drain; stew them slowly until quite tender; take them out of the boiling water and cover them with milk. Let this come to a boil; drain and cool; remove the bones. Cut up celery enough to half fill a salad-bowl; add the frogs which should nearly fill the bowl. Arrange neatly; cover with mayonnaise; garnish with lobster-claws, little tufts of shrimps, and green herbs, alternated with hard-boiled eggs quartered lengthwise.
Herbs for Salads.—The most important desideratum (except possibly pure condiments) in the art of salad making, is those little salad herbs that to many appear insignificant, but to the epicure perfect a salad. All travellers tell us that French salads are far superior to the salads of other countries; but without fragrant herbs the French salads would be as insipid as those of England. I strongly advise my readers to cultivate a taste for these precious little herbs: Tarragon, borage, chervil, chives, and pimpernel.
Herring Salad.—Soak four salt Holland herrings in water or milk for three hours; then remove the skin and back-bone and cut them into neat square pieces. Slice two quarts of boiled potatoes; while hot, put them into a dish and pour over them Rhine wine enough to moisten them; when cold add the herring and the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs, chopped up. Crush a dozen pepper corns in a napkin, with a knife-handle, add to the salad and mix all together. If milt herring are used, pound the milt to a paste, moisten with vinegar, add to the salad. If roe herring are used, soak the roe in vinegar for a few minutes and strew the eggs over the salad. If the herrings have been soaked too long a little salt should be added. The above is a true herring salad, though some add a little oil, but the majority prefer it as above directed.
Hop Salad.—Hop-sprouts are not only wholesome but are a most excellent vegetable. In hop-growing districts the surplus sprouts are thrown away. This is an error. Gather the sprouts before the heads develop, soak them for half an hour in water slightly salted; drain; boil for ten minutes, and serve them with a plain salad dressing. They may be eaten either hot or cold.
Italian Salad.—Nearly all mixed vegetable salads that contain various ingredients may be safely called à l'Italienne, for all culinary odds and ends are made into salads by these thrifty people, and it must not for an instant be supposed that the different items are thrown indifferently together. On the contrary, they study the all-important problem of how to first please the eye, so that their gastronomic effort may more easily please the palate. A salad of eight or ten ingredients is usually arranged on a round plate, wheel fashion, with half of a hard-boiled egg, cut crosswise, to represent a hub. When only five ingredients are used, the salad takes the forms of stars or other shapes as fancy dictates. They are usually served with plain salad dressing.
Lamb Salad.—In hot weather this salad is very acceptable. Put into a salad-bowl the crisp small centre leaves of two heads of cabbage lettuce. Cut up three-fourths of a pound of cold roast lamb, add to the lettuce. Chop up a dozen capers with a few tarragon leaves; strew over the salad; serve with a plain salad dressing.