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Salad Dressing

Salad dressings are frequently bought of the grocer, and sent to table in the bottle in which they are purchased. Though these creams are many of them very good, epicures in salad always prefer that the salad dressing should be prepared at home. Mayonnaise salad sauce is perhaps to be preferred to any other, and for this a recipe is given (see SALAD SAUCE, MAYONNAISE). A foolish prejudice is felt by many persons against the use of oil in salads, but this is gradually disappearing, as the majority of those who are prevailed upon to overcome it end by being exceedingly partial to what they had before disliked, and they also find that oil tends to prevent the fermentation of the raw vegetable, and is, besides, an antidote to flatulency. Seeing, however, that this prejudice still exists, two or three recipes are given of salad dressings without oil as well as with it. It has been already said that the dressing should not be mixed with the salad until the last moment. Nevertheless, it may always be prepared some hours before it is wanted, and stored in a cool, airy place. When salads are much used, a good plan is to make and bottle sufficient for two or three days' consumption. No. 1.--Put a salt-spoonful of salt, half a salt-spoonful of white pepper, a tea-spoonful of mixed mustard, a pinch of cayenne, and a tea-spoonful of powdered sugar into a bowl. Mix thoroughly, and add, first by drops and afterwards by tea-spoonfuls, two table-spoonfuls of oil, four table-spoonfuls of milk, and two table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Stir well between every addition. The sauce ought to look like cream. A tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar may be added, or not. No. 2.--Boil an egg till hard, and lay it in cold water for a minute. Strip off the shell, and put the yolk into a bowl. Rub it well with the back of a wooden spoon, and put with it a tea-spoonful of mixed mustard, a salt-spoonful of salt, half a salt-spoonful of white pepper, a salt-spoonful of powdered sugar, and a pinch of cayenne. Add, first by drops and afterwards by salt-spoonfuls, a table-spoonful of oil. When these are well mixed, add six table-spoonfuls of thick cream, and, lastly, two table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the sauce well between every addition. Mince the white of the egg, or cut it into rings, with which to garnish the salad. No. 3 (Dr. Kitchener's recipe).--Boil two eggs for a quarter of an hour. Lay them in cold water, and in a few minutes strip off the shells, and lay the yolks in a basin. Rub them till smooth with the back of a wooden spoon and mix with them, very gradually, first a table-spoonful of water or thick cream, and afterwards two table-spoonfuls of oil. When these are well mixed, add a tea-spoonful of salt or powdered sugar, a tea-spoonful of made mustard, and lastly, and very gradually, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Put the sauce at the bottom of the bowl, lay the salad on the top, garnish with the whites of the eggs cut into rings, and do not mix the salad till the last moment. No. 4.--Mix a salt-spoonful of salt and half a salt-spoonful of pepper with a table-spoonful of oil. When the salt is dissolved, put in four additional table-spoonfuls of oil, and then pour the sauce over the salad. Mix thoroughly and add a table-spoonful of good vinegar and a table-spoonful of tarragon or cucumber vinegar. Mix again, and serve. No. 5.--Rub the hard-boiled yolks of three eggs till smooth, and mix in a salt-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of raw mustard, a salt-spoonful of powdered loaf sugar, half a salt-spoonful of white pepper and the well-beaten yolk of a raw egg. Add gradually four table-spoonfuls of thick cream, and two table-spoonfuls of strained lemon-juice. Beat the dressing thoroughly between every addition. No. 6.--Beat the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs till smooth. Add a tea-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of powdered sugar, a pinch of cayenne, a quarter of a tea-spoonful of white pepper, and, gradually, two table-spoonfuls of oil, the strained juice of a lemon, and two table-spoonfuls of light wine. No. 7.--Rub the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs till smooth with a tea-spoonful of vinegar. Add a tea-spoonful each of mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper, a table-spoonful of claret, and a finely-minced shallot or young onion. Beat in, first by drops and afterwards by tea-spoonfuls, four table-spoonfuls of salad-oil, and, lastly, add a tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar and a table-spoonful of white-wine vinegar. No. 8.--Beat a spoonful of flour with the yolks of three raw eggs. Add a tea-spoonful of mixed mustard, half a salt-spoonful of salt, half a tea-spoonful of pepper, two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, and three table-spoonfuls of water. Cut three ounces of streaky bacon into small pieces, and fry these till they begin to turn colour. Pour in the salad mixture, and stir the whole over the fire till the cream is thick and smooth. Pour it out, and continue stirring until cool, and add a little more vinegar and water if necessary. The sauce ought to be as thick as custard. No. 9 (named Sauce a la Lowry).--Beat the yolk of a raw egg. Mix with it a pinch of salt, a pinch of white pepper, and, gradually, three tea-spoonfuls of salad-oil, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovy, and two tea-spoonfuls of vinegar.