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Salad Dressing (Two eggs well beaten five)
Two eggs well beaten, five tablespoons of vinegar, two teaspoons of sugar, one-half teaspoon of mustard mixed with vinegar, one teaspoon of butter, pinch of salt. Boil.
— Mrs. Peter Schubert
A classic boiled dressing — the vinegar-and-egg sauce that stood in for mayonnaise in most American kitchens before bottled oil dressings arrived. The whole recipe hinges on how you read the word "Boil."
- Do not actually boil itEggs thickened in acid set well below boiling; at a true rolling boil they scramble and the dressing breaks into curds. Cook in a double boiler or a heavy pan over low heat, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of a spoon — around 170-180F. Pull it off the heat the moment it thickens.
- Mustard"One-half teaspoon of mustard" is most likely dry mustard powder rather than prepared jarred mustard, since the recipe directs that it be mixed with vinegar. Making it into a paste with a little of the vinegar first, as directed, both blooms the flavour and prevents lumps.
- Vinegar strengthThe recipe does not say what vinegar to use, and the strength of household vinegar of the period varied. Cider vinegar suits the dressing; straight distilled white vinegar will make it noticeably sharper.
- The butterOne teaspoon is the only added fat, beyond what the yolks themselves carry -- this is a lean dressing by modern standards. Stir it in off the heat at the end so it emulsifies smoothly rather than separating out.
- YieldSomething on the order of three-quarters of a cup, enough for a large bowl of potato salad, coleslaw or sliced cucumbers. It doubles without trouble.
- Consistency and servingIt thickens considerably as it cools and will set almost to a custard in the refrigerator. Slacken it with a spoonful or two of milk, cream or the vegetable's own liquid before dressing the salad.
- KeepingA cooked egg dressing of this kind is best made in small quantities. Refrigerate and use within three or four days.
Boiled dressing was a common American salad sauce of the nineteenth century, and it persisted in community cookbooks long after mayonnaise became available in jars. The logic is economic: eggs, vinegar and a scrap of butter came out of the household's own stores, while the quantity of good olive or salad oil that a true mayonnaise demands was an expense and, inland, often harder to get. The sharp, mustard-tinged result is a different thing from mayonnaise rather than a substitute for it, and dressings of this type lie behind the tangy potato salads and slaws associated with Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. That this version arrives credited to Mrs. Peter Schubert is typical of the genre -- collected cookbooks of this kind gathered their contents from named contributors, and the attribution was part of the point.