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A Royal Salad Dressing
Pour Boil three eggs hard and let them get cold. Take the yolks and mix with two or three tablespoonfuls of rich cream. Then mix together one tablespoonful of mustard, one tablespoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt and a little black pepper. Add these to the cream and yolks, and lastly add gently vinegar enough to make it about as thick as cream. over the lettuce (or other raw salad) and garnish with the whites of the eggs, sliced in rings. Cream is, in my opinion, better than olive oil for salads. These proportions can be increased to meet needs. The yolks and cream must be mixed smooth and free from lumps. To secure this boil the eggs until they are mealy-turning them dark does not matter, so they crumble. A little anchovy added is liked by some. -Mrs. Sallie Cotten, North Carolina. [155]
A cooked-yolk dressing of the sort that preceded emulsified mayonnaise in American kitchens: no oil, no whisking of a suspension, just sieved hard yolks loosened with cream and sharpened with vinegar. A few things in the printed text need untangling before you start.
- The scrambled first lineThe word "Pour" at the head of the recipe belongs with "over the lettuce" further down — a compositor's error in the original setting. Read it as: make the dressing, then pour it over the lettuce and garnish with the egg whites.
- Mealy yolks are the hingeThe dressing is smooth only if the yolks crumble to powder. Boil the eggs a full 12 to 15 minutes, cool them completely, and push the yolks through a fine sieve rather than mashing them with a fork. The green-grey ring the author dismisses is harmless sulphur discolouration.
- Which mustardA tablespoon of mustard in a book of this date most likely means dry mustard powder, and the quantity points that way; that is what would give the dressing its bite. If you substitute prepared mustard the result will be milder and looser; adjust the vinegar accordingly.
- Vinegar is undeclaredNo quantity is given because the target is a texture, not a measure. Add cider or white wine vinegar a teaspoon at a time until the mixture pours like heavy cream — roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons for this quantity, but stop when the consistency is right.
- Cream"Rich cream" here means something close to modern heavy or double cream, not half-and-half. Thinner cream will need less vinegar and still taste watery.
- The anchovyIf you use the optional anchovy, mash one fillet or use half a teaspoon of paste and work it into the yolks before the cream, so it disperses. Reduce the salt, since anchovy carries plenty.
- Yield and keepingThree yolks and a few tablespoons of cream make enough for two good heads of lettuce, serving four to six. It is not an emulsion and will separate; make it the same day, refrigerate, and stir before pouring.
- Dress at the tableA cream-and-vinegar dressing wilts tender leaves quickly. Pour it over the salad immediately before serving rather than tossing ahead.
Before bottled mayonnaise, printed American salad dressings tended to fall into two broad groups: an oil-and-vinegar "French" dressing, or a thicker "boiled" or cooked-yolk dressing built on eggs, cream or milk, mustard and vinegar. This recipe belongs to the second group, and the contributor's aside that cream is "better than olive oil for salads" reflects a preference often voiced at the time — good olive oil was expensive, imported and unfamiliar to many American households around 1900, while cream came from the dairy. The attribution is presumably to Sallie Southall Cotten of North Carolina, a prominent figure in the women's club movement of the period; compilations of this kind commonly gathered signed contributions from well-known clubwomen, which gave the book both its recipes and its social authority. The garnish of egg whites sliced into rings, laid over the dressed leaves, suits the era's taste for making even a plain salad look composed.