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Collection of Old British Salads & Salad Dressing Recipes

This is a collection of old British salad recipes that are so interesting and exciting to prepare in our own home kitchens.

More salad recipes added frequently so do pop back and check for more historic salad inspiration.

Table of Contents

A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]

Salads and Their Dressings

There are many green salads, and a salad is always a very welcome addition to a meal if there should be cold meat or fowl in any form. Lettuce, endive, watercress, corn salad, chicory or tomato, can be dressed as follows: Having washed and dried the salad (by means of a wire salad basket swung vigorously), place it in the salad bowl with a little chopped onion or several young spring onions according to the season.

To two salad-spoonfuls of vinegar dissolve one salt-spoonful of salt and a little pepper, turn into the salad and add three salad-spoonfuls of best salad oil. Turn the salad over for five minutes with the spoon and fork. The bowl should then appear quite dry, the dressing having been taken up on the green salad. If dressing tomatoes alone, place the tomatoes which must be firm and sound in a large basin and pour over them some boiling water. The skin will then peel off easily leaving the fruit whole.

Cut them into slices, put into a glass dish and sprinkle over them a little freshly chopped onion. Mix in a breakfast cup the oil and vinegar, salt and pepper (always taking care to add the oil last); stir well and pour over the tomatoes in the dish. It is best not to attempt to turn this salad as the tomatoes so easily get broken and the appearance of the salad is then spoiled. Sprinkle over all a little finely chopped parsley.

Potato Salad.

Take some boiled potatoes, cut into slices not too thin and a little chopped onion. Place in a salad bowl. Mix the oil and vinegar as before directed only allow exactly double the quantity of dressing as the potatoes absorb it. Turn over well before serving.

Chicory as Salad. Will need the dressing prepared as for tomato.

Russian Salad.

Any remains of cold beans, peas, carrots, beet-root, etc., with the addition of one hard-boiled egg, the white chopped separately from the yolk and added to the salad only after it is dressed. Put into a large basin all the cold vegetables it is intended to use together with a little finely chopped onion. Mix in a cup the raw yolk of one egg, two teaspoonfuls of cream if possible, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and three of oil, pepper, and salt. Work all together and add a teaspoonful of powdered sugar. Turn it into the vegetables and turn the salad very carefully once or twice. Sprinkle the chopped egg over all.

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The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

1. SALAD

Lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and cress, cucumber, olive or walnut oil, lemon juice.

Wash the green stuff and finely shred it. Peel the cucumber, skin the tomatoes (if ripe, the skins will come away easily) and cut into thin slices. Place in the bowl in alternate layers. Let the top layer be lettuce with a few slices of tomato for garnishing. Slices of hard-boiled egg may be added if desired.

For the salad dressing, to every tablespoonful of oil allow 1 of lemon juice. Drip the oil slowly into the lemon juice, beating with a fork all the time. Pour over the salad.

2. SALAD

Beetroot, mustard and cress, olive or walnut oil, lemon juice, cold vegetables.

Chop the cold vegetables. French beans and potatoes make the nicest salad. To every 2 cups of vegetables allow 1 cup of chopped beetroot. Mix well together, and pour over salad dressing as for No. 1. [see recipe above] A level teaspoonful of pepper is added to a gill of the dressing by those who do not object to its use.

FRUIT SALAD.

Take sweet, ripe oranges, apples, bananas, and grapes. Peel the oranges, quarter them, and remove skin and pips. Peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices. Wash and dry the grapes, and remove from stalks. Skin and slice the bananas.

Put the prepared fruit into a glass dish in alternate layers. Squeeze the juice from 2 sweet oranges and pour over the salad.

Any other fresh fruit in season may be used for this salad. Castor sugar may be sprinkled over if desired, and cream used in place of the juice. Grated nuts are also a welcome addition.

PROTOSE SALAD. [vegetarian]

1 breakfast-cupful Protose cubes [meat alternative], 1/3 breakfast cup minced celery, 1 hard-boiled egg, 3 small radishes, juice of 2 lemons.

Cut Protose into cubes, chop the hard-boiled egg, slice the radishes. Add to the minced celery. Pour over these ingredients the lemon juice and allow the mixture to stand for one hour. Serve upon fresh crisp lettuce.

[Note from Leigh – Looking for more old Protose recipes? Have a look at this interesting Protose Cutlets recipe!]

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Victorian Salad Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892]

Beetroot Salad.

  • 2 medium-sized beets.
  • Hard-boiled yolk of 1 egg.
  • Tablespoon chopped watercress.
  • Pepper and salt to taste.
  • Salad Sauce [see recipe below]

Peel and slice the beets (about a quarter of an inch thick), and pile the slices in a glass dish or bowl, sprinkle with the watercress and yolk of egg rubbed through a wire sieve, and pour the sauce round the base.

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • The yolks of two eggs.
  • 1 gill of milk. [125 millilitres or half a cup]
  • ½ gill of vinegar.
  • A large pinch of salt.
  • The same of pepper.

Drop the yolks into a small enamelled stewpan, add the pepper and salt, and stir well with a wooden spoon; pour in the milk, which should be just at boiling point, then stir briskly over a gentle heat for about ten minutes, or until the sauce thickens, but it must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will curdle. When sufficiently thick, remove from the fire, stir in the vinegar, and stand on one side to get thoroughly cold. It is then ready for use.

Cabbage Salad.

  • 1 nice cabbage, or sufficient young greens to make a dish.

Boil the cabbage in the usual way. When cooked, after thoroughly extracting all the water, stand on one side to get quite cold. Place in a salad bowl or glass dish, and pour over it half a pint of salad sauce [see recipe below].

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • ½ pint soaked haricot beans.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar.
  • 1 strip lemon peel.
  • A tiny piece of mace.
  • 1 pint water.
  • ½ dozen peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, then place in it the haricot beans, onion sliced, mace, lemon peel, peppercorns and water. Boil two hours, rub through a sieve and allow to cool; then strain again to remove scum, add vinegar, and pour over salad.

Carrot Salad.

  • 1 dozen young carrots.
  • Water.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • 1 strip lemon peel.

Scrape the carrots and throw them into cold water; then place them in a saucepan with sufficient water to cover, with salt and lemon peel. Boil half an hour or until tender, place them on a board, cut into thick slices, which place in salad sauce [see recipe below]; gently toss them in this till each piece is covered with the sauce, then turn them into a dish or bowl, and garnish with sprigs of watercress.

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • The yolks of two eggs.
  • 1 gill of milk.
  • ½ gill of vinegar.
  • A large pinch of salt.
  • The same of pepper.

Drop the yolks into a small enamelled stewpan, add the pepper and salt, and stir well with a wooden spoon; pour in the milk, which should be just at boiling point, then stir briskly over a gentle heat for about ten minutes, or until the sauce thickens, but it must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will curdle. When sufficiently thick, remove from the fire, stir in the vinegar, and stand on one side to get thoroughly cold. It is then ready for use.

Cucumber Salad.

  • 1 medium-sized cucumber.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ¼ teaspoon salt.
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper.
  • 2 tablespoons water.
  • A little grated nutmeg.
  • Salad Sauce [see recipe below]

Peel and slice the cucumber (about quarter inch thick), and if not very young remove the seeds, place the slices in a stewpan together with the water, butter, salt and nutmeg. Simmer until tender, leaving the lid off so as to reduce the liquor. Arrange the slices in a dish, taking care not to break them, sprinkle with the pepper, pour over the sauce, and do not serve until perfectly cold.

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • 1 small onion.
  • 8 slices of beetroot.
  • 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
  • ½ pint haricot bean stock.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ teaspoon Worcester sauce.
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard.
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
  • 2 teaspoons browned flour.
  • Pepper and salt to taste.

Dissolve the butter in a small stewpan, place in the onion sliced and fry ten minutes; then add stock and beetroot, and simmer for twenty minutes; add the mustard, sauce, lemon juice, and flour, and simmer five minutes, stirring all the time; rub through a sieve, and when cold stir in the vinegar.

This quantity is only sufficient for a small salad.

Haricot Bean Salad.

  • ½ pint soaked haricot beans.
  • 1 pint of water.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • A little grated nutmeg.
  • ½ pint Salad sauce [use sauce recipe above]

Dissolve half an ounce of butter in a saucepan, place in the beans and water, and boil one and a half hours; add salt and boil another half hour. When done, strain (saving the liquor), and turn the beans into a basin containing half an ounce of oiled butter and the nutmeg. Stir the beans about carefully, and then place them in a dish or salad bowl; pour the sauce over, and stand on one side to get thoroughly cold.

Onion Salad.

  • 2 large Spanish onions.
  • 1 strip of lemon peel.
  • ½ dozen peppercorns.
  • Salad Sauce.

Peel and quarter the onions, and boil them in salted water with the peppercorns and lemon peel. When quite tender, lift them out and place on one side to drain and get cold. When quite cold, place them in a dish or bowl, pour half the sauce over, and reserve the remainder to pour over just before sending to table.

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • The yolks of two eggs.
  • 1 gill of milk.
  • ½ gill of vinegar.
  • A large pinch of salt.
  • The same of pepper.

Drop the yolks into a small enamelled stewpan, add the pepper and salt, and stir well with a wooden spoon; pour in the milk, which should be just at boiling point, then stir briskly over a gentle heat for about ten minutes, or until the sauce thickens, but it must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will curdle. When sufficiently thick, remove from the fire, stir in the vinegar, and stand on one side to get thoroughly cold. It is then ready for use.

Potato Salad.

  • 4 good-sized cold potatoes.
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped watercress.
  • ½ pint Salad Sauce [see recipe below]

The potatoes may either be boiled in their skins or peeled; in the first way they will be the better flavoured and more nourishing, in the latter a better colour. They must be taken up carefully directly they are tender, and not allowed to break up at all. Cut into slices about half an inch thick, stamp out into fancy shapes and arrange prettily in a small bowl or dish; sprinkle them with the watercress, which should have been thoroughly washed in salted and rinsed in fresh water; then pour over the sauce.

This salad, which is generally much appreciated, will be found a very useful way of using up cold potatoes.

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • 1 pint tomato juice.
  • 1 carrot.
  • 1 turnip.
  • 1 onion.
  • A very small piece each of mace and cinnamon.
  • 2 tablespoons cooked haricot beans.
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper.
  • 1 ounce butter.

Slice the vegetables and fry in the butter for ten minutes; then place in a stewpan with the tomato juice (tinned will answer the purpose), mace, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Boil for half an hour, then place in the beans and simmer for twenty minutes; rub through a sieve, and when cold stir in the vinegar. It is then ready for use.

Sea Kale Salad.

  • 6 or 8 heads of kale.
  • Salad Sauce [for recipe below]

Boil the kale until tender in salted water. When quite done, strain, and stand on one side to get cold. Cut into pieces about one inch long, place in a dish or bowl, pour over half the sauce, and the remainder just before sending to table.

Salad Sauce. [for recipe above]

  • The yolks of two eggs.
  • 1 gill of milk. [125 millilitres or half a cup]
  • ½ gill of vinegar.
  • A large pinch of salt.
  • The same of pepper.

Drop the yolks into a small enamelled stewpan, add the pepper and salt, and stir well with a wooden spoon; pour in the milk, which should be just at boiling point, then stir briskly over a gentle heat for about ten minutes, or until the sauce thickens, but it must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will curdle. When sufficiently thick, remove from the fire, stir in the vinegar, and stand on one side to get thoroughly cold. It is then ready for use.

Vegetable Salad.

  • 4 young carrots.
  • 4 young potatoes.
  • 1 shalot.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 3 tomatoes.
  • 1 teaspoon minced watercress
  • ½ pint water.
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar.

Scrape the carrots and potatoes very clean, and stew them gently until tender in the vinegar, salt and water, but on no account must they be allowed to break. When done, take up carefully and place on a board to cool. Scald the tomatoes by plunging them first into boiling water and then into cold; remove the skins and seeds and cut into small slices. When the vegetables are quite cold, cut them up into ornamental shapes, and arrange them with the tomatoes and shalot very finely minced in a salad bowl, pour over a Mayonnaise sauce or salad sauce such as the recipe above, and sprinkle the watercress on the top. Hard-boiled eggs may be added if liked.

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CASSELL’S VEGETARIAN COOKERY. A MANUAL OF CHEAP AND WHOLESOME DIET. BY A.G. PAYNE, B.A. AUTHOR OF “CHOICE DISHES,” ETC. [1891]

Salads and Sandwiches.

Probably the most patriotic Englishman will admit that, on the subject of salads, we can learn something from the French. During the last half-century a great improvement has taken place on this point in this country. Many years ago it was the fashion to dress an English lettuce, resembling in shape an old umbrella, with a mixture of brown sugar, milk, mustard, and even anchovy and Worcester sauce, and then add a few drops of oil, as if it were some dangerous poison, like prussic acid, not to be tampered with lightly.

The old-fashioned lettuces were so hard and crisp that it was difficult to chew them without making a noise somewhat similar to walking on a shingly beach. In modern days, however, we have arrived at a stage of civilisation in which, as a rule, we use soft French lettuces instead of the hard gingham-shaped vegetables which somehow or other our grandfathers ate for supper with a whole lobster, seasoned with about half a pint of vinegar, and then slept none the worse for the performance.

The first point for consideration, if we wish to have a good salad, is to have the lettuces crisp and dry. Old-fashioned French cookery-books direct that the lettuce should never be washed. The stalks should be cut off, the outside leaves removed and thrown away, and the lettuce itself should then be pulled in pieces with the fingers, and each piece wiped with a clean cloth. This is not always practicable, but the principle remains the same. You can wash the lettuce leaves without bruising them. You can dry them by shaking them up lightly in a large clean cloth, and you can spread them out and let them get dry an hour or two before they are dressed.

Another important point to be borne in mind is that a salad should never be dressed till just before it is wanted to be eaten. If by chance you put by the remains of a dressed salad, it is good for nothing the next morning. Finally, the oil must be pure olive oil of the best quality, and to ensure this it should bear the name of some well-known firm. A good deal of the oil sold simply as salad oil, bearing no name, is adulterated, sometimes with cotton-seed oil.

Salad, French Lettuce, Plain.

Clean one or more French lettuces (throw away all the leaves that are decayed or bruised), place these in a salad-bowl, and, supposing we have sufficient for two persons, dress the salad as follows:—Put a saltspoonful of salt and half a saltspoonful of pepper into a tablespoon. Fill the tablespoon up with oil, stir the pepper and salt up with a fork, and pour it over the lettuce. Now add another tablespoonful of oil, and then toss the lettuce leaves lightly together with a spoon and fork. Allow one tablespoonful of oil to each person. This salad would suffice for two. Be sure and mix the lettuce and oil well together before you add any vinegar. The reason of this is that if you add the vinegar first it would soak into the lettuce leaves, making one part more acid than another. Having well mixed up the lettuce and oil, add half a tablespoonful of vinegar. Mix it once more, and the salad is dressed.

In France they always add to the lettuce, before it is dressed, two or three finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves. Dried tarragon can be used, but it is not equal to fresh. If you have no tarragon it is a great improvement to use tarragon vinegar instead of ordinary vinegar. Tarragon vinegar is sold by all grocers at sixpence per bottle.

It is also often customary to rub the salad-bowl with a bead of garlic, or rub a piece of crust of bread with garlic, and toss this piece of crust up with the salad after it has been dressed. Garlic should never be chopped up, but only used as stated above.

A good French salad is also always decorated with one or more hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters, longways. These are placed on the top of the lettuce.

Salad, English, Lettuce.—

The ordinary English salad is made either with French or English lettuces, and is generally dressed as follows:—One or two tablespoonfuls of cream or milk, a teaspoonful of made mustard, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, pepper, and salt. There are many people still living in remote parts of the country who prefer this style of dressing.

Salad, English, Mixed.—

The old-fashioned English mixed salad generally consisted of English lettuce cut up into strips crossways, to which was added mustard and cress, boiled beetroot, chopped celery, spring onions, radishes, and watercress. It is by no means a bad mixture when dressed with oil, and, of course, it can be dressed it à l’Anglaise. It makes an excellent accompaniment to a huge hunk of cheese, a crusty loaf, a good appetite, and a better digestion.

Salad, Mayonnaise.—

This is generally considered the king of salads, and it can be made an exceedingly pretty-looking dish, Take two or more French lettuces, clean and dry them as directed above, and take the small heart of one lettuce about the size of a small walnut, uncut from the stalk, so that you can stand it upright in the middle of the salad, raised above the surface. Arrange all the softer parts of the leaves on the top of the salad so as to make as much as possible a smooth surface. Make some Mayonnaise sauce, thick enough to be spread like butter, and mask this little mound and all the surface of the middle of the salad round it with a thin layer of the sauce, so that it looks like the top of a mould of solid custard.

Ornament the edge of the salad with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, and place between the quarters slices of pickled gherkins and stoned olives. Take a small teaspoonful of French capers, dry them on a cloth, and sprinkle a few of them about an inch apart on the white surface. Next chop up, very finely, about half a teaspoonful of parsley, and see that this doesn’t stick together in lumps. Place this on the end of a knife and flip the knife so that the little green specks of parsley fall on the white surface.

Next take about half a saltspoonful of finely crumbled bread, and shake these in a saucer with one or two drops of cochineal. This will colour them a bright red, and they will have all the appearance of lobster-coral. Place these red bread-crumbs on the end of a knife and let them fall over the white surface like the parsley. The little red and green specks on the white background make the dish look exceedingly pretty. Before mixing the salad all together add a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar or lemon-juice.

Tomato Salad.—

For making tomato salad you require red, ripe tomatoes; the smoother they are the better, but the chief points are—very ripe and very red. Never use those pink, crinkly tomatoes which look something like milk stained with plum juice. If tomatoes are picked unripe, and then allowed to ripen afterwards, they become rotten and worthless. Slice up half a dozen or more tomatoes—sometimes it will be necessary to remove the core and pips, sometimes not; add a little oil, a little vinegar, and some pepper and salt. Tomato salad is one of the few that are very nice without any oil at all. Of course, this is a matter of taste. Some persons slice up a few onions and add to the tomatoes. In addition to this you can add some slices of cold potatoes. In this latter case, heap the potatoes up in the middle of the dish in the shape of a dome sprinkle some chopped parsley over the potatoes, put a border of sliced onion round the base, and then a border of sliced tomato outside that. This makes the dish look pretty.

Many persons rub the dish or salad-bowl with a bead of garlic. This is quite sufficient to flavour the salad; but never chop garlic for salads.

Egg Salad.—

Egg salad consists of an ordinary salad made with French lettuces, with an extra quantity of hard-boiled eggs. If you want to make the salad look very pretty on the top, cut up the lettuces and dress them with oil and vinegar in the ordinary way. Make the tops of the lettuces (which should be placed in a round salad-bowl) as smooth as you can without pressing them down unnecessarily.

Now take six hard-boiled eggs, separate the yolks from the whites, powder the yolks, and chop up the whites small. Sprinkle a ring of yellow round the edge of the salad-bowl, say an inch in width, then put a ring of white round, and place the remainder of yolk in the middle, almost up to the centre.

Have the centre about two inches in diameter. We now have a yellow centre surrounded by a broad white rim (as, of course, there is more white than yellow), and an outside yellow ring, which meets the white china bowl. Reserve about a teaspoonful of pieces of finely chopped white, and put them in a saucer, with a few drops of cochineal, and shake them. This turns them a bright red.

Sprinkle these red specks very sparingly on the white, and take about half a teaspoonful of chopped blanched parsley, and sprinkle these green specks on the yellow. This makes the dish look pretty.

German Salad.—

German salad is made from cold boiled vegetables chopped up. In Germany, it is made, according to English ideas, from every vegetable you have ever heard of, mixed with a number of vegetables you have never heard of.

In England it can be made by chopping up boiled carrot, turnip, cabbage, cauliflower, potato, French beans, Brussels sprouts (whole), celery, raw onion, raw apple, &c. In fact, in making this vegetable salad the motto should be “the more the merrier.”

In addition to this you will find that they add what is known as sauer kraut. This latter is not adapted, as a rule, to English palates. The salad is mixed with oil and vinegar in the ordinary way, the Germans adding much more vinegar than we should care for in this country.

The salad is decorated at the finish with boiled beet-root. It is very pretty to cut the beet-root into triangles, the base of the triangle touching the edge of the salad-bowl, the point of the triangle pointing inwards.

Gut a star out of a good slice of beet-root, and place it in the centre of the bowl; sprinkle a little chopped blanched parsley over the surface of the mixed vegetables.

Endive Salad.—

Endives come into season long before lettuces, and are much used abroad for making salads. The drawback to endive is that it is tough, and the simple remedy is to boil it. Take three or four white-heart endives, throw them into boiling water slightly salted. When they get tender take them out and instantly throw them into cold water, by which means you preserve their colour. When quite cold, take them out again, drain them, dry them thoroughly, and pull them to pieces with the fingers. Now place them in a salad-bowl, keeping the whitest part as much as possible at the top. Place some hard-boiled eggs round the edge, and sprinkle a little chopped blanched parsley over the white endive. You can, if you like, put a few spikes of red beet-root between the quarters of eggs.

It is a great improvement to rub the salad-bowl with a bead of garlic, or you can rub a crust of bread with a bead of garlic, and toss this lightly about in the salad when you mix it.

Salsify Salad.—

Boiled salsify makes a very delicious salad. Take some white salsify, scrape it, and instantly throw it into vinegar and water, by which means you will keep it a pure white. Then, when you have all ready, throw it into boiling water, slightly salted, boil it till it is tender, throw it into cold water, and when cold take it out, drain it and dry it, cut it up into small half-inch pieces (or put it in whole, in sticks, into a salad-bowl), sprinkle a little chopped blanched parsley over the top, dress in the ordinary way with oil and white French vinegar, and be sure to use white pepper, not black, if white wine vinegar is objected to, the juice of a hard fresh lemon is equally good, if not better.

Potato Salad.—

Potato salad is generally made from the remains of cold boiled potatoes. Of course, potatoes can be boiled on purpose, in which case they should be allowed to get cold in the water in which they were boiled. New potatoes are far better for the purpose than old.

Cut the potatoes into slices, and place them in a salad-bowl with a little finely chopped blanched parsley. You can also add some finely chopped onion or shallot. If you do not add these you can rub the bowl with a bead of garlic.

Sprinkle some more chopped parsley over the top of the salad and ornament the edge of the bowl with some thin slices of pickled gherkins. A few stoned olives can also be added. Dress the salad with oil and vinegar in the ordinary way.

Asparagus Salad.—

Cold asparagus makes a most delicious salad. It is needless, perhaps, to say it is made from cold boiled asparagus. The best dressing for asparagus salad is somewhat peculiar, and is made as follows:—Take, say, an ounce of butter, put it in a saucer, and melt it in the oven till it is like oil. Now mix in a teaspoonful of made mustard, some pepper, salt, and a dessertspoonful of vinegar. Stir it all together, and as it gets cold it will begin to get thick. Dip all the green part of the asparagus in this, and lay the heads gently, without breaking them, in a vegetable dish, with the white stalk resting on the edge of the dish, and the green part in the middle. Let the salad get perfectly cold, and then serve. Of course, the sauce clings to the asparagus. The asparagus is eaten with the fingers like hot asparagus—a custom now generally recognised.

Artichoke Salad.—

This applies to French artichokes, not Jerusalem. In France, artichokes are often served raw for breakfast, on a plate, with a little heap of chopped raw onion and another heap of chopped capers or parsley. The Frenchman mixes a little oil or vinegar on his plate, adding the onion, &c., according to his taste. The leaves are pulled off one by one, the white stalk part dipped in this dressing, and then eaten, by being drawn through the teeth. The artichoke bottom is reserved for the finish as a bon bouche, something like a schoolboy who will eat all the pastry round a jam tart, leaving the centre for the finale.

Beet-root Salad.—

In boiling beet-roots be careful not to break them, or else they will bleed and lose their colour. When the beet-root is boiled and cold, peel it, and cut it into thin slices. It can be dressed with oil and vinegar, or vinegar only, adding pepper and salt. Some persons dress beet-root with a salad-dressing in which cream is used instead of oil; but never use cream and oil. To mix cream and oil is like mixing bacon with butter.

Cucumber Salad.—

Peel a cucumber and cut it into slices as thin as possible. We might almost add, thinner if possible. Mix it with a little salt, and let it stand, tossing the cucumber about every now and then. By this means you extract all the water from the cucumber. Drain off this water, and add plenty of oil to the cucumber, and then mix it so that every slice comes in contact with the oil. Now add a little pepper, and a very little vinegar, and mix it thoroughly. If you add vinegar to cucumber before the oil some of the slices will taste like sour pickle, as the vinegar soaks into the cucumber. Cucumber should be always served very cold, and is best placed in an ice-chest for an hour before serving. Some people put a piece of ice on the top of the cucumber.

French Bean Salad.—

Cold boiled French beans make a very nice salad. A little chopped parsley should be mixed with them, and the salad-bowl can be rubbed with a bead of garlic. Some people soak the beans in vinegar first, and then add oil. This would suit a German palate. A better plan is to add the oil first, with pepper and salt, mix all well together, and then add the vinegar.

Bean Salad.—

Cold boiled broad beans make a very nice salad. Rub off the skins so that only the green part is put in the salad-bowl. Rub the bowl with garlic, add a little chopped parsley, then oil, pepper and salt, mix well, and add vinegar last of all.

Haricot Bean Salad.—

This can be made from cold, boiled, dried white haricot beans. Add plenty of chopped parsley, rub the bowl with garlic, mix oil, pepper and salt first, vinegar afterwards.

The nicest haricot bean salad is made from the fresh green beans met with abroad. They can be obtained in this country in tins, and a delicious salad can be had at a moment’s notice by opening a tin, straining off the liquor, and drying the little green beans, which are very soft and tender, and dressing them with oil and vinegar, in the ordinary way. A little chopped parsley, or garlic flavouring by rubbing the bowl, can be added or not, according to taste.

Celery and Beet-root Salad.—

A mixture of celery and beet-root makes a very nice winter salad. The beet-root, of course, is boiled, and the celery generally sliced up thin in a raw state. It is a great improvement to boil the celery till it is nearly tender. By this means you improve the salad, and the celery assists in making vegetarian stock.

Water-cress.—

Water-cress is sometimes mixed with other salad, but when eaten alone requires no dressing, but only a little salt.

Dandelion Leaf Salad.—

Considering that the root of the dandelion is so largely used in medicine for making taraxacum, it is to be regretted that the leaves of the plant are not utilised in this country as they are abroad for making salad. These leaves can be obtained in London at a few shops in the French colony of Soho. The leaves are washed, dried, placed in a salad-bowl, and dressed with oil and vinegar in the ordinary way.

Cauliflower Salad.—

The remains of a cold boiled cauliflower makes a very good salad if only the white part be used. It can be mixed with remains of cold potatoes, some chopped blanched parsley should be sprinkled over the top, and it can be dressed with oil and vinegar in the ordinary way; or it can be served up with a sauce made from oiled butter similar to that described for dressing cold asparagus.

Mustard and Cress.—

This is somewhat similar to watercress. When served alone it is generally dipped in salt and eaten with bread-and-butter, but it is very useful to mix with other kinds of salad.

Hop Salad.—

In Germany a very nice salad is made from young hops, which are grown very extensively in America and Germany, as English brewers are well aware. The hops are picked when quite young, before they get leafy; they are then boiled till nearly tender. They can be dressed in the English fashion with oil and vinegar, or in the German fashion with vinegar and sugar.

Onion Salad.—

Few people are aware of what an excellent salad can be made from the remains of cold boiled Spanish onions. Spanish onions can generally be bought at a penny a pound. They are mild in flavour, very wholesome, and contain a great deal of nourishment. Take a couple of cold boiled Spanish onions, pull them into leaves after they are quite dry, and dress them with a very little oil and vinegar.

Italian Salad.—

This is a very delicious salad, met with in Italy. It consists of a great variety of boiled vegetables, which are placed in a mould and served in aspic jelly. This latter, however, is not allowed in vegetarian cookery. A very good imitation, however, can be made as follows:—First take as many cold vegetables as you can, consisting of new potatoes, sliced, and cut up with a cutter into pretty-looking shapes. You can also take green peas, asparagus tops, cold boiled cauliflower, French beans, beet-root, &c. These vegetables should be dressed with a little oil, tarragon vinegar, pepper and salt, and can be placed in a mould or plain round basin. This basin can now be filled up with a little water thickened with corn-flour, hot. When it is cold, it can be turned out and sent to table in the shape of a mould.

Melon Salad.—

Melon is sometimes served abroad as a salad, and a slice of melon is often sent to table at the commencement of dinner, to be eaten with a little salt, cayenne pepper, and sometimes oil and vinegar.

Salads, Sweet.—

Apples, oranges, currants, pine-apple, and bananas are sometimes served as salads with syrup and sugar. They make a very nice mixture, or can be served separately. When preserved pine-apples in tins are used for the purpose, the syrup in the tin should be used for dressing the salad. Whole ripe strawberries are a great improvement, as also a wineglassful of brandy and a lump of ice.

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MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]

SWAN’S EGG, EN SALADE.

We found that the yolk of the egg, when boiled as above, could be rendered perfectly smooth and cream-like, by mashing it on a dish[156] with a broad-bladed knife, and working it well with the other ingredients: the whole was easily blended into a mass of uniform colour, in which not the smallest lump of butter or egg was perceptible.

Mix it intimately with an ounce or two of firm fresh butter, a rather high seasoning of cayenne, some salt, or a teaspoonful or two of essence of anchovies, and about as much of chili vinegar or lemon-juice. To these minced herbs or eschalots can be added at pleasure. Fill the whites with the mixture, and serve them in a bowl two-thirds filled with salad, sauced as usual; or use them merely as a decoration for a lobster or German salad.

156.  We chanced, when we received our first present of swan’s eggs, to be in a house where there was no mortar—a common deficiency in English culinary departments.

ENGLISH SALADS.

The herbs and vegetables for a salad cannot be too freshly gathered; they should be carefully cleared from insects and washed with scrupulous nicety; they are better when not prepared until near the time of sending them to table, and should not be sauced until the instant before they are served.

Tender lettuces, of which the stems should be cut off, and the outer leaves be stripped away, mustard and cress, young radishes, and occasionally chives or small green onions (when the taste of a party is in favour of these last) are the usual ingredients of summer salads. (In early spring, as we have stated in another chapter, the young white leaves of the dandelion will supply a very wholesome and excellent salad, of which the slight bitterness is to many persons as agreeable as that of the endive.)

Half-grown cucumbers sliced thin, and mixed with them, are a favourite addition with many persons.

In England it is customary to cut the lettuces extremely fine; the French, who object to the flavour of the knife, which they fancy this mode imparts, break them small instead.

Young celery alone, sliced and dressed with a rich salad mixture, is excellent: it is still in some families served thus always with roast pheasants.

Beet-root, baked or boiled, blanched endive, small salad-herbs which are easily raised at any time of the year, celery, and hardy lettuces, with any ready-dressed vegetable, will supply salads through the winter. Cucumber vinegar is an agreeable addition to these.

FRENCH SALAD.

In winter this is made principally of beautifully-blanched endive, washed delicately clean and broken into small branches with the fingers, then taken from the water and shaken dry in a basket of peculiar form, appropriated to the purpose,[62] or in a fine cloth; then arranged in the salad bowl, and strewed with herbs (tarragon generally, when in season) minced small: the dressing is not added until just before the salad is eaten.

In summer, young lettuces are substituted for the endive, and intermixed with a variety of herbs, some of which are not generally cultivated in England.

62.  Salad-baskets are also to be found in many good English kitchens, but they are not in such general use here as on the continent.

FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.

Stir a saltspoonful of salt and half as much pepper into a large spoonful of oil, and when the salt is dissolved, mix with them four additional spoonsful of oil, and pour the whole over the salad; let it be well turned, and then add a couple of spoonsful of tarragon vinegar; mix the whole thoroughly, and serve it without delay.

The salad should not be dressed in this way until the instant before it is wanted for table: the proportions of salt and pepper can be increased at pleasure, and common or cucumber vinegar may be substituted for the tarragon, which, however, is more frequently used in France than any other.

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 would also make an appropriate dressing for it.

SORREL SALAD.

(To serve with Lamb-cutlets, Veal cutlets, or Roast Lamb.)

This, though a very agreeable and refreshing salad, is not to be recommended when there is the slightest tendency to disorder of the system; for the powerful acid of the uncooked sorrel might in that case produce serious consequences.[63]

63.  It should be especially avoided when dysentery, or other diseases of a similar nature, are prevalent. We mention this, because if more general precaution were observed with regard to diet, great suffering would, in many instances, be avoided.

Take from the stems some very young tender sorrel, wash it delicately clean, drain it well, and shake it dry in a salad-basket, or in a soft cloth held by the four corners; arrange it lightly in the bowl, and at the instant of serving, sauce it simply with the preceding French dressing of oil with a small portion of vinegar, or with a Mayonnaise mixed with chilii nstead of a milder vinegar. The sorrel may be divided with the fingers and mingled with an equal proportion of very tender lettuces; and, when it is not objected to, mixed tarragon may be strewed thickly upon them. To some tastes a small quantity of green onions or of eschalots would be more agreeable.

64.  The peculiar flavour of this fine aromatic herb is less generally relished in England than in many other countries; but when it is not disliked it may be used with great advantage in our cookery: it is easily cultivated, and quite deserves a nook in every kitchen-garden.

LOBSTER SALAD.

First, prepare a sauce with the coral of a hen lobster, pounded and rubbed through a sieve, and very gradually mixed with a good mayonnaise, remoulade, or English salad-dressing of the present chapter. Next, half fill the bowl or more with small salad herbs, or with young lettuces finely shred, and arrange upon them spirally, or in a chain, alternate slices of the flesh of a large lobster, or of two middling-sized ones, and some hard-boiled eggs cut thin and evenly. Leave a space in the centre, pour in the sauce, heap lightly some small salad on the top, and send the dish immediately to table.

The coral of a second lobster may be intermingled with the white flesh of the fish with very good effect; and the forced eggs [see recipe below] may be placed at intervals round the edge of the bowl as a decoration, and an excellent accompaniment as well. Another mode of making the salad is to lay the split bodies of the fish round the bowl, and the claws, freed carefully from the shells, arranged high in the centre on the herbs; the soft part of the bodies may be mixed with the sauce when it is liked; but the colour will not then be good.

Obs.—The addition of cucumber in ribbons, laid lightly round it, is always an agreeable one to lobster salad: they may previously be sauced, and then drained from their dressing a little.

A more wholesome and safer mode of imparting the flavour of the cucumber, however, is to use for the salad vinegar in which that vegetable has been steeped for some hours after having been cut up small.

FORCED EGGS FOR GARNISHING SALAD.

Pound and press through the back of a hair-sieve the flesh of three very fine, or of four moderate-sized anchovies, freed from the bones and skin. Boil six fresh eggs for twelve minutes, and when they are perfectly cold, halve them lengthwise, take out the yolks, pound them to a paste with a third of their volume of fresh butter, then add the anchovies, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, and as much cayenne as will season the mixture well; beat these together thoroughly, and fill the whites of egg neatly with them.

A morsel of garlic, perfectly blended with the other ingredients, would to some tastes improve this preparation: a portion of anchovy-butter, or of potted ham, will supply the place of fish in it very advantageously.

Eggs, 6; anchovies, 4; butter, size of 2 yolks; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; cayenne, third as much.

AN EXCELLENT HERRING SALAD.

(Swedish Receipt.)

Soak, skin, split, and bone a large Norway herring; lay the two sides along a dish, and slice them slopingly (or substitute for this one or two fine Dutch herrings). Arrange in symmetrical order over the fish slices of cooked beet-root, cold boiled potatoes, and pickled gherkins; then add one or two sharp apples chopped small, and the yolks and whites, separately minced, of some hard-boiled eggs, with any thing else which may be at hand, and may serve to vary tastefully the decoration of the dish. Place these ingredients in small heaps of well-contrasting colours on the surface of the salad, and lay a border of curled celery leaves or parsley round the bowl. For sauce, rub the yolk of one hard-boiled egg quite smooth with some salt; to this add oil and vinegar as for an ordinary salad, and dilute the whole with some thick sour cream.

Obs.—“Sour cream” is an ingredient not much approved by English taste, but it enters largely into German cookery, and into that of Sweden, and of other northern countries also. About half a pound of cold beef cut into small thin shavings or collops, is often added to a herring-salad abroad: it may be either of simply roasted or boiled, or of salted and smoked meat.

REMOULADE.

This differs little from an ordinary English salad-dressing. Pound very smoothly indeed the yolks of two or three hard-boiled eggs with a teaspoonful of mustard, half as much salt, and some cayenne, or white pepper. Mix gradually with them, working the whole well together, two or three tablespoonsful of oil and two of vinegar. Should the sauce be curdled, pour it by degrees to the yolk of a raw egg, stirring it well round as directed for the Mayonnaise.

A spoonful of tarragon, cucumber, or eschalot-vinegar, may be added with very good effect; and to give it increased relish, a teaspoonful of cavice, or a little of Harvey’s sauce, and a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar may be thrown into it.

This last is an excellent addition to all cold sauces, or salad-dressings.

Hard yolks of 2 or of 3 eggs; mustard, 1 teaspoonful (more when liked); salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; pepper or cayenne; oil, 3 tablespoonsful; vinegar, 2. If curdled, yolk of 1 raw egg. Good additions: tarragon or eschalot, or cucumber-vinegar, 1 tablespoonful; chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful; cavice or Harvey’s sauce at pleasure.

Obs.—A dessertspoonful of eschalots, or a morsel of garlic, very finely minced, are sometimes pounded with the yolks of eggs for this sauce.

IMPERIAL MAYONNAISE. (An elegant jellied sauce, or salad-dressing.)

Put into a bowl half a pint of aspic, or of any very clear pale jellied stock (that made usually for good white soup will serve for the purpose excellently); add to it a couple of spoonsful of the purest olive-oil, one of sharp vinegar, and a little fine salt and cayenne. Break up the jelly quite small with the points of a whisk of osier-twigs, stir the ingredients well together, and then whisk them gently until they are converted into a smooth white sauce.

This receipt was derived originally from an admirable French cook,[61] who stood quite at the head of his profession; but as he was accustomed to purvey for the tables of kings and emperors, his directions require some curtailment and simplifying to adapt them to the resources of common English life. He directs the preparation to be mixed and worked—to use a technical expression—over ice, which cannot always be commanded, except in opulent establishments, and in large towns. It is not, however, essential to the success of this sauce, which will prove extremely good if made and kept in a cool larder; or, if the bowl in which it is mingled be placed in a pan of cold water, into which plenty of saltpetre and sal-ammoniac, roughly powdered, are thrown at the moment it is set into it. In this country a smaller proportion of oil, and a larger one of acid, are usually preferred to the common French salad-dressings, in which there is generally a very small portion of vinegar.

To some tastes a spoonful or two of cream would improve the present Mayonnaise, which may be varied also with chili, tarragon, or other flavoured vinegar. It should be served heaped high in the centre of the salad, for which, if large, double the quantity directed here should be prepared.

61.  Monsieur Carême, to whose somewhat elaborate but admirable works, published thirty years or more since, all modern cooks appear to be specially indebted.

SAUCE MAYONNAISE. (For salads, cold meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables.)

This is a very fine sauce when all the ingredients used for it are good; but it will prove an uneatable compound to a delicate taste unless it be made with oil of the purest quality.

Put into a large basin the yolks only of two very fresh eggs, carefully freed from specks, with a little salt and cayenne; stir these well together, then add about a teaspoonful of the purest salad oil, and work the mixture round with a wooden spoon until it appears like cream.

Pour in by slow degrees nearly half a pint of oil, continuing at each interval to work the sauce as at first until it resumes the smoothness of cream, and not a particle of the oil remains visible; then add a couple of tablespoonsful of plain French or of tarragon vinegar, and one of cold water to whiten the sauce.

A bit of clear veal jelly the size of an egg will improve it greatly. The reader who may have a prejudice against the unboiled eggs which enter into the composition of the Mayonnaise, will find that the most fastidious taste would not detect their being raw, if the sauce be well made; and persons who dislike oil may partake of it in this form, without being aware of its presence, provided always that it be perfectly fresh, and pure in flavour, for otherwise it will be easily perceptible.

Yolks of fresh unboiled eggs, 2; salt, 1/2 saltspoonful, or rather more; cayenne; oil, full third of pint; French or tarragon vinegar, 2 tablespoonsful; cold water, 1 tablespoonful; meat jelly (if at hand), size of an egg.

THE POET’S RECEIPT FOR SALAD.[60]

60.  Note.—This receipt, though long privately circulated amongst the friends and acquaintance of its distinguished and regretted author, now (with permission) appears for the first time in print. We could not venture to deviate by a word from the original, but we would suggest, that the mixture forms almost a substitute for salad, instead of a mere dressing. It is, however, an admirable compound for those to whom the slight flavouring of onion is not an objection.

“Two large potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve

Unwonted softness to the salad give;

Of mordent mustard, add a single spoon,

Distrust the condiment which bites so soon;

But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault,

To add a double quantity of salt;

Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,

And once with vinegar, procured from town;

True flavour needs it, and your poet begs

The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs;

Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,

And, scarce suspected, animate the whole;

And lastly, in the flavoured compound toss

A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce:

Then, though green turtle fail, though venison’s tough,

And ham and turkey are not boiled enough,

Serenely full, the epicure may say—

Fate cannot harm me,—I have dined to-day.”

Two well-boiled potatoes, passed through a sieve; a teaspoonful of mustard; two teaspoonsful of salt; one of essence of anchovy; about a quarter of a teaspoonful of very finely-chopped onions, well bruised into the mixture; three tablespoonsful of oil; one of vinegar; the yolks of two eggs, hard boiled. Stir up the salad immediately before dinner, and stir it up thoroughly.

N.B.—As this salad is the result of great experience and reflection, it is hoped young salad makers will not attempt to make any improvements upon it.

COLD DUTCH OR AMERICAN SAUCE, FOR SALADS OF DRESSED VEGETABLES, SALT FISH, OR HARD EGGS.

Put into a saucepan three ounces of good butter very smoothly blended with a quite small teaspoonful of flour, and add to them a large wineglassful of cold water, half as much sharp vinegar (or very fresh, strained, lemon-juice) a saltspoonful of salt, and half as much cayenne in fine powder.

Keep these shaken briskly round, or stirred over a clear fire, until they form a smooth sauce and boil rapidly; then stir them very quickly to the beaten yolks of four fresh eggs, which will immediately give the sauce the consistence of custard; pour it hot over the salad, and place it on ice, or in a very cool larder until it is quite cold: if properly made, it will be very thick and smooth, and slightly set, as if it contained a small portion of isinglass.

A dessertspoonful of parsley,—or of tarragon,—can be mingled with it at pleasure, or any flavour given to it with store-sauces which is liked. It converts flakes of salt-fish, sliced potatoes (new or old), and hard eggs, into excellent salads.

ENGLISH SAUCE FOR SALAD, COLD MEAT, OR COLD FISH.

The first essential for a smooth, well-made English salad dressing is to have the yolks of the eggs used for it sufficiently hard to be reduced easily to a perfect paste. They should be boiled at least fifteen minutes, and should have become quite cold before they are taken from the shells; they should also be well covered with water when they are cooked, or some parts of them will be tough, and will spoil the appearance of the sauce by rendering it lumpy, unless they be worked through a sieve, a process which is always better avoided if possible.

To a couple of yolks broken up and mashed to a paste with the back of a wooden spoon, add a small saltspoonful of salt, a large one of pounded sugar, a few grains of fine cayenne, and a teaspoonful of cold water; mix these well, and stir to them by degrees a quarter of a pint of sweet cream; throw in next, stirring the sauce briskly, a tablespoonful of strong chili vinegar, and add as much common or French vinegar as will acidulate the mixture agreeably.

A tablespoonful of either will be sufficient for many tastes, but it is easy to increase the proportion when more is liked. Six tablespoonsful of olive oil, of the purest quality, may be substituted for the cream: it should be added in very small portions to the other ingredients, and stirred briskly as each is added until the sauce resembles custard. When this is used, the water should be omitted.

The piquancy of this preparation—which is very delicate, made by the directions just given—may be heightened by the addition of a little eschalot vinegar, Harvey’s sauce, essence of anchovies, French mustard, or tarragon vinegar; or by bruising with the eggs a morsel of garlic, half the size of a hazel-nut: it should always, however, be rendered as appropriate as may be to the dish with which it is to be served.

Obs. 1.—As we have before had occasion to remark, garlic, when very sparingly and judiciously used, imparts a remarkably fine savour to a sauce or gravy, and neither a strong nor a coarse one, as it does when used in larger quantities. The veriest morsel (or, as the French call it, a mere soupçon) of the root, is sufficient to give this agreeable piquancy, but unless the proportion be extremely small, the effect will be quite different. The Italians dress their salads upon a round of delicately toasted bread, which is rubbed with garlic, saturated with oil, and sprinkled with cayenne, before it is laid into the bowl: they also eat the bread thus prepared, but with less of oil, and untoasted often, before their meals, as a digester.

Obs. 2.—French vinegar is so infinitely superior to English in strength, purity, and flavour, that we cannot forbear to recommend it in preference for the use of the table. We have for a long time past been supplied with some of most excellent quality (labelled Vinaigre de Bordeaux) imported by the Messrs. Kent & Sons, of Upton-on-Severn, who supply it largely, we believe, both to wholesale and retail venders in town and country.

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Victorian Salad Recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

*Find Mrs’s Beeton’s salad dressing recipes below the salad recipes.*

GROUSE SALAD. (Soyer’s Recipe.)

1026. INGREDIENTS.—8 eggs, butter, fresh salad, 1 or 2 grouse; for the sauce, 1 teaspoonful of minced shalot, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, the yolk of 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley, 1/4 oz. of salt, 4 tablespoonfuls of oil, 2 tablespoonfuls of Chili vinegar, 1 gill of cream.

Mode.—Boil the eggs hard, shell them, throw them into cold water cut a thin slice off the bottom to facilitate the proper placing of them in the dish, cut each one into four lengthwise, and make a very thin flat border of butter, about one inch from the edge of the dish the salad is to be served on; fix the pieces of egg upright close to each other, the yolk outside, or the yolk and white alternately; lay in the centre a fresh salad of whatever is in season, and, having previously roasted the grouse rather underdone, cut it into eight or ten pieces, and prepare the sauce as follows:—Put the shalots into a basin, with the sugar, the yolk of an egg, the parsley, and salt, and mix in by degrees the oil and vinegar; when these ingredients are well mixed, put the sauce on ice or in a cool place. When ready to serve, whip the cream rather thick, which lightly mix with it; then lay the inferior parts of the grouse on the salad, sauce over so as to cover each piece, then lay over the salad and the remainder of the grouse, pour the rest of the sauce over, and serve. The eggs may be ornamented with a little dot of radishes or beetroot on the point. Anchovy and gherkin, cut into small diamonds, may be placed between, or cut gherkins in slices, and a border of them laid round. Tarragon or chervil-leaves are also a pretty addition. The remains of cold black-game, pheasant, or partridge may be used in the above manner, and will make a very delicate dish.

Average cost, 2s. 6d.

Seasonable from the 12th of August to the beginning of December.

TO DRESS CUCUMBERS.

1111. INGREDIENTS.—3 tablespoonfuls of salad-oil, 4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, salt and pepper to taste; cucumber.

Mode.—Pare the cucumber, cut it equally into very thin slices, and commence cutting from the thick end; if commenced at the stalk, the cucumber will most likely have an exceedingly bitter taste, far from agreeable. Put the slices into a dish, sprinkle over salt and pepper, and pour over oil and vinegar in the above proportion; turn the cucumber about, and it is ready to serve. This is a favourite accompaniment to boiled salmon, is a nice addition to all descriptions of salads, and makes a pretty garnish to lobster salad.

LETTUCES.

1123. These form one of the principal ingredients to summer salads; should be nicely blanched, and be eaten young. They are seldom served in any other way, but may be stewed and sent to table in a good brown gravy flavoured with lemon-juice. In preparing them for a salad, carefully wash them free from dirt, pick off all the decayed and outer leaves, and dry them thoroughly by shaking them in a cloth. Cut off the stalks, and either halve or cut the lettuces into small pieces. The manner of cutting them up entirely depends on the salad for which they are intended. In France the lettuces are sometimes merely wiped with a cloth and not washed, the cooks there declaring that the act of washing them injuriously affects the pleasant crispness of the plant: in this case scrupulous attention must be paid to each leaf, and the grit thoroughly wiped away.

Average cost, when cheapest, 1d. each.

Sufficient.—Allow 2 lettuces for 4 or 5 persons.

Seasonable from March to the end of August, but may be had all the year.

THE LETTUCE.

—All the varieties of the garden lettuce have originated from the Lactuca sativa of science, which has never yet been found in a wild state. Hence it may be concluded that it is merely another form of some species, changed through the effects of cultivation. In its young state, the lettuce forms a well-known and wholesome salad, containing a bland pellucid juice, with little taste or smell, and having a cooling and soothing influence on the system. This arises from the large quantities of water and mucilage it contains, and not from any narcotic principle which it is supposed to possess. During the period of flowering, it abounds in a peculiar milky juice, which flows from the stem when wounded, and which has been found to be possessed of decided medicinal properties.

BOILED SALAD.

1151. INGREDIENTS.—2 heads of celery, 1 pint of French beans, lettuce, and endive.

Mode.—Boil the celery and beans separately until tender, and cut the celery into pieces about 2 inches long. Put these into a salad-bowl or dish; pour over either of the sauces No. 506, 507, or 508, and garnish the dish with a little lettuce finely chopped, blanched endive, or a few tufts of boiled cauliflower. This composition, if less agreeable than vegetables in their raw state, is more wholesome; for salads, however they may be compounded, when eaten uncooked, prove to some people indigestible. Tarragon, chervil, burnet, and boiled onion, may be added to the above salad with advantage, as also slices of cold meat, poultry, or fish.

Seasonable from July to October.

ACETARIOUS VEGETABLES.—By the term Acetarious vegetables, is expressed a numerous class of plants, of various culture and habit, which are principally used as salads, pickles, and condiments. They are to be considered rather as articles of comparative luxury than as ordinary food, and are more desirable for their coolness, or their agreeable flavour, than for their nutritive powers.

SUMMER SALAD.

1152. INGREDIENTS.—3 lettuces, 2 handfuls of mustard-and-cress, 10 young radishes, a few slices of cucumber.

Mode.—Let the herbs be as fresh as possible for a salad, and, if at all stale or dead-looking, let them lie in water for an hour or two, which will very much refresh them. Wash and carefully pick them over, remove any decayed or wormeaten leaves, and drain them thoroughly by swinging them gently in a clean cloth. With a silver knife, cut the lettuces into small pieces, and the radishes and cucumbers into thin slices; arrange all these ingredients lightly on a dish, with the mustard-and-cress, and pour under, but not over the salad, either of the sauces No. 506, 507, or 508, and do not stir it up until it is to be eaten. It may be garnished with hard-boiled eggs, cut in slices, sliced cucumbers, nasturtiums, cut vegetable-flowers, and many other things that taste will always suggest to make a pretty and elegant dish. In making a good salad, care must be taken to have the herbs freshly gathered, and thoroughly drained before the sauce is added to them, or it will be watery and thin. Young spring onions, cut small, are by many persons considered an improvement to salads; but, before these are added, the cook should always consult the taste of her employer. Slices of cold meat or poultry added to a salad make a convenient and quickly-made summer luncheon-dish; or cold fish, flaked, will also be found exceedingly nice, mixed with it.

Average cost, 9d. for a salad for 5 or 6 persons; but more expensive when the herbs are forced.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from May to September.

CUCUMBERS.—The cucumber is refreshing, but neither nutritious nor digestible, and should be excluded from the regimen of the delicate. There are various modes of preparing cucumbers. When gathered young, they are called gherkins: these, pickled, are much used in seasonings.

RADISHES.—This is the common name given to the root of the Raphanus satious, one of the varieties of the cultivated horseradish. There are red and white radishes; and the French have also what they call violet and black ones, of which the black are the larger. Radishes are composed of nearly the same constituents as turnips, that is to say, mostly fibre and nitrogen; and, being generally eaten raw, it is on the last of these that their flavour depends. They do not agree with people, except those who are in good health, and have active digestive powers; for they are difficult of digestion, and cause flatulency and wind, and are the cause of headaches when eaten to excess. Besides being eaten raw, they are sometimes, but rarely, boiled; and they also serve as a pretty garnish for salads. In China, the radish may be found growing naturally, without cultivation; and may be occasionally met with in England as a weed, in similar places to where the wild turnip grows; it, however, thrives best in the garden, and the ground it likes best is a deep open loam, or a well-manured sandy soil.

WINTER SALAD.

1153. INGREDIENTS.—Endive, mustard-and-cress, boiled beetroot, 3 or 4 hard-boiled eggs, celery.

Mode.—The above ingredients form the principal constituents of a winter salad, and may be converted into a very pretty dish, by nicely contrasting the various colours, and by tastefully garnishing it. Shred the celery into thin pieces, after having carefully washed and cut away all wormeaten pieces; cleanse the endive and mustard-and-cress free from grit, and arrange these high in the centre of a salad-bowl or dish; garnish with the hard-boiled eggs and beetroot, both of which should be cut in slices; and pour into the dish, but not over the salad, either of the sauces No. 506, 507, or 508. Never dress a salad long before it is required for table, as, by standing, it loses its freshness and pretty crisp and light appearance; the sauce, however, may always be prepared a few hours beforehand, and when required for use, the herbs laid lightly over it.

Average cost, 9d. for a salad for 5 or 6 persons.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from the end of September to March.

SALADS.—Salads are raw vegetables, of which, among us, the lettuce is the most generally used; several others, however, such as cresses, celery, onions, beetroot, &c., are occasionally employed. As vegetables eaten in a raw state are apt to ferment on the stomach, and as they have very little stimulative power upon that organ, they are usually dressed with some condiments, such as pepper, vinegar, salt, mustard, and oil. Respecting the use of these, medical men disagree, especially in reference to oil, which is condemned by some and recommended by others.

POTATO SALAD.

1154. INGREDIENTS.—10 or 12 cold boiled potatoes, 4 tablespoonfuls of tarragon or plain vinegar, 6 tablespoonfuls of salad-oil, pepper and salt to taste, 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley.

Mode.—Cut the potatoes into slices about 1/2 inch in thickness; put these into a salad-bowl with oil and vinegar in the above proportion; season with pepper, salt, and a teaspoonful of minced parsley; stir the salad well, that all the ingredients may be thoroughly incorporated, and it is ready to serve. This should be made two or three hours before it is wanted for table. Anchovies, olives, or pickles may be added to this salad, as also slices of cold beef, fowl, or turkey.

Seasonable at any time.

CHICKEN OR FOWL SALAD.

931. INGREDIENTS.—The remains of cold roast or boiled chicken, 2 lettuces, a little endive, 1 cucumber, a few slices of boiled beetroot, salad-dressing No. 506.

Mode.—Trim neatly the remains of the chicken; wash, dry, and slice the lettuces, and place in the middle of a dish; put the pieces of fowl on the top, and pour the salad-dressing over them. Garnish the edge of the salad with hard-boiled eggs cut in rings, sliced cucumber, and boiled beetroot cut in slices. Instead of cutting the eggs in rings, the yolks may be rubbed through a hair sieve, and the whites chopped very finely, and arranged on the salad in small bunches, yellow and white alternately. This should not be made long before it is wanted for table.

Average cost, exclusive of the cold chicken, 8d.

Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.

Seasonable at any time.

LOBSTER SALAD.

272. INGREDIENTS.—1 hen lobster, lettuces, endive, small salad (whatever is in season), a little chopped beetroot, 2 hard-boiled eggs, a few slices of cucumber. For dressing, equal quantities of oil and vinegar, 1 teaspoonful of made mustard, the yolks of 2 eggs; cayenne and salt to taste; 3 teaspoonful of anchovy sauce. These ingredients should be mixed perfectly smooth, and form a creamy-looking sauce.

Mode.—Wash the salad, and thoroughly dry it by shaking it in a cloth. Cut up the lettuces and endive, pour the dressing on them, and lightly throw in the small salad. Mix all well together with the pickings from the body of the lobster; pick the meat from the shell, cut it up into nice square pieces, put half in the salad, the other half reserve for garnishing. Separate the yolks from the whites of 2 hard-boiled eggs; chop the whites very fine, and rub the yolks through a sieve, and afterwards the coral from the inside. Arrange the salad lightly on a glass dish, and garnish, first with a row of sliced cucumber, then with the pieces of lobster, the yolks and whites of the eggs, coral, and beetroot placed alternately, and arranged in small separate bunches, so that the colours contrast nicely.

Average cost, 3s. 6d. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.

Seasonable from April to October; may be had all the year, but salad is scarce and expensive in winter.

Note.—A few crayfish make a pretty garnishing to lobster salad.

ENDIVE.

1116. This vegetable, so beautiful in appearance, makes an excellent addition to winter salad, when lettuces and other salad herbs are not obtainable. It is usually placed in the centre of the dish, and looks remarkably pretty with slices of beetroot, hard-boiled eggs, and curled celery placed round it, so that the colours contrast nicely. In preparing it, carefully wash and cleanse it free from insects, which are generally found near the heart; remove any decayed or dead leaves, and dry it thoroughly by shaking in a cloth. This vegetable may also be served hot, stewed in cream, brown gravy, or butter; but when dressed thus, the sauce it is stewed in should not be very highly seasoned, as that would destroy and overpower the flavour of the vegetable.

Average cost, 1d. per head.

Sufficient,—1 head for a salad for 4 persons.

Seasonable from November to March.

ENDIVE.—This is the C. endivium of science, and is much used as a salad. It belongs to the family of the Compositae, with Chicory, common Goats-beard, and others of the same genus. Withering states, that before the stems of the common Goats-beard shoot up the roots, boiled like asparagus, have the same flavour, and are nearly as nutritious. We are also informed by Villars that the children in Dauphiné universally eat the stems and leaves of the young plant before the flowers appear, with great avidity. The fresh juice of these tender herbs is said to be the best solvent of bile.

SALAD DRESSING (Excellent). [506]

I.

506. INGREDIENTS.—1 teaspoonful of mixed mustard, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of salad oil, 4 tablespoonfuls of milk, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, cayenne and salt to taste.

Mode.—Put the mixed mustard into a salad-bowl with the sugar, and add the oil drop by drop, carefully stirring and mixing all these ingredients well together. Proceed in this manner with the milk and vinegar, which must be added very gradually, or the sauce will curdle. Put in the seasoning, when the mixture will be ready for use. If this dressing is properly made, it will have a soft creamy appearance, and will be found very delicious with crab, or cold fried fish (the latter cut into dice), as well as with salads. In mixing salad dressings, the ingredients cannot be added too gradually, or stirred too much.

Average cost, for this quantity, 3d.

Sufficient for a small salad.

This recipe can be confidently recommended by the editress, to whom it was given by an intimate friend noted for her salads.

SCARCITY OF SALADS IN ENGLAND.—Three centuries ago, very few vegetables were cultivated in England, and an author writing of the period of Henry VIII.’s reign, tells us that neither salad, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor radishes, nor any other comestibles of a like nature, were grown in any part of the kingdom: they came from Holland and Flanders. We further learn, that Queen Catharine herself, with all her royalty, could not procure a salad of English growth for her dinner. The king was obliged to mend this sad state of affairs, and send to Holland for a gardener in order to cultivate those pot-herbs, in the growth of which England is now, perhaps, not behind any other country in Europe.

THE OLIVE AND OLIVE OIL.—This tree assumes a high degree of interest from the historical circumstances with which it is connected. A leaf of it was brought into the ark by the dove, when that vessel was still floating on the waters of the great deep, and gave the first token that the deluge was subsiding. Among the Greeks, the prize of the victor in the Olympic games was a wreath of wild olive; and the “Mount of Olives” is rendered familiar to our ears by its being mentioned in the Scriptures as near to Jerusalem. The tree is indigenous in the north of Africa, Syria, and Greece; and the Romans introduced it to Italy. In Spain and the south of France it is now cultivated; and although it grows in England, its fruit does not ripen in the open air. Both in Greece and Portugal the fruit is eaten in its ripe state; but its taste is not agreeable to many palates. To the Italian shepherd, bread and olives, with a little wine, form a nourishing diet; but in England, olives are usually only introduced by way of dessert, to destroy the taste of the viands which have been previously eaten, that the flavour of the wine may be the better enjoyed. There are three kinds of olives imported to London,—the French, Spanish, and Italian: the first are from Provence, and are generally accounted excellent; the second are larger, but more bitter; and the last are from Lucca, and are esteemed the best. The oil extracted from olives, called olive oil, or salad oil, is, with the continentals, in continual request, more dishes being prepared with than without it, we should imagine. With us, it is principally used in mixing a salad, and when thus employed, it tends to prevent fermentation, and is an antidote against flatulency.

II.

507. INGREDIENTS.—4 eggs, 1 teaspoonful of mixed mustard, 1/4 teaspoonful of white pepper, half that quantity of cayenne, salt to taste, 4 tablespoonfuls of cream, vinegar.

Mode.—Boil the eggs until hard, which will be in about 1/4 hour or 20 minutes; put them into cold water, take off the shells, and pound the yolks in a mortar to a smooth paste. Then add all the other ingredients, except the vinegar, and stir them well until the whole are thoroughly incorporated one with the other. Pour in sufficient vinegar to make it of the consistency of cream, taking care to add but little at a time. The mixture will then be ready for use.

Average cost, for this quantity, 7d.

Sufficient for a moderate-sized salad.

Note.—The whites of the eggs, cut into rings, will serve very well as a garnishing to the salad.

III.

508. INGREDIENTS.—1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of salad oil, 1 teaspoonful of mixed mustard, 1/4 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 6 tablespoonfuls of cream.

Mode.—Prepare and mix the ingredients by the preceding recipe, and be very particular that the whole is well stirred.

Note.—In making salads, the vegetables, &c., should never be added to the sauce very long before they are wanted for table; the dressing, however, may always be prepared some hours before required. Where salads are much in request, it is a good plan to bottle off sufficient dressing for a few days’ consumption, as, thereby, much time and trouble are saved. If kept in a cool place, it will remain good for 4 or 5 days.

POETIC RECIPE FOR SALAD.

The Rev. Sydney Smith, the witty canon of St. Paul’s, who thought that an enjoyment of the good things of this earth was compatible with aspirations for things higher, wrote the following excellent recipe for salad, which we should advise our readers not to pass by without a trial, when the hot weather invites to a dish of cold lamb. May they find the flavour equal to the rhyme.

      “Two large potatoes, pass’d through kitchen sieve,
      Smoothness and softness to the salad give:
      Of mordent mustard add a single spoon,
      Distrust the condiment that bites too soon;
      But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault.
      To add a double quantity of salt:
      Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
      And twice with vinegar procured from ‘town;
      True flavour needs it, and your poet begs,
      The pounded yellow of two well-boil’d eggs.
      Let onion’s atoms lurk within the bowl,
      And, scarce suspected, animate the whole;
      And, lastly, in the flavour’d compound toss
      A magic spoonful of anchovy sauce.
      Oh! great and glorious, and herbaceous treat,
      ‘Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat.
      Back to the world he’d turn his weary soul,
      And plunge his fingers in the salad-bowl.”

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Victorian Salad Recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

A Summer Salad.

Rinse and well shake off all moisture from a couple of cos lettuce, cut them up into a bowl or basin, add a few roughly-chopped green onions, half a gill of cream, a table-spoonful of vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. Mix all together.

A Bacon Salad.

Having prepared any kind of salad you may happen to have, such as endive, corn salad, lettuce, celery, mustard and cress, seasoned with beet-root, onions, or shalot; let the salad be cut up into a bowl or basin ready for seasoning in the following manner:—Cut eight ounces of fat bacon into small square pieces the size of a cob-nut, fry these in a frying-pan, and as soon as they are done, pour the whole upon the salad; add two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.

A Plain Salad.

Cos lettuce cut up in a bowl or basin, seasoned with chopped green mint and green onions, a spoonful of moist sugar, vinegar, pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Celery Crab Salad. [crab-less]

First thoroughly wash and wipe clean, and then cut a stick of celery into a basin; add two ounces of any kind of cheese sliced very thinly, season with a good tea spoonful of made mustard [see method below], a table-spoonful of salad oil, ditto of vinegar, with pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly.

How to Mix Mustard.

Put half an ounce of mustard into a tea-cup, or a small basin, add a little salt; mix thoroughly with just enough boiling water to work the whole into a smooth compact soft paste.

First thoroughly wash and wipe clean, and then cut a stick of celery into a basin; add two ounces of any kind of cheese sliced very thinly, season with a good tea spoonful of made mustard, a table-spoonful of salad oil, ditto of vinegar, with pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly.

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The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]

Lobster Salad.

Boil a cauliflower, pull it in pieces, and put it in a dish with a little pepper, salt, and vinegar. Have four or five hard-boiled eggs, boiled beet-root, small salad, and some anchovies, nicely cleaned and cut in lengths. Put a layer of small salad at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of the cauliflower, then the eggs cut in slices, then the beet, and so on. Take the claws and tail of the lobster, cut as whole as possible, and trim, to be laid on the top. The trimmings and what you can get out may be put in at the time you are laying the cauliflower, &c. in the dish. Make a rich salad sauce with a little elder vinegar in it, and pour it over. Lay the tails and claws on the top, and cross the shreds of the anchovies over them.

Salad, to dress.

Two or three eggs, two or three anchovies, pounded, a little tarragon chopped very fine, a little thick cream, mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper, mixed well together. After these are all well mixed, add oil, a little tarragon, elder, and garlic vinegar, so as to have the flavour of each, and then a little of the French vinegar, if there is not enough of the others to give the requisite taste.

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The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families By Mrs. Mary Eaton [1823]

SALAD MIXTURE.

Salad herbs should be gathered in the morning, as fresh as possible, or they must be put into cold spring water for an hour. Carefully wash and pick them, trim off all the dry or cankered leaves, put them into a cullender to drain, and swing them dry in a coarse clean napkin. Then pound together the yolks of two hard eggs, an ounce of scraped horseradish, half an ounce of salt, a table-spoonful of made mustard, four drams of minced shalots, one dram of celery seed, one dram of cress seed, and half a dram of cayenne. Add by degrees a wine glass of salad oil, three glasses of burnet, and three of tarragon vinegar. When thoroughly incorporated, set it over a very gentle fire, and stir it with a wooden spoon till it has simmered to the consistence of cream. Then pass it through a tammis or fine sieve, and add it to the salad.

SALAD SAUCE.

Mix two yolks of eggs boiled hard, as much grated Parmesan cheese as will fill a dessert-spoon, a little patent mustard, a small spoonful of tarragon vinegar, and a large one of ketchup. Stir them well together, then put in four spoonfuls of salad oil, and one spoonful of elder vinegar, and beat them up very smooth.

SALADS. (Information & recipes)

Cold salads are proper to be eaten at all seasons of the year, but are particularly to be recommended from the beginning of February to the end of June. They are in greater perfection, and consequently more powerful, during this period, than at any other, in opening obstructions, sweetening and purifying the blood. The habit of eating salad herbs tends considerably to prevent that pernicious and almost general disease the scurvy, and all windy humours which offend the stomach.

Also from the middle of September till December, and during the winter, if the weather be mild and open, all green herbs are wholesome, and highly beneficial. It is true that they have not so much vigour in the winter season, nor are they so medicinal as in the spring of the year; yet those which continue fresh and green, will retain a considerable portion of their natural qualities; and being eaten as salads, with proper seasoning, they will operate much in the same way as at other periods of the year.

It is a necessary consequence of cold weather, that the heat of the body is driven more inward than in warm weather, as the cold of the atmosphere repels it from the surface. Hence arises an appetite for strong and solid food, and strong drinks, which for want of temperance and care, lays the foundation for diseases that commonly make their appearance in the summer following. Eating freely of salads and other vegetables in the winter, will prevent in a great treasure these ill effects; and if properly seasoned and prepared, they will warm the stomach, and be found exhilarating. The effect produced is in unison with all the operations of the human constitution, while the use of strong stimulants excites to unnatural action, which is soon succeeded by a cold and chilling languor.

Green herbs in winter are much more beneficial than is generally imagined; they are particularly salutary to aged persons, and such as are subject to stoppages, or shortness of breath. In this case, instead of an onion, a clove of garlic may be put into the salad, which is a preferable way of eating it. This will open and warm the stomach, and give a general glow to the whole system.—

The following are the principal herbs used as salads. Basil, balm, borage, burnet, celery, chervil, colewort, coriander, corn-salad, cresses, endive, French fennel, lettuce, mint, mustard, nasturtiums, nettle-tops, parsley, pennyroyal, radishes, rape, sage, sorrel, spinage, tarragon, and water-cresses. Onions, both young and full grown, shalots, garlic, and chives, are all used as seasoning to salads. Red beet-root, boiled and cold, is often sliced into them. Several of these herbs are very little in use as salads, but there are none of them that may not be recommended as good for the purpose.

The usual salads are too much limited to what is specifically called small salading, lettuce, celery, and endive. These are all excellent in their kind, but to prefer them to the exclusion of every thing else, is a mere prejudice. With a wish therefore to counteract it, and to provide a larger assortment of wholesome salads, the following particulars are given, with directions for preparing several different dishes of this description. In general it may be proper to observe, that salads of all kinds should be very fresh; or if not immediately procured in this state, they may be refreshed by being put into cold spring water. They should be very carefully washed and picked, and drained quite dry in a clean cloth.

In dressing lettuce, or small herbs, it is best to arrange them, properly picked and cut, in the salad dish; then to mix the sauce in something else, and pour it to the salad down the side of the dish, so as to let it run to the bottom, and not to stir it up till used at table. This preserves the crispness of the salad, which is one of its principal delicacies. With celery and endive the sauce should be poured upon them, and the whole well stirred together to mix it equally.

Lettuce, endive, and celery, may be eaten with salt only; and if well chewed, as all salads ought to be, they often agree better than when mixed with seasonings. If mustard in salad sauces occasion sickness, or otherwise disagrees, cayenne pepper will often prove an excellent substitute.—

The following salads are remarkably wholesome, and have a cooling and salutary effect upon the bowels. 1. Take spinage, parsley, sorrel, lettuce, and a few onions. Then add oil, vinegar, and salt, to give it a high taste and relish, but let the salt rather predominate above the other ingredients.

The wholesomest way of eating salads is with bread only, in preference to bread and butter, bread and cheese, or meat and bread; though any of these may be eaten with it, when the salad is seasoned only with salt and vinegar. It is not advisable to eat butter, cheese, or meat with salads, or any thing in which there is a mixture of oil. All fat substances are heavy of digestion, and to mix such as disagree in their nature, is to encrease this evil to a degree that the stomach can hardly overcome.

2. Prepare some lettuce, spinage tops, pennyroyal, sorrel, a few onions, and some parsley. Then season them with oil, vinegar, and salt.

3. Another salad may be made of lettuce, sorrel, spinage, tops of mint, and onions, seasoned as before.

4. Take spinage, lettuce, tarragon, and parsley, with some leaves of balm. Or sorrel, tarragon, spinage, lettuce, onions, and parsley. Or tops of pennyroyal, mint, lettuce, spinage, sorrel, and parsley. Or lettuce, spinage, onions, pennyroyal, balm, and sorrel. Or sage, lettuce, spinage, sorrel, onions, and parsley; seasoned with salt, oil, and vinegar.

5. Make a salad of pennyroyal, sage, mint, balm, a little lettuce, and sorrel; seasoned with oil, vinegar, and salt. This is an excellent warming salad, though the above are all of an exhilarating tendency.

6. Mix some lettuce, sorrel, endive, celery, spinage, and onions, seasoned as above.

7. Take the fresh tender leaves of cole wort, or cabbage plants, with lettuce, sorrel, parsley, tarragon, nettle tops, mint, and pennyroyal; and season them with salt, oil, and vinegar. If highly seasoned, this is a very warm and relishing salad.

8. For winter salad, take some tender plants of colewort, sorrel, lettuce, endive, celery, parsley, and sliced onions; and season them as before.

9. Another winter salad may be made of lettuce, spinage, endive, celery, and half a clove of garlic. Season it well with oil, vinegar, and salt. This salad is very warming and wholesome. All these aromatic herbs are particularly proper for phlegmatic and weakly persons, as they have the property of warming the stomach, and improving the blood.

To supply the want of oil in salads, make some thick melted butter, and use it in the same proportion as oil. Some sweet thick cream is a still better substitute, and will do as well as oil, especially as some persons have an aversion to oil. Cream also looks well in salads.

A good salad sauce may be made of two yolks of eggs boiled hard, mixed with a spoonful of Parmesan cheese grated, a little patent mustard, a spoonful of tarragon vinegar, and a larger one of ketchup. When stirred well together, add four spoonfuls of salad oil, and one of elder vinegar, and beat them up very smooth.

It is very common in France, amongst all classes of people, to dress cauliflowers and French beans to eat cold, as salads, with a sauce of oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. In some parts of France, raw salads, composed entirely of herbs growing wild in the fields, are in frequent use; and for distinction sake, are called rural salads.

The English, who are not so fond of pungent flavours, are in the habit of substituting sugar instead of pepper and salt, where oil is not used, in order to soften the asperity of the vinegar.

SALMAGUNDY.

This is a beautiful small dish, if in a nice shape, and the colours of the ingredients be properly varied. For this purpose chop separately the white part of cold chicken or veal, yolks of eggs boiled hard, the whites of eggs, beet root, parsley, half a dozen anchovies, red pickled cabbage, ham and grated tongue, or any thing well flavoured and of a good colour. Some people like a small proportion of onion, but it may be better omitted.

A saucer, large teacup, or any other base, must be put into a small dish; then make rows round it wide at the bottom, and growing smaller towards the top, choosing such ingredients for each row as will most vary the colours.

At the top, a little sprig of curled parsley may be stuck in; or without any thing on the dish, the salmagundy may be laid in rows, or put into the half-whites of eggs, which may be made to stand upright by cutting off a little bit at the round end. In the latter case, each half egg receives but one ingredient.

Curled butter and parsley may be put as garnish between.

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The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]

Solomongundy.

Chop small and separately lean of boiled ham, breast of dressed fowl, picked anchovies, parsley, omlets of eggs white and yellow (the same kind as for garnishing), eshallots, a small quantity of pickle cucumbers, capers, and beet root.

Then rub a saucer over with fresh butter, put it in the center of a dish, and make it secure from moving.

Place round it in partitions the different articles separately till the saucer is covered, and put on the rim of the dish some slices of lemon.

Salad of Lobster.

Take boiled hen lobsters, break the shells, and preserve the meat as white as possible. Then cut the tails into halves, put them into the center of a dish with the red side upwards, and the meat of the claws whole.

Then place round the lobster a row of parsley chopped fine, and a row of the spawn from the inside chopped, and afterwards mix a little of each and strew over the top of the lobster.

Then put slices of lemon round the rim of the dish, and send in a sauce boat a mixture of oil, vinegar, mustard, cayenne pepper, and salt, a little of each.

French Salad

Consists of the different herbs in season, as tarragon, chervil, sorrel, chives, endive, silician lettuces, watercresses, dandelion, beet root, celery, &c. all of which should be very young, fresh gathered, trimmed neat, washed clean, drained dry, and served up in a bowl.

The sauce to be served up in a sauceboat, and to be made with oil, lemon pickle, vinegar, ketchup, cayenne pepper, a boiled yolk of an egg, and salt.

N. B. Some persons eat with this salad cold boiled turbot or other fish.

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The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition

To make several Sallads, and all very good.

Take either the stalks of Mallows, or Turnip stalks when they run to seed, or stalks of the herb Mercury with the seedy head, either of these while they are tender put into boiling Water and Salt, and boiled tender, and then Butter and Vinegar over them.

To make a Sallad of Burdock, good for the Stone, another of the tender stalks of Sow-thistles.

Take the inside of the Stalks of Burdock, and cut them in thin slices, and lay them in water one whole day, shifting them sometimes, then boil them, and butter them as you do the forenamed.

Also the tender Stalks of Sow-thistles done in like manner, are very good and wholsome.

To make a Sallad of cold meat.

Take the brawn of a cold Capon, or a piece of cold Veal, and mince it
very small, with some Limon pill, then put in some Oil, Vinegar, Capers,
Caviare, and some Anchovies, and mix them very well, then lay it in a
Dish in the form of a Star, and serve it in; Garnish your Dish with
Anchovies, Limon and Capers.

To make a Sorrel Sallad.

Take a quantity of French Sorrel picked clean and washed, boil it with water and a little Salt, and when it is enough, drain it and butter it, and put in a little Vinegar and Sugar into it, then garnish it with hard Eggs and Raisins.

To make good cold Sallads of several things.

Take either Coleflowers, or Carrots, or Parsneps, or Turneps after they are well boiled, and serve them in with Oil, Vinegar and Pepper, also the Roots of red Beets boiled tender are very good in the same manner.

To make a grand Sallad.

Take a fair broad brimm’d dish, and in the middle of it lay some pickled
Limon Pill, then lay round about it each sort by themselves, Olives,
Capers, Broom Buds, Ash Keys, Purslane pickled, and French Beans
pickled, and little Cucumbers pickled, and Barberries pickled, and
Clove Gilliflowers, Cowslips, Currants, Figs, blanched Almonds and
Raisins, Slices of Limon with Sugar on them, Dates stoned and sliced.

Garnish your Dish brims with Candied Orange, Limon and Citron Pill, and some Candied Eringo roots.

To make boiled Sallads.

Boil some Carots very tender, and scrape them to pieces like the Pulp of an Apple, season them with Cinamon and Ginger and Sugar, put in Currants, a little Vinegar, and a piece of sweet Butter, stew these in a Dish, and when they begin to dry put in more Butter and a little Salt, so serve them to the Table, thus you may do Lettuce, or Spinage or Beets.

To make a Sallad with fresh Salmon.

Your Salmon being boiled and souced, mince some of it small with Apples and Onyons, put thereto Oyl, Vinegar, and Pepper; so serve it to the Table: Garnish your Dish with Limon and Capers.

A good Sallad in Winter.

Take a good hard Cabbage, and with a sharp Knife shave it so thin as you may not discern what it is, then serve it with Oil and Vinegar.

Another Sallad in Winter.

Take Corn Sallad clean picked and also well washed, and clear from the water, put it into a Dish in some handsom form with some Horse Radish scraped, and some Oil and Vinegar.

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