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French Dressing
3 Tablespoonfuls Wesson Oil 1 Tablespoonful Vinegar 1/3 Teaspoonful Salt Beat thoroughly together until emulsified, then serve. If desired, the proportions may be increased to any amount, measured into a jar and covered-the dressing being shaken thoroughly before using. This saves considerable measuring.
Few Grains Pepper Few Grains Paprika
A plain three-to-one vinaigrette from a brand cookbook, and the proportions still hold. What the text leaves out is any emulsifier, so the mixture will separate within minutes.
- The hinge: salt firstDissolve the salt in the vinegar before the oil goes in. Salt will not dissolve in oil, and undissolved grains leave the dressing tasting flat in some bites and sharp in others.
- "Few grains"A pinch, no more — roughly 1/16 teaspoon each of pepper and paprika for this quantity. Paprika in a dressing of this kind contributes colour as much as flavour.
- Emulsified, brieflyWith nothing but oil, vinegar and salt, the emulsion is mechanical and temporary. Expect it to break in two or three minutes; shake again immediately before dressing the greens. A quarter teaspoon of Dijon or a few drops of honey will hold it together if you want it stable.
- Wesson OilA cottonseed oil at the time this book was printed, sold by the same company behind Snowdrift shortening. Any neutral oil works — sunflower, grapeseed, a mild olive oil if you want more flavour than the original intended.
- Which vinegarUnspecified. Cider and plain white distilled were both common household vinegars in this period; white wine vinegar is a fair modern substitute. Distilled white will read as harsh in a 3:1 dressing.
- YieldAbout 1/4 cup, enough for a salad for two to three. The jar method scales cleanly — keep the 3:1:pinch ratio and make a cup at a time.
- Storing the jarRefrigerate anything you are not using the same day. Chilled oil clouds and thickens; let the jar stand at room temperature for ten minutes and shake before serving.
The Snowdrift books were promotional cookery published by the makers of Snowdrift shortening and Wesson Oil, both products of the Southern Cotton Oil Company, and that explains the branded ingredient line in an otherwise generic formula. Cottonseed oil was the great American cooking-fat success story of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ba by-product of the Southern cotton crop, refined into something bland and cheap enough to displace lard in many kitchens an promotional books of this kind are often credited with helping turn a mill product into a pantry staple. The dressing itself is much older than the brand: an oil-and-vinegar mixture with salt and pepper is what "French dressing" meant in American cookbooks before the term drifted, sometime in the mid-twentieth century, toward the sweet orange-red bottled sauce it usually names today.