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HAMBURG BEEF SALAD (named Hambro' Salad)
Make a salad with a pint of mixed vegetables, which have been washed, thoroughly dried, and shredded. Mix with them half a dozen filleted anchovies, three or four sharp apples, finely minced, and a quarter of a pound of dried salmon cut into small pieces. Season with pepper, salt, vinegar, and oil, and just before serving, strew over the top half a pound of Hamburg beef, chopped small. Garnish the dish according to taste, with parsley, slices of hard-boiled egg, beetroot, etc. Time, one hour to prepare. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A composed salad of cured meats and fish rather than anything cooked, so the whole thing stands or falls on salt balance. Everything but the apples arrives already seasoned, which is the point to keep in mind while dressing it.
- Salt is the hingeAnchovies, dried salmon and Hamburg beef are all preserved in salt. Dress and taste before adding any further salt, and expect to need none at all.
- Hamburg beefGenerally understood as smoked and dried beef of the Hamburg type (Hamburger Rauchfleisch): salted, smoked and air-dried. Bresaola, Bundnerfleisch or a good air-dried smoked beef are the closest things on a modern counter. Half a pound is generous; chop it small as directed rather than leaving it in sheets.
- Dried salmonThis means hard-cured, air-dried or heavily smoked salmon, drier and saltier than today's cold-smoked side. If using ordinary cold-smoked salmon, cut the quantity back to two or three ounces or the dish turns oily and flabby.
- Filleted anchoviesVictorian anchovies were commonly sold whole in salt and had to be boned and rinsed. Tinned fillets in oil need only draining.
- A pint of mixed vegetablesA volume measure of prepared vegetable; an imperial pint is 20 fl oz, so roughly two and a half cups shredded. Celery, cucumber, cooked green beans, carrot and a little onion suit the dish; the instruction to dry them thoroughly matters, since water thins the dressing and dulls the cure.
- Sharp applesTart cooking or eating apples, Bramley or Granny Smith. Mince them last and turn them in the vinegar immediately so they do not brown during the assembly.
- DressingNo proportions are given. Three parts oil to one of vinegar, about four tablespoons in total, is enough to coat this quantity without pooling.
- Timing and yieldThe stated hour is presumably knife work rather than resting time. Strew the beef over just before serving as directed, and serve promptly; once dressed the salad will begin to weep. Five or six as a light lunch or supper dish.
- Probable costTwo shillings for a dish feeding five or six, a reflection of the imported cured beef and salmon rather than of any difficulty.
"Hamburg beef" is generally taken to be smoked and dried beef of the Hamburg type, which reached British tables through North Sea trade with the German ports. "Hambro'" is a common period contraction of Hamburg, familiar from trade usage. The salad belongs to the broad English tradition of composed cold dishes in which preserved fish and meat are arranged over shredded vegetables and finished with hard-boiled egg and beetroot. It is also a quiet record of how much of a well-off Victorian larder was imported and already cured before it arrived.