Chapter IV: Introduction (1)

At their savory dinner set
Herbs and other country messes,
Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses.
--_Milton._

Our taste for salads--and in their simplest form who is not fond of salads?--is an inheritance from classic times and Eastern lands. In the hot climates of the Orient, cucumbers and melons were classed among earth's choicest productions; and a resort ever grateful in the heat of the day was "a lodge in a garden of cucumbers."

At the Passover the Hebrews ate lettuce, camomile, dandelion and mint,--the "bitter herbs" of the Paschal feast,--combined with oil and vinegar. Of the Greeks, the rich were fond of the lettuces of Smyrna, which appeared on their tables at the close of the repast. In this respect the Romans, at first, imitated the Greeks, but later came to serve lettuce with eggs as a first course and to excite the appetite. The ancient physicians valued lettuce for its narcotic virtue, and, on account of this property, Galen, the celebrated Greek physician, called it "the philosopher's or wise man's herb."

The older historians make frequent mention of salad plants and salads. In the biblical narrative Moses wrote: "And the children of Israel wept again and said, We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick."

In his second Eclogue, Virgil represents a rustic maid, Thestylis, preparing for the reapers a salad called _moretum_. He wrote, also, a poem bearing this title, in which he describes the composition and preparation of the dish.

A modern authority says, "Salads refresh without exciting and make people younger." Whether this be strictly true or not may be an open question, but certainly in the assertion a grain of truth is visible; for it is a well-known fact that "salad plants are better tonics and blood purifiers than druggists' compounds." There is, also, an old proverb: "Eat onions in May, and all the year after physicians may play." What is health but youth?

Vegetables, fish and meats, "left over,"--all may be transformed, by artistic treatment, into salads delectable to the eye and taste. Potatoes are subject to endless combinations. First of all in this connection, before dressing the potatoes allow them to stand in bouillon, meat broth, or even in the liquor in which corned beef has been cooked; then drain carefully before adding the oil and other seasonings.

Of uncooked vegetables, cabbage lettuce--called long ago by the Greek physician, Galen, the philosopher's or wise man's herb--stands at the head of salad plants. Like all uncooked vegetables, lettuce must be served fresh and crisp, and the more quickly it is grown the more tender it will be. When dressed for the table, each leaf should glisten with oil, yet no perceptible quantity should fall to the salad-bowl. Watercress, being rich in sulphuretted oil, is often served without oil. Cheese or eggs combine well with cress; and such a salad, with a sandwich of coarse bread and butter, together with a cup of sparkling coffee, forms an ideal luncheon for a picnic or for the home piazza. Indeed, all the compound salads,--that is, salads of many ingredients,--more particularly if they are served with a cooked or mayonnaise dressing, are substantial enough for the chief dish of a hearty meal. Their digestibility depends, in large measure, on the tenderness of the different ingredients, as well as upon the freshness of the uncooked vegetables that enter into their composition.

A salad has this superiority over every other production of the culinary art: A salad (but not every salad) is suitable to serve upon any occasion, or to any class or condition of men. Among _bon vivants_, without a _new_ salad, no matter how _recherché_ the other courses may be, the luncheon, or dinner party, of to-day does not pass as an unqualified success.

While salads may be compounded of all kinds of delicate meats, fish, shellfish, eggs, nuts, fruit, cheese and vegetables, cooked or uncooked, two things are indispensable to every kind and grade of salad, viz., the foundation of vegetables and the dressing.

=The Dressing.=

Salads are dressed with oil, acid and condiments; and, sometimes, a sweet, as honey or sugar, is used. A perfect salad is not necessarily acetic. The presence of vinegar in a dressing, like that of onions and its relatives, on most occasions should be suspected only. Wyvern and other true epicures consider the advice of Sydney Smith, as expressed in the following couplet, "most pernicious":--

"Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procured from town."

Aromatic vinegars, a few drops of which, used occasionally, lend piquancy and variety to an every-day salad, can be purchased at high-class provision stores; but the true salad-maker is an artist, and prefers to compound her own colors (_i.e._, vinegars); therefore we have given several recipes for the same, which may be easily modified to suit individual tastes.

Indeed, the dressing of a salad, though in the early days of the century considered a special art,--an art that rendered it possible for at least one noted Royalist refugee to amass a considerable fortune,--is entirely a matter of individual taste, or, more properly speaking, of cultivation. On this account, particularly for a French dressing, no set rules can be given. By experience and judgment one must decide upon the proportions of the different ingredients, or, more specifically, upon the proportions of the oil and acid to be used. Often four spoonfuls of oil are used to one of vinegar. Four spoonfuls of oil to two, three or four of vinegar may be the proportion preferred by others, and the quantity may vary for different salads.

Though in many of the recipes explicit quantities of oil, vinegar and condiments are given, it is with the understanding that these quantities are indicated simply as an approximate rule; sometimes less and sometimes more will be required, according to the tendency of the article dressed to absorb oil and acid, or the taste of the salad dresser.

=Use of Dressings.=

The dressings in most common use are the French and the mayonnaise. A French dressing is used for green vegetables, for fruit and nuts, and to marinate cooked vegetables, or the meat or fish for a meat or fish salad. Mayonnaise dressing is used for meat, fish, some varieties of fruit, as banana, apple and pineapple, and for some vegetables, as cauliflower, asparagus and tomatoes. Any article to be served with mayonnaise, after standing an hour or more in a marinade,--_i.e._, French dressing,--should be carefully drained, as, by the pickling process, liquid will drain out into the bottom of the vessel and, mixing with the mayonnaise, will liquefy the same.

=Arrangement of Salads.=

In the arrangement of salads there may be great display of taste and individuality. By a judicious selection from materials that may be kept constantly in store, and with one or two window boxes, in which herbs are growing, any one, with a modicum of inventive skill, can so change and modify the appearance and flavor of her salads that she may seem always to present a new one.

=Composition of Mayonnaise.=

Mayonnaise dressing is composed largely of olive oil. A small amount of yolk of egg is used as a foundation. The oil, with the addition of condiments, is slightly acidulated with vinegar and lemon juice, one or both, and the whole is made very light and thick by beating. Mayonnaise forms a very handsome dressing, and it is much enjoyed by those who are fond of oil.

=Value of Oil.=

Pure olive oil is almost entirely without flavor, and a taste for it can be readily acquired; and, when we consider that it contains all the really desirable qualities of the once-famous cod-liver oil, except the phosphates, and that these may be supplied in the other materials of the salad, it would seem wise to cultivate a taste for so wholesome an article. By the addition of cream, in the proportion of a cup of whipped cream to a pint of dressing, those to whom oil has not become agreeable can so modify its "tone" that they too will enjoy the mayonnaise dressing.

=Boiled and Cream Dressings.=

For the French and mayonnaise dressings--particularly for the latter--we sometimes substitute a _boiled_ and sometimes a _cream_ dressing. In the first, butter, or cream, is substituted for oil, and the materials are combined by cooking. In the latter, as the name implies, cream is the basis, and this may be either sweet or sour.

=Important Points in Salad-Making.=

(1) The green vegetables should be served fresh and crisp.

(2) Meat and fish should be well marinated and cold.

(3) The ingredients composing the salad should not be combined until the last moment before serving.

=When to Serve Salads with French or Mayonnaise Dressing.=

As a rule, subject, however, to exceptions, light vegetable salads, dressed with French dressing, are served at dinner; while heavy meat or fish Salads are reserved for luncheon, or supper, and are served with mayonnaise or cream dressing.

=When to Serve a Fruit Salad.=

A fruit salad, with sweet dressing, is served with cake at a luncheon, or supper, or in the evening; that is, it may take the place of fruit in the dessert course. A fruit salad, with French or mayonnaise dressing, may be served as a first course at luncheon, or with the game or roast, though in the latter case the French dressing is preferable.

=Salads with Cheese.=

The rightful place of salads is with the roast or game. Here the crisp, green salad herbs, delicately acidulated, complement and correct the richness of these _plats_.

Occasionally when the game is omitted and an acid sauce accompanies the roast, a simple salad combined with cheese in some form, preferably cooked and hot, is selected to lengthen the menu. This same combination of hot cheese dish and salad should be a favorite one for home luncheons, when this meal is not made the children's dinner. The salad too in this combination, aided by the bread accompanying it, corrects by dilution the over concentration and richness of the cheese dish. In England neatly trimmed-and-cleansed celery stalks and cheese often precede the sweet course; but by virtue of its mission as a digester of everything but itself and of the common disinclination to have the taste of sweets linger upon the palate, the place of cheese as cheese is with the coffee.

HOW TO MAKE AROMATIC VINEGARS, TO KEEP VEGETABLES AND TO PREPARE GARNISHES.

=How to Boil Eggs Hard for Garnishing.=

Cover the eggs with boiling water. Set them on the back of the range, where the water will keep hot without boiling, about forty minutes. Cool in cold water, and with a thin, sharp knife cut as desired.

=To Poach Whites of Eggs.=

Turn the whites of the eggs into a well-buttered mould or cup, set upon a trivet in a dish of hot water, and cook until firm, either upon the back of the range or in the oven, and without letting the water boil. Turn from the mould, cut into slices, and then into fanciful shapes; or chop fine.

=Royal Custard for Moulds of Aspic.=

Beat together one whole egg and three yolks; add one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of mace, salt and paprica, and, when well mixed, add half a cup of cream. Bake in a buttered mould, set in a pan of water, until firm. When cold cut in thin slices, then stamp out in fanciful shapes with French cutters. Use in decorating a mould for aspic jelly.

=How to Use Garlic or Onion in Salads.=

The salad-bowl may be rubbed with the cut surface of a clove of garlic, or a _chapon_ may be used. A _chapon_, according to gastronomic usage, is a thin piece of bread rubbed on all sides with the cut surface of a clove of garlic and put into the salad-bowl before the seasonings. It is tossed with the salad and dressings, to which it imparts its flavor. It may be divided and served with the salad. Oftentimes, instead of one piece, several small cubes of bread are thus used.

After a slice of onion has been removed, the cut surface of the onion may be pressed with a rotary motion against a grater and the juice extracted; or a lemon-squeezer kept for this special purpose may be used.

=How to Shell and Blanch Chestnuts.=

Score the shell of each nut, and put into a frying-pan with a teaspoonful of butter for each pint of nuts. Shake the pan over the fire until the butter is melted; then set in the oven five minutes. With a sharp knife remove the shells and skins together.

=How to Blanch Walnuts and Almonds.=

Put the nut meats over the fire in cold water, bring quickly to the boiling-point, drain, and rinse with cold water, then the skins may be easily rubbed from the almonds; a small pointed knife will be needed for the walnuts.

=How to Chop Fresh Herbs.=

Pluck the leaves close, discarding the stems; gather the leaves together closely with the fingers of the left hand, then with a sharp knife cut through close to the fingers; push the leaves out a little and cut again, and so continue until all are cut. Now gather into a mound and chop to a very fine powder, holding the point of the knife close to the board. Put the chopped herb into a cheese-cloth and hold under a stream of cold water, then wring dry. Use this green powder for dusting over a salad when required.

=How to Cut Radishes for a Garnish.=

Cut a thin slice from the leaf end of each; cut off the root end so as to leave it the length of the pistil of a flower. With a small, sharp knife score the pink skin, at the root end, into five or six sections extending half-way down the radish; then loosen the skin above these sections. Put the radishes in cold water for a little time, when they will become crisp, and the points will stand out like the petals of a flower.

=How to Clean Lettuce, Endive, Etc.=

A short time before serving cut off the roots and freshen the vegetable in cold water. Then break the leaves from the stalk; dip repeatedly into cold water, examining carefully, until perfectly clean, taking care not to crush the leaves. Put into a French wire basket made for the purpose, or into a piece of mosquito netting or cheese-cloth, and shake gently until the water is removed. Then spread on a plate or in a colander and set in a cool place until the moment for serving.

=How to Clean Cress.=

Pick over the stalks so as to remove grass, etc. Wash and dry in the same manner as the lettuce, but without removing the leaves from the stems, except when the stems are very coarse and large.

=How to Clean Cabbage and Cauliflower.=

Let stand head downwards half an hour in cold salted water, using a tablespoonful of salt to a quart of water.

=How to Render Uncooked Vegetables Crisp.=

Put into cold water with a bit of ice and a slice of lemon. When ready to use, dry between folds of cheese-cloth and let stand exposed to the air a few moments.

=How to Blanch and Cook Vegetables for Salads.=

Cut the vegetables as desired, in cubes, lozenges, balls, _juliennes_, etc. Put over the fire in boiling water, and, after cooking three or four minutes, drain, rinse in cold water, and put on to cook in boiling salted water to cover. Drain as soon as tender.

=How to Cut Gherkins for a Garnish.=

Select small cucumber pickles of uniform size. With a sharp knife cut them, lengthwise, into slices thin as paper, without detaching the slices at one end; then spread out the slices as a fan is spread.

=How to Fringe Celery.=

Cut the stalks into pieces about two inches in length. Beginning on the round side at one end, with a thin, sharp knife, cut down half an inch as many times as possible; then turn the stalk half-way around and cut in the opposite direction, thus dividing the end into shreds, or a fringe. If desired, cut the opposite end in the same manner. Set aside in a pan of ice water containing a slice of lemon.

=How to Shred Romaine and Straight Lettuce.=

Wash the lettuce leaves carefully, without removing them from the stalk; shake in the open air, and they will dry very quickly; fold in the middle, crosswise, and cut through in the fold. Hold the two pieces, one above the other, close to the meat-board with the left hand, and with a sharp knife cut in narrow ribbons not more than a quarter of an inch wide.

=How to Keep Celery, Watercress, Lettuce, Etc.=

Many green vegetables--celery in particular--discolor or rust, if allowed to stand longer than a few hours after being wet. When brought from the market they may be put aside, in a tightly closed pail, or in a paper bag, in a cool, dry place. By thus excluding the air they will keep fresh several days. A short time before serving put them into ice-cold water to which a slice or two of lemon has been added.

=How to Cook Sweetbreads and Brains.=

Remove the thin outer skin or membrane and soak in cold water, changing the water often, an hour or more. Cover with salted boiling water, acidulated with lemon juice and flavored with vegetables, and cook, just below the boiling-point, twenty minutes. They are then ready for preparation in any of the ways mentioned. Tie the brains in a cloth before cooking.

=How to Pickle Nasturtium Seeds.=

As the seeds are gathered wash and dry them; then put them into vinegar to which salt (half a teaspoonful to a pint) has been added. When a sufficient quantity has been collected, scald fresh vinegar, add salt as before, and the seeds from which the first vinegar has been drained. Pour scalding hot into bottles, having the seeds completely covered with vinegar.

=Nasturtium Vinegar.=

Fill a quart jar loosely with nasturtium blossoms fully blown; add a shallot and one-third a clove of garlic, both finely chopped, half a red pepper, and cold cider vinegar to fill the jar; cover closely and set aside two months. Dissolve a teaspoonful of salt in the vinegar, then strain and filter.

=Tarragon Vinegar.=

Fill a fruit jar with fresh tarragon leaves or shoots, putting them in loosely; add the thin _yellow_ paring of half a lemon with two or three cloves, and fill the jar with white wine or cider vinegar. Screw down the cover tightly, and allow the jar to stand in the sun two weeks; strain the vinegar through a cloth, pressing out the liquid from the leaves; then pass through filter paper, and bottle for future use. If a quantity be prepared, it were better to seal the bottles.

=Fines Herbes Vinegar.=

INGREDIENTS.

2 cups of tarragon vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls of garden cress, chopped fine.
2 tablespoonfuls of sweet marjoram, chopped fine.
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine.
4 small green capsicums, chopped fine.
2 shallots, chopped fine.

_Method._--Mix the ingredients in a pint fruit jar, cover closely, and set in the sun; after two weeks strain, pass through filter paper and store in tightly corked bottles.

=Fines Herbes Vinegar, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of tarragon vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls of seeds of garden cress, bruised or crushed.
2 tablespoonfuls of celery seeds, crushed.
2 tablespoonfuls of parsley seeds, crushed.
4 capsicums, chopped fine.
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine.

_Method._--Prepare as in preceding recipe.

=To Decorate Salads with Mayonnaise by Use of Pastry Bag and Tubes.=

Make the dressing very thick by the addition of oil, or use "jelly mayonnaise." Put the dressing into a pastry bag with star tube attached; twist the large end of the bag with the left hand, pressing the mixture towards the tube, and with the right guide the tube as in writing, to produce the pattern desired. To form stars, hold the bag in an upright position, point downward, press out a little of the dressing, then push the tube down gently, and raise it quickly to break the flow.

SALAD DRESSINGS.

SALAD DRESSINGS.

"Just, as in nature, thy proportions be,
As full of concord their variety."

=French Dressing.=

INGREDIENTS.

1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of cayenne or paprica.
1/4 a teaspoonful of pepper.
2 to 6 tablespoonfuls of vinegar or lemon juice.
6 tablespoonfuls of oil.

If desired,--

1/2 a teaspoonful of prepared mustard.
1/2 a teaspoonful of onion juice, or rub the salad-bowl with
slice of onion, or clove of garlic.

_Method._--Mix the condiments, add the oil and mix again; then add the acid, a few drops at a time, and beat until an emulsion is formed; then pour over the vegetables, toss with the spoon and fork, and serve. In Chicago a method has obtained that is well worth a trial: Put a bit of ice into the bowl with the condiments, and, by means of a fork pressed against or into this, use in mixing.

_Second Method._--Pour the oil over the vegetables, toss, until the oil is evenly distributed, and dust with salt and pepper; then add the acid and toss again. When the salad is prepared at the table, the vegetables may be dressed in a bowl, then arranged on the serving-dish; or, if but one vegetable is used, it is preferable to serve from the dish in which it is dressed.

=To Mix a Quantity of Dressing.=

Put all the ingredients into a fruit jar, fit on one or more rubbers and the cover; then shake the jar vigorously, until a smooth dressing is formed.

=Claret Dressing.=

(_For lettuce or fruit salad._)

Mix half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, white or paprica, and four tablespoonfuls of oil; add gradually one tablespoonful of claret and one tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar.

=Mayonnaise Dressing.=

INGREDIENTS.

The yolks of 2 raw eggs.
1 pint of olive oil.
2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of cayenne or paprica.

If desired,--

1 teaspoonful, each, of mustard and powdered sugar.

_Method._--An amateur will probably find it helpful to have all the utensils and ingredients thoroughly chilled, but the professional salad-maker thinks it expedient to have the ingredients and utensils of the same temperature as the room in which the dressing is to be served. Beat the yolks with a small wooden spoon or silver fork, add the condiments and mix again; then add one teaspoonful of vinegar, and, when well mixed with the other ingredients, add the oil, at first drop by drop. When the mixture has become of good consistency the oil may be added faster. When it is too thick to beat well, add a little of the lemon juice, then more oil, and so on alternately, until the ingredients are used. If a very heavy dressing is desired, as when it is to be put on with forcing-bag and tubes for a garnish, an additional half a cup of oil may be added without increasing the quantity of acid.

In preparing mayonnaise, there is absolutely no danger of curdling, if the eggs be fresh and the oil be added slowly, especially if the materials and utensils have been thoroughly chilled. If the yolks do not thicken when beaten with the condiments, but spread out over the bowl, you have sufficient indication that they will not thicken upon the addition of the oil, and it were better to select others and begin again. Take care to add the teaspoonful of acid to the yolks and condiments before beginning to drop in the oil, as this lessens the liability of the mixture to curdle.

=How to Make Mayonnaise in Quantity.=

If four quarts or more of dressing be required, make the full amount at one time; cut down the number of yolks to one for each pint of oil, but keep the usual proportions of the other ingredients. Use a Dover egg-beater from the start; after a little a teaspoonful of oil can be added instead of drops, and, very soon, a much larger quantity.

=Curdled Mayonnaise.=

Occasionally a mayonnaise will assume a curdled appearance; under such circumstances, often the addition of a very little of white of egg or a few drops of lemon juice, with thorough beating, will cause the sauce to resume its former smoothness. In case it does not become smooth, put the yolk of an egg into a cold bowl, beat well, and add to it the curdled mixture, a little at a time.

=Red Mayonnaise.=

Mix a level teaspoonful of Italian tomato pulp with a teaspoonful of mayonnaise dressing, and when well blended beat very thoroughly into a cup or more of the dressing, or add dressing until the desired tint is attained.

=Red Mayonnaise, No. 2.=

(_For fish._)

Pound dried lobster coral in a mortar, sift, and add gradually to the dressing, to secure the shade desired. Or, after the salad is arranged in the bowl, or in nests, mask the top with mayonnaise of the usual color, and sift the coral over the centre, leaving a ring of yellow around the edge.

=Sauce Tartare.=

Make a mayonnaise dressing, using tarragon vinegar. To each cup of dressing add one shallot, chopped fine, two tablespoonfuls, each, of finely chopped capers, olives and cucumber pickles, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and one-fourth a teaspoonful of powdered tarragon.

=Sardine Mayonnaise.=

Skin and bone three sardines and pound them to a pulp; sift the cooked yolks of three eggs and add to the pulp; work until smooth, then add to one cup of mayonnaise dressing.

=Jelly Mayonnaise.=

(_Used for masking cold fish or salads, or as a garnish with forcing-bag and tube._)

To a cup of mayonnaise dressing beat in gradually from two tablespoonfuls to one-third a cup of chilled but liquid aspic. More seasoning may be needed. Apply to a cold surface, or chill before using with forcing-bag.

=Livournaise Sauce.=

To a cup of mayonnaise dressing add a grating of nutmeg, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley and the pulp of eight anchovies.

To prepare the anchovies, wash, dry, remove skin and bones and pound to a pulp in a mortar.

=Boiled Dressing for Chicken Salad.=

INGREDIENTS.

1/2 a cup of chicken stock, well reduced.
1/2 a cup of vinegar.
1/4 a cup of mixed mustard.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 a teaspoonful of paprica.
Yolks of 5 eggs.
1/2 a cup of oil.
1/2 a cup of thick, sweet cream.

_Method._--Simmer the liquor in which a fowl has been cooked, until it is well reduced. Put the stock, vinegar and mustard into a double boiler, and add the salt and pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add carefully to the hot mixture, cooking in the same manner as a boiled custard. When cold and ready to serve, beat in with a whisk the oil, and then fold in the cream, beaten stiff with a Dover egg-beater. Melted butter, added before the dressing is cold, may be substituted for the oil.

=Boiled Salad Dressing.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 teaspoonful of mustard.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of paprica.
Yolks of 3 eggs.
4 tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
1/2 a cup of thick cream.
2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice.

_Method._--Mix together the mustard, salt and paprica, and add the yolks of eggs; stir well and add slowly the butter, vinegar and lemon juice, and cook in the double boiler until thick as soft custard. When cool and ready to serve, add the cream, beaten stiff with the Dover egg-beater.

=Cream Salad Dressing.=

INGREDIENTS.

3/4 a cup of thick cream.
2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar or lemon juice.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
A dash of white pepper and paprica.

_Method._--Add the seasonings to the cream and beat with a Dover egg-beater until smooth and light. Add a scant fourth a cup of grated horseradish, for a change. The radish should be freshly grated, and added to the cream after it is beaten.

=Dressing for Cole-Slaw.=

Beat the yolks of three eggs with half a teaspoonful of made mustard, a dash of pepper and one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt; add one-third a cup of vinegar and two tablespoonfuls of butter, and cook over hot water until slightly thickened. Set aside to become cold before using.

=Bacon Sauce.=

Heat five tablespoonfuls of bacon fat; cook in it two tablespoonfuls of flour and a dash of paprica; add five tablespoonfuls of vinegar and half a cup of water; stir until boiling; then beat in the beaten yolks of two eggs, and a little salt if necessary. Do not allow the sauce to boil after the eggs are added. Add to salad after it has become thoroughly cold. Good with dandelion, endive, chicory, corn salad or lettuce.

=Hollandaise Sauce.=

Beat half a cup of butter to a cream; add the yolks of four eggs, one at a time, beating in each thoroughly; add one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of paprica or cayenne, and half a cup of boiling water. Cook over hot water until thick, adding gradually the juice of half a lemon. Chill before using. This is good, especially for a fish salad, in the place of mayonnaise.

=Bernaise Sauce.=

Use tarragon instead of plain vinegar, omit the water, with the exception of one tablespoonful, and the hollandaise becomes bernaise sauce. Oil may be used in the place of butter. The sauce resembles a firm mayonnaise, and, as it keeps its shape well, is particularly adapted for garnishing with pastry bag and tube.

(See page 36)]

(See page 37)]

VEGETABLE SALADS SERVED WITH FRENCH DRESSING.

"Bestrewed with lettuce and cool salad herbs."

=Lettuce Salad.=

Wash and drain the lettuce leaves; toss lightly, so as to remove every drop of water. Sprinkle them with oil, a few drops at a time, tossing the leaves about with spoon and fork after each addition. When each leaf glistens with oil (there should be no oil in the bottom of the bowl) shake over them a few drops of vinegar, then dust with salt and freshly ground pepper. The cutting of lettuce is considered a culinary sin; but, when the straight-leaved lettuce, or the Romaine, is to be used, better effects, at least as far as appearance is concerned, will be produced, if the lettuce be cut into ribbons. To do this, wash the lettuce carefully, without removing the leaves from the stem; fold together across the centre, and with a sharp, thin knife cut into ribbons _less_ than half an inch in width.

=Endive Salad.=

Prepare as lettuce salad, first rubbing over the bowl with a clove of garlic cut in halves. A few sprigs of chives, chopped fine, are exceedingly palatable, sprinkled over a lettuce, endive, string-bean, or other bean salad.

=A Few Combinations.=

Dress each vegetable separately with the dressing; then arrange upon the serving-dish. Or, have the salad arranged upon the serving-dish and pour the dressing over all; then toss together and serve. About three tablespoonfuls of oil, with other ingredients in accordance, will be needed for one pint of vegetable.

1. Lettuce, tomatoes cut in halves, sprinkled with powdered tarragon, and parsley or chives.

2. Lettuce, moulded spinach and fine-chopped beets.

3. Lettuce, Boston baked beans and chives.

4. Lettuce and peppergrass.

5. Lettuce, shredded sweet peppers or pimentos, and sliced pecan nuts or almonds.

6. Lettuce, tomatoes stuffed with peas or string beans cut small, and chives chopped fine.

7. Lettuce, asparagus tips and sliced radishes. Arrange the lettuce at the edge of dish, inside a ring of radishes sliced thin, without removing the red skins; centre of asparagus tips, with radish cut to resemble a flower.

8. Lettuce, shredded tomatoes and shredded green peppers.

9. Shredded lettuce, English walnuts, and almonds or cooked chestnuts, sliced.

10. Lettuce, Neufchatel cheese in slices and shredded pimentos.

11. Lettuce, cauliflower, string beans and shredded pimentos.

12. Lettuce or cress, artichoke slices and powdered tarragon.

13. Shredded cabbage and shredded green peppers.

14. Cauliflower broken into flowerets, string beans cut into small pieces, and beets cut in fancy shapes or chopped. Arrange each vegetable in a mass by itself; surround with lettuce.

15. Cucumbers and new onions, sliced.

16. Watercress, diced boiled beets, and olives in centre.

17. Lettuce, Brussels sprouts and chopped pepper.

=Lentil Salad.=

Soak the lentils over night; wash and rinse thoroughly, then cook until tender, adding hot water as needed. Drain, and when cold mix with each pint of lentils about five tablespoonfuls of oil, two tablespoonfuls of tarragon vinegar and one teaspoonful, each, of capers, parsley, chives and cucumber pickles, all, save the capers, chopped fine. Serve in a mound, on a bed of lettuce leaves. Garnish with heart leaves of lettuce at the top and sections of tomato, or diamonds of tomato jelly, at the base.

=White-Bean Salad.=

Toss one pint of white beans, cooked, with one tablespoonful of vinegar and three tablespoonfuls of oil, a little salt and a dash of cayenne or paprica. Arrange in a mound on a bed of shredded lettuce, and sprinkle with chives, parsley and pimentos, all finely chopped. Finish the top of the salad with a large pim-ola.

=Potato Salad.=

(MISS COHEN.)

INGREDIENTS.

3 cups of cold boiled potatoes, cut in cubes.
1 cup of pecan nuts, broken in pieces.
5 tablespoonfuls of oil.
1 tablespoonful of salt.
1/2 a teaspoonful of onion juice.
A dash of cayenne.
2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Watercress.

_Method._--Mix the potatoes and nuts, add the oil and mix again; add the other seasonings, and, when well mixed, set aside in a cool place an hour or more. Remove the coarse stalks from two bunches of watercress that have been well washed and dried. Season with French dressing and arrange in a wreath about the edge of the salad.

(See page 34)]

=Potato Salad.=

(CARRIE M. DEARBORN.)

INGREDIENTS.

12 cold boiled potatoes.
4 cooked eggs.
2 small Bermuda onions.
Chopped parsley.
1 saltspoonful of white pepper.
2 teaspoonfuls of salt.
6 tablespoonfuls, each, of oil and vinegar.
1/2 a teaspoonful of powdered sugar.

_Method._--Cut the potatoes into dice and chop the eggs fine. Chop the onions, or slice them very thin. Sprinkle the potatoes, eggs and onions with the salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Pour the oil gradually over the mixture, stirring and tossing continually; lastly, mix with the other ingredients the vinegar, in which the sugar has been dissolved. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top.

=Potato Salad.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 quart of cubes of cold boiled potatoes.
1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of paprica.
3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
4 tablespoonfuls of oil.
Capers, beets, whites and yolks of eggs, and lettuce.

_Method._--To the potato cubes add the salt, pepper and oil, and mix thoroughly; add the vinegar and mix again. Pile the cubes in a mound in the salad-bowl. Mark out the surface of the mound into quarters with capers; fill in two opposite sections with chopped beet; use chopped whites of eggs in a third, and sifted yolks of eggs in the fourth section. Finish with a border of parsley.

=Potato-and-Nasturtium Salad.=

(E. J. MCKENZIE.)

INGREDIENTS.

1 quart of potatoes, cut in cubes.
1/2 a cup of chopped gherkins.
1 cup of tender nasturtium shoots, cut in bits.
2 tablespoonfuls of pickled nasturtium seeds.
Onion juice or garlic.
6 tablespoonfuls of oil.
5 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Salt and pepper.
Chopped parsley.

_Method._--Mix the potatoes, gherkins, nasturtium shoots and seeds in a bowl rubbed over with garlic; add the oil, vinegar and seasonings, and mix again. Pile in a mound on a serving-dish, dust with chopped parsley, and garnish with a wreath of nasturtium blossoms and leaves.

=Stuffed Beets.=

Boil new beets, of even size, until tender. Set aside for some hours, or over night, covered with vinegar. When ready to serve, rub off the skin, scoop out the centre of each to form a cup, and arrange the cups on lettuce leaves. For each five cups chop fine a cucumber. Make a French dressing of two tablespoonfuls of oil, half a tablespoonful (scant) of vinegar, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of paprica and salt. Stir the dressing into the cucumber and fill the beets with the mixture. Of the beet removed to form the cups, cut slices and stamp out from these stars or other fanciful shapes, and use to decorate the top of each cup.

Chopped radish, cress, olives or celery are all admissible for a filling.

=Salad of Brussels Sprouts and Beets.=

Soak the sprouts in salted water; then drain and cook in salted boiling water about fifteen minutes, or until tender; drain and cool. Dress with French dressing and pile in a mound. Finish the top with a fanciful-shaped figure cut from a slice of pickled beet, and place a wreath of cooked beet, chopped and seasoned with French dressing, about the whole.

=Macedoine Salad.=

Cut pieces of carrot and turnip one inch long and half an inch thick. Put over the fire in boiling water and bring quickly to the boiling-point; drain, cover with fresh water, and cook until tender; score the top of each piece and insert an asparagus point. Dip the pieces in a little melted gelatine and set alternately in a circle on the serving-dish. Have carrots cut in small cubes or straws, turnips and beet root the same, green string beans cut in small pieces, asparagus and peas, all cooked separately until tender. Mix with French dressing and dispose inside the circle. Each vegetable may be massed by itself, or all may be mixed together. Finish the top with half a dozen short stalks of asparagus.

=Tomato-and-Onion Salad.=

Peel and shred four tomatoes; slice thinly a very mild onion and separate into rings; dress freely with oil and tarragon vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Serve on lettuce leaves, sprinkling the whole with fine-chopped parsley and green peppers.

=Endive,-Tomato-and-Green-String-Bean Salad.=

Dress the well-blanched stalks of a head of endive, three tomatoes, peeled, cut in halves and chilled, and a cup of cold cooked string beans, separately, with French dressing, using in the dressing tarragon vinegar and a few drops of onion juice; then arrange on a serving-dish.

(See page 34)]

=Cucumber Salad.=

(_German style._)

Pare large cucumbers and cut them into thin slices; cut each slice round and round so as to form a long, narrow curling strip. Let these strips stand two hours in salted ice water, drain, and dry in a soft cloth. Serve with French dressing. Toss first in the oil, then add the condiments, and lastly the vinegar. Americans would prefer to omit the salt from the ice water, as it softens the cucumber.

=Cucumber Salad for Fish Course.=

With a handy slicer remove the outside rind from the cucumbers, cut in thin slices, and let stand in ice-water to chill. Wipe dry, and arrange the slices in the salad bowl in the form of a Greek cross. Make a French dressing, in the proportion of three tablespoonfuls of cider vinegar to six tablespoonfuls of oil, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of paprica. Rub the inside of the salad bowl with the cut side of an onion before the salad is disposed in it.

=Cooked Vegetable Salad.=

Dress cooked kidney beans, peas, and balls cut from potatoes, each separately with French dressing, to which a few drops of onion juice have been added. Dispose upon a serving-dish and let stand in a cool place an hour or more. Garnish at serving with heart leaves of lettuce.

=Potato Salad.=

(_German Style._)

INGREDIENTS.

1 quart of potato slices or cubes.
About 1/2 a cup of beef broth.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 a teaspoonful of paprica.
8 tablespoonfuls of oil.
1 tablespoonful of grated onion.
2 hard boiled eggs.
4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
1 teaspoonful of mustard.
1 teaspoonful of sugar.
Fine chopped parsley.
(1 cup of mushrooms.)

_Method._--Boil the potatoes without paring. German potatoes, which are waxy rather than mealy, may be procured in large cities especially for salads. Peel the potatoes and cut them while hot into slices or cubes; pour over them as much beef broth as they will readily absorb and sprinkle with the salt and pepper, the oil and onion; mix lightly and set aside for some hours. Then add the whites of the eggs chopped fine, the yolks passed through a sieve, and mix with the rest of the oil, stirred with the vinegar into the mustard and sugar. After disposing in the dish, sprinkle with the parsley. If mushrooms be at hand, simmer ten or fifteen minutes in broth, break in pieces, and add to the salad with the egg.

SALADS, LARGELY VEGETABLE, SERVED WITH MAYONNAISE, CREAM OR BOILED DRESSING.

=Cauliflower Salad.=

Soak the cauliflower in salted water an hour; cook in boiling salted water until tender; drain and chill, then sprinkle with French dressing and set aside for half an hour. Sever the flowerets partly from the stalk, but so as not to change their relative positions, and place on a serving-dish; put heart leaves of lettuce between the flowerets and about the base of the vegetable; pour a cup of mayonnaise dressing over the whole, and sprinkle with pimentos or fine-chopped parsley. In serving, separate the flowerets with a sharp knife.

=Tomatoes Stuffed with Nuts and Celery.=

Peel the tomatoes; cut out a circular piece at the stem end of each and scoop out the flesh so as to form cups. Chill thoroughly, then fill with English walnut or pecan meats, broken into pieces, and celery, cut into small pieces and mixed with mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce leaves.

=Stuffed-Tomato Salad.=

INGREDIENTS.

6 smooth, small-sized tomatoes.
6 tablespoonfuls of chicken, veal or tongue, cut fine.
6 tablespoonfuls of peas.
3 olives, chopped fine.
3 gherkins, chopped fine.
2 tablespoonfuls of capers.
Salt and pepper.
Mayonnaise dressing.

_Method._--Remove a round piece from the stem end of the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds and centre. Chill thoroughly. When ready to serve, mix together the solid part removed from the tomatoes, cut fine, and the other ingredients; season to taste with salt and pepper, adding also mayonnaise to hold the mixture together. With this fill the tomatoes, put them in nests of lettuce or cress, and force a star of mayonnaise on the top of each tomato.

=Tomato Salad, Horseradish Dressing.=

Plunge the tomatoes, placed in a wire basket, into a kettle of hot water; remove at once and rub off the skin; chill thoroughly and cut in halves. Serve on lettuce leaves with a star of cream dressing, seasoned with grated horseradish, on the top of each slice.

=Tomato-and-Sweetbread Salad.=

Cook two sweetbreads as directed on another page, or braise with vegetables. Cool between two plates bearing a weight. When cold cut into slices and stamp into rounds of suitable size to use with slices of tomato. Cover the slices of sweetbread with chaud-froid sauce and decorate with fine-chopped parsley or sifted yolk of egg; pour over a little melted aspic. When the aspic is set, trim neatly, and arrange each round of sweetbread on a slice of chilled tomato. Serve inside a border of lettuce around a salad made of the trimmings of the sweetbreads and a cucumber cut in cubes and dressed with mayonnaise.

(See page 41)]

(See page 43)]

=Cress,-Cucumber-and-Tomato Salad.=

Wash the cress and shake dry; arrange as a bed on a serving-dish, discarding the coarse stems; above this make a smaller bed of cucumbers, cut in slices or dice and dressed with French dressing, using three tablespoonfuls of oil and one of vinegar or lemon juice to a pint of cucumber. Arrange peeled tomatoes, chilled and cut in pieces, upon the cucumbers. Serve with French, cream or mayonnaise dressing.

=Tomatoes Stuffed with Cucumber.=

Peel five tomatoes, cut off the stem ends and scoop out the pulp, thus forming cups; set, turned upside down, in a cool place. Chop fine the solid pulp from the tomatoes and one cucumber, chilled before chopping; stir into a cup of cream dressing and fill the tomatoes with the mixture. Salt and pepper will be needed in addition to that in the dressing. If at hand, a pimento may be chopped with the other ingredients, or two tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish may be used. Serve at once on lettuce leaves.

=Tomatoes Stuffed with Jelly.=

Chop one sweetbread and one cucumber fine. To each cup (solid and liquid) add one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and paprica, a few drops of onion juice and a tablespoonful of capers; add also half a tablespoonful of granulated gelatine, soaked in two or three tablespoonfuls of cold water and melted over hot water. Stir until the mixture begins to congeal, then fill into tomatoes prepared as above. Set aside on the ice for half an hour, at least; then serve on lettuce leaves with either mayonnaise, boiled or cream dressing. Calf's brains, chicken, veal, tongue or ham may be substituted for the sweetbread.

=Tomatoes Farces à l'Aspic.=

INGREDIENTS.

6 even-sized ripe tomatoes.
1 pint of aspic jelly.
1/2 a cup of lobster meat, chopped fine.
1 tablespoonful of capers.
2 yolks of hard-boiled eggs.
Mayonnaise, parsley, lettuce.

_Method._--Scoop out the centres of the tomatoes, after removing the skin, and chill thoroughly. Pass the yolks through a sieve, add to the lobster, with the capers, half a cup of mayonnaise and half a cup of chicken aspic, thick and cold, but not set; stir these in a dish standing in ice water until nearly set; then fill the cavities in the tomatoes with the mixture. Brush over the outside of the tomatoes with half-set aspic; when the aspic is set, repeat twice, then set aside on ice for some time before serving. Serve on a bed of lettuce seasoned with French dressing. Garnish each tomato with a sprig of parsley and the salad-dish with blocks of aspic. Anchovies or any cooked fish may be substituted for the lobster. Serve with mayonnaise.

=Tomato Jelly.=

Soak three-fourths a box of gelatine in half a cup of cold water. Cook a can of tomatoes, half an onion, a stalk of celery, a bay leaf, two cloves, a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica ten minutes. Add two tablespoonfuls of tarragon vinegar and the gelatine, stir till dissolved, strain, and mould in a ring mould. When cold turn from the mould and fill the centre with

=CELERY-AND-NUT SALAD.=

Cut fine tender stalks of celery and English walnuts and mix with French dressing. Garnish the centre of the salad and the border of the jelly with tender leaves of lettuce and bits of curled celery.

=Tomato-Jelly Salad, No. 2.=

Make the jelly and mould as before. Fill in the centre of the ring with shredded cabbage, pimentos and pecan nuts, mixed with boiled dressing.

=Tomato Jelly with String Beans.=

Cook tiny string beans until tender in boiling salted water; season while hot with onion juice, salt, pepper and tarragon vinegar. When cold add oil and toss the beans about until each bean is coated with the oil. Fill the centre of the jelly, fashioned in a ring mould, with the beans, and sprinkle over them a fine-chopped pimento. Garnish with lettuce leaves. Fine-chopped chives may be used in the place of the onion juice; they are particularly appropriate in any bean salad. If the beans are large, cut in halves lengthwise and the halves crosswise.

Tomato jelly may be served in a ring mould with turkey, oyster, plain chicken, French chicken, and other salads. The oysters should be scalded and drained, then marinated with French dressing. Chicken and turkey should also be marinated before mixing with celery and the mayonnaise or boiled dressing.

=Tomato-and-Artichoke Salad.=

(MRS. E. M. LUCAS, IN BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.)

Choose medium-sized tomatoes, firm and smooth skinned. Peel them, cut a slice from the stem end and remove the seeds with a small spoon. Sprinkle the interior of these cups with salt and set on ice. When ready to serve, wipe them dry and fill with artichokes cut into dice and mixed with mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce leaves. Use tarragon vinegar in preparing the dressing. Cook the artichoke hearts until just tender,--no longer,--in salted boiling water, then drain and cool.

=Artichoke Salad.=

(_For game._)

(MRS. E. M. LUCAS, IN BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.)

Peel three oranges, remove the pith and white skin and slice lengthwise; use an equal amount of tender blanched celery stalks cut into inch lengths. Mix together lightly with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter a teaspoonful of paprica. Heap together lightly on a serving-dish and surround with cooked hearts of artichokes cut into quarters; wreathe with blanched celery leaves.

=Artichoke Salad.=

(_Used as a border for shrimp, lobster, chicken and other salads._)

(MRS. E. M. LUCAS, IN BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.)

Cut boiled artichokes into quarter-inch slices and stamp out with a French vegetable cutter. To half a pint add one tablespoonful of olive oil, half a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar and one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt; toss lightly together and let stand one hour; drain, and arrange as a border with an outer layer of tiny blanched lettuce leaves.

2. Scoop out the centres of the artichokes and fill with mayonnaise, or with ravigote, tartare or tyrolienne sauce. Serve on lettuce leaves as a border to a meat or fish salad.

3. Fill the centres with walnut meats, sliced, or tender celery stalks, cut fine and mixed with mayonnaise.

=Asparagus Salad.=

Cut cold cooked asparagus into pieces an inch long, mix lightly with cream dressing and serve, in individual portions, on curly lettuce leaves.

=Asparagus-and-Salmon Salad.=

Mix cold cooked salmon with mayonnaise, form in a mound and encircle with a wreath of cold cooked asparagus tips dressed with French dressing.

=Asparagus-and-Cauliflower Salad.=

Break the cooked cauliflower into its flowerets, dispose in the centre of the serving-dish and surround with a wreath of cooked asparagus tips. Pour over the whole a mayonnaise, a boiled or a cream dressing, and sprinkle with chopped capers or pimentos.

=Salad of Turnips with Asparagus Tips.=

Cook the turnips in boiling salted water until tender; drain, and cut out the centres, forming cups. Sprinkle the inside with oil and a few grains of salt, and, when the oil is absorbed, pour over the cups a little lemon juice or vinegar. Set aside to become cool. When ready to serve, arrange the cups on shredded lettuce and fill with cooked asparagus tips, cold and mixed with mayonnaise or French dressing, as desired. Peas, flageolets or wax beans, cut fine, may be used instead of the asparagus. Garnish with radishes.

=Green-Pea Salad.=

Mix the peas with a cream dressing; serve in nests of lettuce; garnish the top of each nest with a little chopped beet, or a fanciful figure cut from a pickled beet or pimento.

=Green-Pea-and-Potato Salad.=

Mix equal parts of cold cooked peas and potatoes cut in very small cubes; season with salt and pepper, and serve as green-pea salad.

=Asparagus Salad.=

Scrape the scales from the stalks, and cook, standing upright in boiling salted water, until tender; drain and chill thoroughly. Serve on lettuce leaves with French dressing. Garnish the lettuce with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters lengthwise.

=Macedoine of Vegetable Salad.=

Dress one cup, each, of cooked carrots and turnips, cut in dice, string beans, cut small, green peas, and half a cup of cooked beets, cut small, with French dressing; add two tablespoonfuls of chopped gherkins; drain, and mix with sufficient jelly mayonnaise to hold the vegetables together. Arrange in dome shape and cover with more jelly mayonnaise. Set a row of sliced gherkins near the top, and fill in the space to the top with string beans or asparagus tips. Surround the base with alternate rounds of beet and potato overlapping one another. Decorate the space above with slices of potato and beet cut in diamonds, and surround the base with light-green aspic cut in diamonds. One pint of aspic will be sufficient; use chicken stock, and tint with color paste.

=Russian Vegetable Salad.=

Select two moulds of suitable shape and size (tin basins or earthen bowls will do) and chill in ice water. Have ready cooked balls, cut from carrots and turnips, and cooked string beans and cauliflower, all marinated with French dressing. Drain the vegetables, dip them into half-set aspic, and arrange against the chilled sides of the moulds; then fill the moulds with aspic jelly. When set, with a hot spoon scoop out the aspic from the centre of each mould and fill in the space with a mixture of the vegetables and jelly mayonnaise, leaving an open space at the top to be filled with half-set aspic. When thoroughly chilled and set, turn from the moulds, the smaller mould above the other. Garnish with flowerets of cauliflower, dipped in aspic and chilled, and lettuce. Serve with mayonnaise.

(See page 47)]

=Stuffed-Cucumber Salad.=

Pare a short cucumber and cut it lengthwise in two parts; remove the seeds and let chill in ice water for an hour. Chop together the solid part of a peeled and seeded tomato, half a slice of new onion, a stalk of celery and a sprig of parsley; mix with mayonnaise or a boiled dressing and use as a filling for the well-dried halves of cucumber. Serve on cress or lettuce.

=Cowslip-and-Cream-Cheese Salad.=

(See cut facing page 58.)