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Another Salad Dressing
Here is a simple one. Take the yolks of four eggs, beaten, one teaspoonful of sugar, salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper, two teaspoonfuls of made mustard, six tablespoonfuls of salad oil and five of celery or other flavored vinegar, Mix all these thoroughly, put in a saucepan and boil three minutes with constant stirring. When cold pour it over the chicken or other salad.
A boiled dressing of the sort that preceded jarred mayonnaise in American kitchens — egg yolks thickened over heat rather than emulsified cold. The whole thing succeeds or fails on how you interpret the word "boil."
- Do not actually boil itYolks set at around 160-180F and scramble above that; a rolling boil will give you sweet-sour granules in oil. Cook over low heat, or better in a double boiler, stirring constantly until the mixture coats the spoon — three minutes is about right at that gentler pace.
- Salt-spoonA salt-spoon is roughly a quarter teaspoon. That much cayenne in a cup of dressing is assertive but not unreasonable for the period; start with half if you are unsure.
- Made mustard"Made" mustard means prepared mustard from the jar, not dry mustard powder. Use a smooth Dijon or an English prepared mustard; if you substitute dry powder, use about half the volume and slake it in a little of the vinegar first.
- Celery vinegarA flavored vinegar made by steeping celery seed or celery leaf in white wine or cider vinegar for a week or two. White wine vinegar with a quarter teaspoon of bruised celery seed added to the pan is a fair stand-in; tarragon vinegar, another of the common flavored vinegars, also works.
- Salad oilIn this period the term generally meant olive oil, sometimes cottonseed. Any neutral oil or a mild olive oil suits; a strongly peppery modern extra-virgin will fight the mustard.
- ProportionsSix tablespoons oil to five of vinegar is a nearly equal ratio, far sharper than a modern vinaigrette. The four yolks and the sugar are what carry it. Taste before it cools and adjust the sugar and salt — the recipe calls for no salt at all.
- Yield and keepingAbout one cup, enough to dress a salad for six. Cover and refrigerate; it thickens further as it chills and will keep three or four days. Loosen with a spoonful of cream or vinegar if it sets too stiff.
Boiled dressings like this one were an everyday American alternative to mayonnaise through the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. Mayonnaise demands patient hand-whisking and a cold kitchen to hold its emulsion; a cooked yolk dressing thickens reliably on the stove and forgives the cook. It is also cheaper in oil — note that this recipe uses barely more oil than vinegar, where a mayonnaise would use several times as much. The tartness and the mustard mark it as a dressing built for cold cooked meat rather than for leaves, which is exactly how the book directs it: over chicken or other salad. Flavored vinegars — celery, tarragon, nasturtium, horseradish — were a familiar pantry item, put up in summer and drawn on later to give variety to dressings.