Dishes made without meat

The English salad is not as a rule a success, and undoubtedly the chief fault in its making lies in the inferior quality of the oil used.

Provided with good oil the next point of importance in a green salad is the condition of the material. If the lettuces, endive, cress or watercress are faded the salad is ruined. The lettuce, etc., should of course be freshly cut, if possible, but where this is not feasible it should be chosen with care, and at once put into water—not soused into a basin, but placed with its root only in water—as if it were a flower—in a cool place. In this way a lettuce will keep in perfect condition for two or three days, if needs be. Cress and endive should be treated likewise. Let us now consider the making of

French Salad

Choose crisp lettuces, cut off the stalk and remove the outer leaves (when well washed these may be used for lettuce purée), tear the lettuce in pieces (on no account cut it), and wash it in a bowl of cold water. Place it in a clean cloth and swing it round until dry. This method of drying by centrifugal force gets rid of the moisture and does not bruise the lettuce.

Now rub the salad bowl very thoroughly with a slice of onion, and if the flavour is liked place half a small peeled onion in the centre of the bowl. Mix in the bowl 1 dessertspoonful of the best wine vinegar and 2 tablespoonsful of oil, and add a little salt and a good dusting of freshly-ground black pepper. Stir the lettuce round lightly in the mixture and serve. This quantity of oil and vinegar is sufficient for about 2 medium lettuces, but only experience teaches the exact quantity to use. The lettuce should not be swimming in the mixture: the leaves should merely be coated with it, and no remains of it should be left at the bottom of the bowl when the salad is mixed.

The chief faults of the average salad, next to the use of inferior oil and flabby lettuce, are the excess of dressing, the excess of vinegar, and the use of pepper which is not freshly ground. A salad prepared in the manner described is as different as chalk is from cheese from the salad which is generally put before one, and no more difficult to make. Salads of endive, corn, Batavian lettuce, or cress, should be made in just the same manner.

For orange salad and orange and cherry salad a similar dressing is used, and I notice how these fruit salads are growing in favour.

Orange Salad

simply consists of the sections of oranges free from pith and skin, string and pips, arranged in a bowl and dressed with oil and vinegar.

Orange and Cherry Salad

consists of glacé cherries arranged in the centre of the bowl surrounded by sections of oranges, and dressed with the same mixture.

Another excellent salad, not very generally known, consists of sliced apple and shred celery; it is known as

Apple and Celery Salad,

and is dressed with mayonnaise sauce, or with whipped cream flavoured with salt and pepper. This

Cream Dressing

is newer than mayonnaise, and is generally appreciated. Another delicious salad on which it is used is

Nut Salad

This is made of Brazil nuts broken into pieces, shred celery, and tiny dice of bread and butter. This salad is equally good if dressed with cream or with mayonnaise sauce.

As mayonnaise is generally spoiled by too overpowering a use of vinegar, I give here an excellent recipe in which the special oil and vinegar already mentioned are employed.

Good Mayonnaise Sauce

To make mayonnaise sauce, first rinse the basin in very cold water, and make the sauce in a cool place, if possible keeping the basin on ice while you mix the sauce. See that the oil is perfectly good, and add it drop by drop. This is important, otherwise the sauce may curdle. Use the very best vinegar, as a very little of this will suffice and prevent the sauce from becoming thin. Put the yolks of 2 raw eggs in a basin, and add to them a pinch of salt, ½ a saltspoonful of white pepper, and ½ a teaspoonful of French and English mustard in the dry state, and a tiny pinch of cayenne. Work these together, then stir in drop by drop 3 gills of olive oil. When quite thick add ½ a teaspoonful of lemon juice, and 2 dessertspoonsful of the best vinegar drop by drop, and set in a cool place, or on ice, until required. In case the sauce curdles the yolk of another egg must be beaten up, and the curdled sauce added to it little by little.

Oil and Vinegar Dressing

Mix 1 saltspoonful of salt and a good pinch of black pepper with 1 tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar. Stir until the salt has dissolved, then add drop by drop 3 tablespoonsful of olive oil.

The other dressings generally used are sauce tartare, salad dressing and sauce vinaigrette, for which I give the following excellent recipes:—

Sauce Tartare

Chop 1 shallot very fine, with ½ a tablespoonful of chervil, the same of tarragon, and 12 capers, also finely minced. Place these ingredients in a bowl and add ½ a teaspoonful of mustard powder (English), the yolks of 2 raw eggs, and drop by drop 1 teaspoonful of vinegar; then a pinch of salt and ⅓ the quantity of pepper. Pour in by degrees, stirring all the time, a teacupful of oil. If too thick add drop by drop a little more vinegar, and if too salt a little more mustard and oil.

Salad Dressing

Beat the hard-boiled yolk of 2 eggs with 1 teaspoonful of dry mustard. When smooth add by slow degrees 8 dessertspoonsful of oil, 5 of vinegar, 1½ of sugar, and ½ a teacupful of cream. Beat together with a silver spoon until smooth. If bottled this dressing will keep for some days.

Sauce Vinaigrette

Mince very finely 1 shallot, 2 good sprigs of parsley and the same quantity of chervil and chives. Place with them about 1 tablespoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful of fresh black pepper and 3 tablespoonsful of vinegar. Stir well together, add by degrees, stirring all the time, 4 tablespoonsful of oil.

In salads where chives, onion or garlic are mentioned, it is best, unless the taste of those about to partake of the dish is known, to omit them, and either to rub the salad bowl with onion or garlic or to prepare what is called a chapon:—

Chapon

Cut a neat square of crust from a French loaf, sprinkle it with salt and rub it with raw onion or with a clove of garlic. Put this at the bottom of the salad bowl, place the salad on it and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Vegetable Marrow Salad

Boil or steam the marrow, drain, and when cold cut into neat pieces, place in a salad bowl with a dressing of oil and vinegar.

Artichoke Salad

Boil the number of Japanese artichokes required for 5 minutes, and when cold place in a salad bowl with slices of cold boiled beetroot and celery. Cover with mayonnaise sauce. Garnish with beetroot and celery.

French Bean Salad

Boil the beans whole, drain them, and dry them on a cloth, when quite cold place them in a bowl and pour over them some salad oil, shake some black pepper over them and a small amount of salt, then drop over them a few drops of the best wine vinegar, and if liked a sprinkling of very finely-minced tarragon and chives.

Lettuce Stalk Salad

Take the stalks from lettuces running to seed, and tie them in bundles, cutting them more or less the same size. Place in a saucepan and boil until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Take out and drain them, and allow them to get quite cold. Then cut up into slices of the same size, place in a salad bowl and cover with mayonnaise sauce.

Nut and Celery Salad

Crack some Brazil nuts and cut the kernels into 3 or 4 pieces. Take an equal quantity of crisp cleanly-washed and shred celery. Mix together and dress with mayonnaise sauce. Pile in the centre of the salad bowl and garnish with sliced tomato or beetroot.

Winter Salad

Scald and then boil one or two large onions till soft. When cold, slice the onion, mix it with shred celery and sliced beetroot. Dress with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Walnut and Celery Salad,

which is simply ⅔ celery to ⅓ walnuts tossed in mayonnaise sauce.

Russian Salad, No. 1

Cut up some beetroot into shapes, add to this a little chopped celery, some turnip, carrot, potato, all cooked and cut into dice; pour some mayonnaise over it all, mix well, and garnish with bunches of cress. If liked, a French vinaigrette dressing may be used instead of the mayonnaise.

Russian Salad, No. 2

Cut in thin slices a few small cold steamed potatoes, 1 small beetroot boiled, 1 small carrot, a few cold peas or French beans, 1 little pickled cabbage, 1 sardine filleted and chopped fine. Mix all well together. Rub the salad bowl with onion. For the dressing take a teaspoonful each of raw mustard and salt, a little coralline pepper, a pinch of curry powder, ½ a wineglass of sherry and the same of Lucca oil. Mix all well together and pour over the salad.

Haricot Bean Salad

Soak the haricots for 6 or 8 hours and then boil them until tender. Leave until cold. Pile them in the centre of a salad bowl and surround with shred tomato or beetroot and some shred celery. Cover with whipped cream flavoured with salt and white pepper. If liked dip the haricot in oil and vinegar in addition to the cream. Decorate the cream with a little coralline pepper, and arrange the beetroot so that it makes a red border to the white pyramid of cream.

Salade d’Estrées

Take some cold boiled roots of celeriac, some cold potatoes and beetroot. In the middle of the salad bowl make a heap of endive and blanched celery stalks, frizzed, in short lengths. Surround with the vegetables sliced. Pour over the whole a good mayonnaise sauce.

Garnished Salad, with Imperial Mayonnaise

Pound and press through a sieve 4 large anchovies (no bones), boil 6 eggs hard, halve them and neatly remove the yolks, which pound to a paste with butter, the powdered anchovies, ¼ teaspoonful of mace, a little pepper. Mix well, and roughly fill the egg cases. Fill almost to the top the salad bowl with finely-shred lettuce, endive, cooked beetroot, sliced (very thin) artichoke (cooked), and finally add some cucumber ribbons. Then arrange with care the egg baskets and pour round, but not over the halved eggs, the following dressing (imperial mayonnaise):—Put into a basin ½ pint of aspic, and add 1 tablespoonful of olive oil, 2 teaspoonsful of vinegar, and a trifle of salt and pepper. Beat with an egg whisk until all the ingredients are well blended. Set the salad in a pan of ice water if possible, or in a very cold place until served.

Celery Salad

Wash some fresh crisp celery and use only the inner sticks. Cut it in ½ inch lengths, place in a salad bowl which has been rubbed with onion and dress with mayonnaise sauce. Decorate with a little chopped truffle.

Salade d’Asperges à la d’Aumale

This is a way of using cold cooked asparagus with mousseline sauce. Put ½ gill of new milk into a pan with the yolks of 4 eggs, and 3 crushed long peppercorns; place this all in a bainmarie, or larger stewpan, half filled with boiling water, and whisk it all together well for a few minutes; now add 1 oz. of butter, adding it bit by bit, and only putting in another piece when the first is thoroughly melted and worked in. Season it as you whisk with a dust of salt and nutmeg, and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice at the last. When it is finished this sauce should look like frothed cream.

Another salad which is suitable for hot weather is

Lettuce and Tomato Salad

For this proceed exactly as for a plain lettuce salad, but add a ring of fresh tomato, peeled, and not too thinly sliced.

Other nice salads are—

French Tomato Salad

Take 6 ripe, sound tomatoes, wipe them, and place them in boiling water for a minute; drain, peel, let them cool, quarter them (this should be done while they are in the salad bowl, so that the juice is not wasted); add a teaspoonful of finely-chopped chives or a chapon; dress with oil and vinegar.

Tomato and Egg Salad

Proceed as before, but to each tomato add ½ a hard-boiled egg, quartered, and dress with mayonnaise sauce.

For the following salads see