INGREDIENTS OF SALADS
12. VARIETY IN SALAD INGREDIENTS.--One of the advantages of salads is that the ingredients from which they can be made are large in number. In fact, almost any cooked or raw fruit or vegetable, or any meat, fowl, or fish, whether cooked expressly for this purpose or left over from a previous meal, may be utilized in the making of salads. Canned foods of these varieties may also be used to advantage for salads during the winter when fresh foods are expensive and difficult to procure. The idea that such foods cannot be used is wrong.
13. As far as meats are concerned, they are not used so extensively in salads as are fruits and vegetables. Often, however, veal or pork may be used to increase the quantity of material needed to make certain salads, such as chicken salad. Canned fish or fish freshly cooked makes appetizing salads, and if there is not a sufficient quantity of one kind on hand, another may be added without impairing the quality of the salad.
14. As has already been stated, almost any vegetable, raw, canned, or freshly cooked, can be used in the making of salads. In addition, these vegetables may be combined in almost any way. Small amounts of two, three, four, or more vegetables may be combined with an appetizing salad dressing and served as a luncheon or dinner salad. If no definite recipe is followed but whatever material that happens to be on hand is utilized, the result is not only an appetizing salad, but a saving of vegetables that might otherwise be wasted.
15. Fruits, both canned and raw, are largely used in the making of salads. As with vegetables, almost any combination of them makes a delicious salad when served with the proper dressing. Thus, a slice of pineapple, a canned peach or two, or a few spoonfuls of cherries may be added to grapefruit, oranges, bananas, or whatever fruit may happen to be most convenient or easy to procure and served with the salad dressing that is preferred. Vegetables are seldom used with fruits, celery being the only one that is ever employed in this way. On the other hand, nuts are much used with fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish in the making of salads and any variety may be utilized.
16. SALAD GARNISHES.--The garnishing of salads, while it may seem to be an unimportant part of the preparation of this food, is really a matter that demands considerable attention. Lettuce is used oftenest for this purpose, but almost any edible green, such as endive, watercress, etc., makes an excellent garnish. Generally when lettuce is the garnish, the leaves are used whole, but if they are not in good condition for garnishing or if use is to be made of the coarse outside leaves of the stalks, they may be arranged in a pile, rolled tight, and then, as shown in Fig. 1, cut with a sharp knife into narrow strips. Lettuce prepared in this way is said to be shredded, and a bed of it makes a very attractive garnish for many kinds of salad. Among the other foods used as a garnish are certain vegetables that give a contrast in color, such as pimiento, green peppers, radishes, and olives. Slices of hard-cooked eggs or the yolks of eggs forced through a ricer likewise offer a touch of attractive color.
17. NATURE OF SALAD DRESSINGS.--When a salad is properly made, a salad dressing of some kind is usually added to the ingredients that are selected for the salad. This dressing generally has for its chief ingredient a salad oil of some kind, many satisfactory varieties of which are to be found on the market. Olive oil has always been the most popular oil used for this purpose, and in many respects it is the most desirable. It can be obtained in several grades, the price varying with the excellence of the quality. The best grades have a yellowish color, the poorest ones are somewhat green, and those of medium quality shade between these two colors. The best grades are also clear, while the poorer ones are usually cloudy, the better the quality the less cloudy the oil. Besides olive oil, however, there are oils made of cottonseed, corn, and nuts. Many of these products are cheaper than olive oil and are almost, if not quite, as satisfactory. In combination with the oil that is used for salad dressing, there is always an acid of some kind, such as vinegar or lemon juice. To these ingredients are added spices and flavoring. Such a dressing is prepared without cooking, the ingredients being combined by proper mixing or beating.
18. Another kind of dressing that is much used is known as boiled salad dressing. Its ingredients are similar to those used in the uncooked salad dressing, but usually less fat is employed and eggs alone or eggs and some starchy material are used for thickening.
Then, again, entirely different kinds of dressing may be made for fruit salads. Sometimes these dressings contain no fat, and other times they have for their basis sweet or sour cream, but usually they are made so that they are somewhat acid to the taste.