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Macedoine Salad
Have ready 1 cupful each of cold boiled green peas and string beans, and 1/2 cupful of cold boiled carrots, cut into dice. Have 1 cupful of beets boiled and cut into dice. Put all of these ingredients in an ice-box until chilled and stiff. Heap the beets in the centre of a shallow bowl; arrange around them the celery dice, then the beans, then the carrots, and lastly the peas. Pour over this a good French dressing, and garnish with lettuce leaves or nasturtium blossoms.
The salad can be served in a ring of aspic jelly if preferred.
A composed vegetable salad of the classic French type, built from cooked leftovers and dressed at the table. Nothing here is difficult; the result depends almost entirely on how the beets are handled.
- Keep the beets separateBeets bleed the moment they meet dressing or damp vegetables. Dice them, dress them alone in a little of the French dressing, and drain them before heaping them in the centre, or the whole bowl turns pink within minutes.
- CeleryThe arrangement calls for celery dice among the layers although no quantity is given with the other vegetables. Allow about 1 cupful of crisp inner stalks, diced to match the carrots, and use it raw rather than cooked.
- Cut to one sizeMacedoine means the vegetables are all cut to the same small dice, roughly 1/4 inch. Uniformity is the whole point of the dish visually, and it also means each spoonful carries a little of everything.
- "Chilled and stiff"An ice-box was cooler than the kitchen but neither as cold nor as steady as a modern refrigerator. An hour in the refrigerator does the same job. The aim is firm, dry dice that hold their shape when arranged, so spread them on a tray rather than piling them in a bowl.
- Green peas and beansFrozen peas cooked 2 minutes and refreshed in cold water are better than peas boiled to softness. String beans should still have some snap; boil 4-5 minutes, then chill at once so they stay green.
- French dressingIn this period the term usually means a simple oil and vinegar dressing, commonly about three parts oil to one of vinegar with salt and pepper, whisked fresh; period versions vary, and some add mustard or paprika. Dress just before serving so the vegetables do not go slack.
- Nasturtium blossomsEdible and peppery, and genuinely worth using if you grow them. Pick them the same day, shake out insects, and lay them on at the last moment.
- Aspic ringThe optional aspic is a savoury gelatine jelly, usually made from clarified stock, unmoulded onto the platter with the vegetable salad heaped in the centre. It is a serving conceit rather than part of the salad.
- YieldAbout 4 1/2 cupfuls of dressed vegetables, enough for six as a side salad.