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Beetroot Salad
To some nicely-boiled and well-sliced beetroot, lay alternate rows of fresh onion also sliced, and pour over them any salad sauce, or simple oil and vinegar, if preferred. Garnish with curled parsley. Probable cost of beetroot, 1d. to 2d. Instead of the raw onions, cold boiled ones may be used, together with slices of egg, hard boiled.
A straightforward composed salad that needs almost no translation, though the beetroot itself rewards attention.
- Boiling the beet"Nicely-boiled" means whole, unpeeled, with the tap root and an inch of stalk left on so the colour does not bleed out. Small beets take 30-40 minutes, large ones up to 90; they are done when the skin slips under thumb pressure. Peel while still warm."
- Raw onion, tamedThe recipe uses the onion raw and undressed. Slice it paper-thin and soak it in cold water for ten minutes, or use a mild red onion, if you want it to sit alongside the beet rather than shout over it.
- Dress at the last momentVinegar draws liquid from cooked beetroot and the dish turns watery and streaked if it stands. Assemble the rows, dress just before serving, and keep the plate cold.
- "Any salad sauce"Likely a boiled dressing thickened with egg yolk and cream, or a mayonnaise; the recipe does not specify. Oil and vinegar with salt and pepper is the simpler option the recipe itself offers, commonly mixed about three parts oil to one of vinegar today.
- Cost noteThe "1d. to 2d." is the price of the beetroot in pre-decimal pence and is of historical interest only.
- Curled parsleyCurly parsley, not flat-leaf, is what is meant; it holds its shape as a garnish and is still sold. A small bunch around the rim is the intended look.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantities. Two medium beetroot and one onion will make roughly a side salad for four; with the boiled onion and hard-boiled egg variation it becomes substantial enough for a light lunch for two.
Beetroot came to the English table chiefly as a boiled and pickled vegetable, and by the late nineteenth century it was cheap -- hence the penny-or-two costing, part of Cassell's practice of attaching a "probable cost" to its entries for households running to a budget. The alternating rows of red and white reflect a period taste for salads arranged as patterns on a flat dish rather than tossed. The egg-and-boiled-onion variant at the end turns the same salad into a more substantial dish, a familiar way of stretching one formula to serve more than one occasion.