Chapter XV: Salads and Desserts

Salads and desserts are sometimes looked upon as luxuries, and something to be omitted where people must exercise strict economy, and as more or less indigestible forms of food to be avoided. As a matter of fact both of these types of dishes are extremely valuable in giving variety to the diet. They may be very inexpensive, and when they have the right relation to the rest of the meal, are not more indigestible than many other forms of food. A heavy salad or rich dessert eaten after a sufficient amount of other food will naturally cause digestive disturbance.

To disprove the theory of great cost of desserts, two friends once had an amusing contest to see which could serve the largest number of palatable desserts at the lowest price. It was interesting to see how many could be made for a cost of from six to ten cents for a family of five.

=Materials used for salad.=——The word “salad” is said to be derived from the Latin “salis” (salt) which implies that the salad has been looked upon more or less as a relish. We all associate with a salad appetizing crispness and freshness. The materials used in the modern salad are so varied that a complete list would include nearly all our fruits and vegetables and meat foods.

_Green vegetables._——Celery, chicory or endive, corn salad, cress, cucumber, dandelion, lettuce, onions, peppers, romaine or cos lettuce, radishes, and tomatoes.

_Cooked vegetables._——Beans, string and whole, beets, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, and spinach.

_Fruits uncooked._——Any fresh fruit, possibly with the exception of some of the berries.

_Meat and poultry._——The white meats like veal, chicken, and turkey are more attractive in salad, but any kind of cold meat may be used.

_Fish and shellfish._——Lobsters, crabs, scallops, and cold fish.

_Nuts._——Several kinds may be used in combination with fruit.

_Jellies._——Tomato jelly, meat, chicken, and fish molded in jelly, may be served as a salad.

_Eggs._——Hard-boiled eggs are used as a garnish.

_Cream cheese._——May be served with lettuce.

=Salad dressings.=——Plain lettuce or celery served with salt is in a sense a salad, but it is our custom to dress the lettuce with a mixture which contains an acid and usually an oil. A very simple, old-fashioned form of dressing used in this country is vinegar and sugar. Substitute lemon juice or fresh lime juice for the vinegar and you will have a very refreshing and simple salad for a summer day.

The ordinary dressing consists of vinegar or lemon juice, and oil; another form is mayonnaise, where the yolk and sometimes the white of egg are used to hold the oil and vinegar together.

Another form is a cooked dressing which may be bottled and kept for a longer time than the French dressing or the mayonnaise.

_Olive oil._——This is the most delicious oil for salad dressing when the flavor is liked and when it can be afforded.

_Cottonseed and corn oil._——There are now in the market clarified cottonseed oil and corn oil that may be used in mayonnaise dressing, and the flavor is not unacceptable, and certainly superior to the poorer grades of olive oil which quite likely contain one of these oils as an adulterant. Cottonseed oil makes a better substitute for olive oil then does corn oil as it is at present refined.

_Butter._——Butter may be used in boiled salad dressing for those who dislike the flavor of the oils.

_The acids in dressing._——These may be either vinegar or lemon juice, and many people with whom the vinegar disagrees can eat a salad made with lemon juice. The acid should not be used in excess in any case; the best dressings do not give a distinctively acid taste.

_Adjuncts._——Salt, mustard, cayenne pepper, paprika.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

=General directions.=——The two important points in the preparation of the material for salad are, first, that _everything_ should be thoroughly dry, and, second, thoroughly chilled. The importance of these two points cannot be overemphasized, and they are of equal value in salad making. Many a salad is unpalatable because it is watery and wilted. For the preparation of green vegetables see Chapter VII. Vegetables should be cut in cubes or sometimes in slices. Meat, poultry, and shellfish should be cut in small pieces or chopped. The prepared meat should be mixed with some of the oil and acid and allowed to stand in an ice box for some time before it is dressed and arranged for serving. This process is called marinating in the cookbooks, and gives a flavor to the salad that it cannot have if a dressing is poured over the meat just before serving.

=Combinations in salad.=——Several well-known combinations will at once occur to you. Meat salads usually have a mixture of celery. Several vegetables may be used together, as beans and carrots, or carrots, peas, and string beans with lettuce. Apples, nuts, and celery make a pleasing combination. Indeed there would seem to be no end to the possibilities here.

=Serving and garnishing.=——The principle here is to make the dish attractive with as little labor as possible. Everything served as a garnish should be eatable. A bed of crisp dry lettuce leaves is the most attractive setting for any salad. When this is not procurable, cress makes an attractive border to a salad. Figure 68 shows you a salmon jelly molded in a ring and attractively served in lettuce. Figure 67 shows a cucumber placed on lettuce leaves, dressed with a French dressing and sprinkled with chopped peppers. The cucumber is sliced ready to serve; the slices being cut not entirely through the cucumber. This is rapidly prepared and is most attractive. When the salad is arranged in its dish, it should be put in the ice box and allowed to remain until it is time to take it to the table. The salad is sometimes served on individual plates.

=1. French dressing.=

_Ingredients._

Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Pepper 1/4 teaspoonful
Vinegar 2 tablespoonfuls
Olive oil 4 tablespoonfuls

_Method._

Mix the salt, pepper, and vinegar and stir in the olive oil
slowly. A few drops of onion juice may be added.

=2. Mayonnaise dressing.=

_Ingredients._

Mustard 1 teaspoonful
Salt 1 teaspoonful
Powdered sugar 1 teaspoonful
A few grains of cayenne
Eggs Yolks of 2
Lemon juice 2 tablespoonfuls
Vinegar 2 tablespoonfuls
Olive oil 1-1/2 cups

_Method._

Stir together the eggs, mustard, salt, pepper, and sugar. Add the
oil, a drop at a time, stirring and beating constantly. The back
of a silver fork is a good thing for mixing mayonnaise, though
some people prefer a Dover beater. As the dressing becomes very
thick it should be thinned occasionally with vinegar and lemon,
alternately, but never let it lose its consistency. After the
first, the oil may be added more rapidly. All ingredients and
utensils must be cold. If the weather is warm, the bowl should be
surrounded with ice water. If the dressing should separate, begin
with another yolk of egg and stir the separated mixture into it
slowly, as before. Set the bowl in a cold place and it should keep
for many days.

=3. Boiled dressing.=

_Ingredients._

Eggs 2
Mustard 1/2 teaspoonful
Salt 1/2 tablespoonful
Sugar 1/2 tablespoonful
Vinegar 3 tablespoonfuls
Hot water 1/2 cup
Butter 1 tablespoonful
A few grains of cayenne

_Method._

Mix the dry ingredients and beat with the eggs until light. Add
the vinegar and water and cook in a double boiler, stirring
constantly until thick and smooth. Remove from the fire, stir in
the butter and set away to cool. A little cream added after the
dressing cools is a great addition. Sour cream may be used instead
of the water, in which case less vinegar and butter should be
used.

=4. Potato salad.=

_Ingredients._

Potatoes, cold-boiled or baked
Parsley or onion juice
Egg, hard-boiled, olives, pickled beets, etc.
French dressing

_Method._

Cut the cold-boiled or baked potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes.
Marinate (_i.e._ mix and let stand) with French dressing. Chopped
parsley or onion juice may be mixed with potatoes. Arrange in a
mound and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg, olives, pickled
beets, etc.

=5. Chicken salad.=

_Ingredients._

Cold-boiled or roast fowl
Celery, 1/2 as much as fowl
French dressing
Mayonnaise or boiled dressing
Olives

_Method._

Cut cold-boiled or roast fowl in 1/2-inch cubes. Add to this 1/2
as much celery which has been washed, scraped, and cut into cubes.
Marinate with French dressing. Just before serving moisten with
mayonnaise or boiled salad dressing. Garnish with celery tips and
olives.

=6. Waldorf salad.=

_Ingredients._

Apples, tart and juicy
Celery, 1/2 as much as apples
Mayonnaise dressing
Lettuce leaves

_Method._

Select tart, juicy apples. Cut in quarters, pare and core and cut
in 1/2-inch cubes. Add half as much celery, washed, scraped, and
cut into cubes. Mix with boiled or mayonnaise dressing and serve
cold on lettuce leaves. If handsome red apples can be had, they
may be washed and polished and a slice cut from the stem end and
the apple used as a cup after scooping out the inside to use for a
filling with the celery. Serve on a lettuce leaf. Chopped nuts may
be mixed with the apple and celery if desired.

=7. Stuffed tomato salad.=

_Ingredients._

Tomatoes, medium sized
Boiling water
Salt
Cucumbers (or celery)
Mayonnaise dressing
Lettuce leaves

_Method._

Cover medium sized tomatoes with boiling water for a minute and
remove the skin. Cut a thin slice from the top and take out part
of the seeds and pulp. Sprinkle inside of the tomato with salt,
invert, and let stand one half hour. Fill tomatoes with cucumbers
(or celery) cut in small cubes and moistened with mayonnaise
dressing. Arrange on lettuce leaves and garnish top with
mayonnaise dressing.

_Laboratory management._——1/2 egg yolk (1 teaspoonful) and 1/4 cup of olive oil is as small a quantity as is practicable to use in making the mayonnaise. This quantity made by groups of two works out well as the process of adding the oil drop by drop is difficult for a beginner working alone. The boiled dressing works in well as a variation of the boiled custard.

DESSERTS

The dessert in this country includes the sweet dish, or the fruit at the end of the meal. In simple meals the dessert is usually one of the two, although in more elaborate meals fruit is served after the sweet dish, and sometimes crackers and cheese are served at the last. From the point of view of nutrition and digestibility this is more than is necessary, and you will notice that when both are served, the fruit is often declined. Like the salad, the dessert may be made from a large variety of materials and bears different names. There are hot puddings and cold puddings, pies and tarts, jellies and ices and ice creams. It is very interesting to read over the many dishes of this class in a cookbook and to attempt to classify them. If you are fortunate enough to have access to a cookbook of the eighteenth century, you will find that much labor was given to the preparation of elaborate structures which served as table ornaments; even now you will find French cooks who spend much time in making elaborate displays of their skill. For everyday life the dessert should be attractive to the eye and yet simple.

=Materials used in desserts.=

_Eggs, milk, and cream_; these are important and are used in
custards, in dishes stiffened with gelatin or thickened with
cornstarch, or in ice cream.

_Breadstuffs._——Cake and sponge cake, bread crumbs and sliced
bread, are valuable in desserts. Bread pudding may be made a very
delicious dish. Bread may be combined with fruit in the shape of
an escalloped dish. Baking-powder biscuits, crust, and shortcake
are also used.

_Other starchy substances._——These are cornstarch, arrowroot,
sago, tapioca and manioca.

_Fruits._——Raw and cooked fruits of every possible kind. A few
fruits like the lemon, orange, grapefruit, and melon are not
cooked. For preparing fruit served alone, see Chapter VI.

_Gelatin._——This material has been mentioned in the chapter on
meat. It is prepared for use in desserts in a number of forms, the
granular being the most convenient. Gelatin has the property,
first, of absorbing water, then of dissolving at the boiling
temperature of water and becoming stiff again when cool. After
dissolving, as it is cooling and just as it begins to thicken
slightly, it can be beaten like white of egg. If beating is
attempted while the liquid is warm, or again if it becomes too
stiff, the result is not successful. This property makes it useful
in the sponges and other fancy desserts where the light spongy
texture is desirable.

=Making desserts attractive.=——This is done by serving hot desserts in a dish around which a napkin may be folded; and cold desserts, especially those made with gelatin, may be molded in some attractive form and garnished. Figure 69 shows a very simple gelatin dessert garnished with candied cherries and a little angelica, the stem of a plant which has been sugared, and the whole surrounded with whipped cream. Whipping the cream and putting it around the base takes only a few minutes. As in salad, the garnish should be eatable and easily prepared.

=1. Boiled custard.=

_Ingredients._

Milk 1 pt.
Sugar 2 tablespoonfuls
Eggs 3
Vanilla 1/2 teaspoonful
Salt 1/8 teaspoonful

_Method._

Put the milk, sugar, and salt in a double boiler to scald.
Separate the eggs and set the whites in a cold place until wanted.
Beat the yolks until lemon-colored. Pour a little of the scalded
milk on the yolks of the eggs, stirring until well mixed. Set the
double boiler back on the stove and pour the egg and milk mixture
slowly into the rest of the scalded milk, stirring constantly
until thickened enough to coat the spoon. Remove from the fire,
add the flavoring, and turn into a dish to cool. Just before
serving beat the whites to a very stiff froth and pile by
spoonfuls on the custard. The whites may be sweetened with
powdered sugar after beating if desired. Corn starch may be used,
and fewer eggs.

=2. Baked custard.=

_Ingredients._

Milk 1 pt.
Sugar 2 tablespoonfuls
Salt 1/8 teaspoonful
Eggs 2
Lemon _or_
Vanilla 1/2 teaspoonful

_Method._

Scald the milk, sugar, and salt together. Beat the eggs in a
baking dish and pour the scalded milk over them. Add the flavoring
and stir well. Set the baking dish in a pan of boiling water and
bake in a moderate oven until a knife thrust into the custard will
come out clean. Serve cold either plain, or with chocolate sauce.
Nutmeg may be grated on top of the custard before baking, or
caramel flavoring may be added in place of the vanilla.

=3. Chocolate sauce.=

_Ingredients._

Chocolate 1 square
Sugar 1/4 cup
Boiling water 1/2 cup
Cream 1/2 cup

_Method._

Mix the chocolate, boiling water, and sugar together and stir over
the fire until smooth and thick. Add the cream and serve hot.

=4. Caramel flavoring.=

_Ingredients._

Sugar 2 cups
Boiling water 1 cup

_Method._

Pour the sugar into a saucepan and stir over the fire until it
becomes a thick brown sirup. Pour the boiling water on this and
leave on the fire, stirring occasionally until the sugar is all
dissolved. This may be bottled and kept for some time.

=5. Shortcake.=

_Ingredients._

Flour 1 cup
Baking powder 1 teaspoonful
Salt 1/4 teaspoonful
Butter 4 tablespoonfuls
_or_
One half butter and one half lard.
Milk 1/2 cup

_Method._

Mix dry ingredients and cut butter into this mixture with two
knives. Stir in the milk and spread the mixture out on a buttered
layer cake tin. Bake in a hot oven until brown. Wash and hull a
box of strawberries, sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar, and crush
with a spoon. When the shortcake is done remove from the pan, cut
around the edge with a sharp knife and right through the center of
the cake, making two layers of it. Spread the lower layer with
butter and then with the crushed strawberry. Replace the top layer
and serve hot. Fresh peaches, preserves, or a mixture of orange
and banana may be used for this shortcake.

Another kind of strawberry cake is made of sponge cake, and served
cold with whipped cream.

=6. Steamed pudding.=

_Ingredients._

Suet chopped 1 cup
Raisins, currants, and citron sliced 1 cup
Egg 1
Sweet milk 1 cup
Molasses 1/2 cup
Soda 1 teaspoonful
Salt 1/4 teaspoonful
Flour 3-1/2 cups

_Method._

Skin, wash, and chop the suet, and dredge with flour. Wash, pick
over and seed the dried fruit, slice the citron if it is used, and
dredge all with flour. Stir together the milk and molasses, sift
the dry ingredients with the flour, and stir the liquid into the
flour slowly. Add the suet, beating the mass thoroughly, and last
the fruit, sprinkling in both the suet and the fruit as you stir.
Fill a greased mold 2/3 full, close tightly, and cook in a kettle
of boiling water for three hours. Serve with a hard or foamy
sauce.

_Laboratory management._——This can be made in class if each pupil will bring an empty baking powder or cocoa tin to school. A strip of greased cloth should be fastened around the edge of the cover. The recipe can be made in 1/4 cup proportions, and this amount can be cooked if the class period is two hours in length, but it is better to have the cooking finished at home. This is a seasonable exercise at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

=7. Brown Betty or apple scallop.=

_Ingredients._

Buttered crumbs
Tart cooking apples
Sugar
Cinnamon
A little water

TEACHER’S NOTE.——Individual shortcakes may be made by using a stiffer dough and rolling and cutting them like biscuits.

_Method._

Put a layer of buttered crumbs in a baking dish. Pare and slice
tart cooking apples and put a layer into the dish. Sprinkle with
sugar, cinnamon, and a little water. Add a layer of bread crumbs
and repeat with apples, flavoring and cover the top with crumbs.
Bake in a moderate oven until apples are cooked and crumbs brown.
Any fruit such as peaches or blueberries may be used instead of
apples. Serve hot with hard or foamy sauce or cold with cream and
sugar, or the bread may be used in slices, buttered.

=8. Hard sauce.=

_Ingredients._

Butter 1/3 cup
Powdered sugar 1 cup
Lemon extract 1/3 teaspoonful
_or_
Vanilla 2/3 teaspoonful
Nutmeg

_Method._

Cream the butter; add sugar gradually, and flavoring. Grate nutmeg
over the top. Chill before serving.

=9. Foamy sauce.=

_Ingredients._

Butter 1/2 cup
Powdered sugar 1 cup
Egg 1
Vanilla 1 teaspoonful

_Method._

Cream the butter, add gradually the sugar, the egg well beaten,
and vanilla. Beat while heating over hot water.

=10. Tapioca cream.=

_Ingredients._

Pearl tapioca 1/2 cup
_or_
Minute tapioca 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls
Scalded milk 2 cups
Eggs 2, _or_ 1
Sugar 1/3 cup
Salt 1/4 teaspoonful
Vanilla 1/2 teaspoonful

_Method._

Minute tapioca needs no soaking. If pearl tapioca is used, it must
be soaked one hour in cold water to cover. Pick over and wash the
tapioca, drain off the water and add tapioca to the milk and salt
scalded in the double boiler, and cook until the tapioca is
transparent, or about 1/2 hour. Beat eggs and add the sugar to
them. Combine mixtures by pouring a little of the hot mixture in
the egg and then stirring this into the mixture remaining in the
double boiler. Stir over fire until it becomes thick. Add the
flavoring and pour into a dish to cool.

=11. Apple tapioca.=

_Ingredients._

Minute tapioca 3/4 cup
Lemon peel
Boiling water 2-1/2 cups
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Tart apples 6
Sugar 1/2 cup

_Method._

Cook the tapioca in salt water until it becomes transparent. Core
and pare the apples and place in the bottom of the baking dish.
Fill the cavities with sugar and add a little lemon peel. Pour the
tapioca over the apples and bake in a moderate oven until the
apples are soft. Serve cold with sugar and cream.

=12. Lemon jelly.=

_Ingredients._

Shredded gelatin 1/2 box
_or_
Granulated gelatin 2 tablespoonfuls
Lemon juice 1/2 cup
Cold water 1/2 cup
Boiling water 2-1/2 cups
Sugar 1 cup

_Method._

Soak the gelatin in cold water for 20 minutes. Add the boiling
water and sugar and stir until it dissolves. Add the lemon juice
and strain into a mold and set away to harden. When it is stiff
loosen from the sides of the mold (a cloth wrung out of hot water
may be needed). Turn on to a plate and serve with whipped cream or
soft custard.

=13. Snow pudding.=

_Ingredients._

Granulated gelatin 1 tablespoonful
Cold water 1/2 cup
Boiling water 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Lemon juice 1/4 cup
Eggs Whites of 3

_Method._

Mix as for lemon jelly. Set aside in a cool place, and as soon as
it becomes sirupy stir occasionally until quite thick. Then beat
with wire spoon or whisk until frothy. Fold in the beaten whites,
and continue to beat lightly until quite stiff. Pile by spoonfuls
on a plate and serve with boiled custard, or mold as in Fig. 69.

=Frozen mixtures.=——There are some interesting principles to note here. The freezing is accomplished by using a mixture of chopped ice and rock salt. Can you explain how this reduces the temperature?

Another interesting point is this: Have you ever seen a milk bottle on a cold winter morning with the paper cover or even the metal cap pushed up, the frozen milk standing high above the top of the bottle? What does this suggest to you in connection with the filling of the ice cream freezer?

It must be noted, too, that a larger amount of flavoring material is needed in a frozen dessert than in one that is not. The frozen custard, for instance, needs more vanilla than one prepared in the ordinary manner. Can you account for this?

=Method of freezing.=

There are many patterns of ice cream freezers that are well
constructed and inexpensive. They are sold by the size, a 2 quart
freezer giving you 2 quarts of the frozen cream. See that the
crank is oiled and the whole apparatus clean. Have ready pounded
ice and rock salt, usually in the proportion of 1 part salt to 3
of ice. Machines come for cutting the ice, but it is easy to
pound it in a strong bag. Set the freezer can in place, put
around it the ice and salt alternately, shaking down and packing
firmly. Have the ice cream mixture cool, pour it in, having the
can not more than 2/3 full. Put on the lid, cover with ice and
salt, and begin to turn the crank. Open and stir down once or
twice, being careful to keep out the salt. Take out the crank
before the cream is too stiff. Pack the cream firmly down in the
can. See that the melted water is removed from the pail, put in
more ice and salt, and leave until the ice cream is firm.

_To mold ice cream or mousse._ Directions for packing in a mold
are given under _strawberry mousse_.

=14. American ice cream.=

(_a_) _Ingredients._

Cream 1 quart
Sugar 3/4 cup
Vanilla 1 tablespoonful

_Method._

Mix ingredients and freeze.

(_b_) _Ingredients._

Milk 1 pint
Flour 1 tablespoonful
Egg 1
Sugar 1 cup
Salt 1/4 teaspoonful
Cream 1 quart
Vanilla 1 tablespoonful

_Method._ As in French ice cream.

=15. French ice cream.=

_Ingredients._

Cream 1 quart
Milk 1 quart
Eggs 4 or 6 to 8 yolks
Sugar 1-1/2 cups
Vanilla 2 tablespoonfuls

_Method._

Make a custard of milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add cream, chill
and freeze.

16. =Milk sherbet.=

_Ingredients._

Milk 4 cups
Sugar 1-1/2 cups
Lemons Juice of 3

_Method._

Mix juice and sugar, stirring constantly while slowly adding milk.
If the mixture should curdle, this will disappear when frozen.

17. =Raspberry ice.=

_Ingredients._

Water 4 cups
Sugar 1-2/3 cups
Raspberry juice 2 cups
Lemon juice 2 tablespoonfuls

_Method._

Make a sirup by boiling water and sugar twenty minutes, add
raspberry juice, strain and freeze. Any fruit juice may be used
for this sherbet.

18. =Strawberry mousse.=

_Ingredients._

Cream 1 quart
Strawberries 1 box
Sugar 1 cup
Granulated gelatin 1-1/4 tablespoonfuls
Cold water 2 tablespoonfuls
Hot water 3 tablespoonfuls

_Method._

Wash and hull berries, sprinkle with sugar, and let stand one
hour; mash and rub through a fine sieve, add the gelatin soaked in
cold water and dissolved in hot water. Set in a pan of ice water
and stir until it begins to thicken; then fold in the whipped
cream, put into a mold, cover, pack in two parts ice to one of
salt, and let stand four hours. Use a mold with a tight cover and
seal the crack with a strip of cloth dipped in melted butter and
bound around the mold while still wet.

EXERCISES

1. Explain the value of salads and desserts in the dietary.

2. What are the important points in a good salad?

3. Give a number of agreeable combinations of material in a salad.

4. What are the substitutes for olive oil?

5. Why should mayonnaise dressing be kept cold in the mixing?

6. Make a classification of the different types of dessert.

7. What is gelatin, and why is it useful in desserts?

8. What are the underlying principles of custard making?

9. Why is it important that the can in a freezer should not be filled to the top?

10. Why does chopped ice and salt freeze the mixture?

11. Estimate the cost of the following dishes for five people: Potato salad with boiled dressing; a baked custard; a Brown Betty; French ice cream; raspberry or lemon ice.

12. Explain what is meant by garnishing.