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Lobster Salad

In making lobster salad be careful that the lobster is sweet and fresh, and that the lettuces are crisp and dry. Unless the latter are perfectly free from moisture, the sauce, instead of blending properly, will be liable to float in oily particles on the top. Take the meat of one or two large lobsters, divide it into neat pieces, and season each piece slightly with pepper, salt, and vinegar. Place a bed of shredded lettuce-hearts at the bottom of a dish, put a layer of lobster upon it, mixed, if liked, with a few slices of cucumber; cover again with lettuce, and repeat until the materials are exhausted. Decorate the border with any garnish that may suit the taste. It may consist of aspic jelly cut in dice, sliced beetroot, stamped with a cutter, hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters, lettuce-hearts, nasturtium flowers, scraped radishes, etc. etc. Pour the sauce over at the last moment, and sprinkle a little powdered and sifted lobster coral on the top. Mayonnaise sauce is the most suitable for all fish salads. It is made as follows. Beat the yolk of one raw egg until thick. Add a salt-spoonful of salt, a salt-spoonful of pepper, a salt-spoonful of mustard, half a pint of oil, and a quarter of a pint of vinegar. After the salt, pepper, and mustard, the oil should be added, in drops at first, and afterwards in tea-spoonfuls, and the sauce should be beaten a minute between each addition. After every six tea-spoonfuls of oil put in a tea-spoonful of vinegar. When finished, the sauce should have the appearance of thick cream. Taste it before serving, to ascertain if the seasoning be agreeable. If the mayonnaise is made before it is to be used, it should be kept in a cool place. Time, an hour to prepare the salad. Probable cost, from 3s. to 5s. Sufficient for a dozen persons.