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Salad Dressing (Two tablespoonfuls olive oil)
Two tablespoonfuls olive oil or melted butter.
One egg. One and one-half teaspoonfuls mustard. Half bottle best olive oil.
Three teaspoonfuls salt.
A very little white pepper.
Two tablespoonfuls vinegar..
Mix the oil with the yolk gradually; slowly add the other ingredients, stirring in last the white of the egg, beaten to a stiff froth.
A boiled-dressing ancestor of mayonnaise, lightened with beaten egg white. The ingredient list has a gap and at least one figure that will not survive a literal reading.
- The missing eggNo egg appears in the list, yet the method calls for both yolk and white. One egg is intended, separated. Without it the oil and vinegar will not hold together at all.
- Three teaspoonfuls of salt is too muchFor a dressing built on two tablespoons of oil and one egg, three teaspoons of salt is far more than the quantity will carry, and may be an error for a smaller measure such as saltspoonfuls. Start with a quarter teaspoon and taste.
- Mustard means dry mustardMustard probably means dry mustard -- An unqualified "mustard" in a dressing of this kind is most likely mustard powder rather than a prepared jar condiment. It also does real work here as an emulsifier, so do not leave it out.
- Order of operations is the hingeThe oil goes into the yolk drop by drop until it thickens; only then the vinegar and seasonings. Adding vinegar early, or oil quickly, breaks the emulsion and leaves a thin curdled liquid.
- White pepper, not blackLikely specified for appearance, so the pale dressing stays unflecked. Black pepper can be substituted if you do not mind the look and the slightly different flavour.
- Melted butter behaves differentlyButter sets firm when chilled, so a butter version must be served immediately and at room temperature.
- Raw eggNothing here is cooked. Use pasteurised eggs, or shell eggs from a source you trust, and keep the dressing refrigerated and use it the same day.
- Yield and servingA small quantity, under half a cup. The folded egg white will deflate on standing, so mix it shortly before serving rather than well in advance.
Uncooked egg-and-oil dressings appear with increasing frequency in American cookbooks over the later nineteenth century, alongside the growing availability of bottled olive oil. Many books of the period print several dressings together: a boiled one thickened with egg over hot water, a plain "French" oil-and-vinegar, and a mayonnaise type like this one. A stiffly beaten white folded in at the end appears in a number of period recipes, giving lightness and bulk.