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Russian Salad
Line a salad bowl with crisp lettuce. Peel and chop fine 1 or 2 tomatoes that have been well chilled, and distribute over the lettuce. Add a mashed anchovy to a French dressing, pour it over the salad, mix, and serve.
A three-line salad that depends almost entirely on the dressing and the temperature of the tomatoes. Nothing needs modernising except the vocabulary and the proportions the original leaves out.
- French dressingIn American books of this period this means a simple oil-and-vinegar dressing shaken to an emulsion, not the sweet orange bottled product sold under that name today. Three parts oil to one part vinegar with salt and pepper is the standard ratio; about 1/4 cup total is enough for this bowl.
- The anchovyOne salt-packed anchovy, rinsed and boned, or two oil-packed fillets. Mash it to a smooth paste with the back of a spoon or a fork before the oil goes in, or it will stay in threads and the dressing will taste of nothing but the pieces you happen to catch. About 1/2 teaspoon of anchovy paste substitutes cleanly.
- Chilling mattersThe recipe specifies well-chilled tomatoes, and it is worth following. Warm tomatoes weep into the dressing and slacken it. Refrigerate them whole and peel and chop at the last moment.
- PeelingDrop the tomatoes into boiling water for 15 to 20 seconds, then into ice water, and the skins slip off. Chilling them again afterwards is worth the extra time.
- Salt with careAnchovy is already salty, and the dressing carries salt of its own. Season the dressing, taste it, and salt the tomatoes only if it needs it.
- YieldAs written this serves two to three as a first course. Dress and toss immediately before it goes to the table; the lettuce collapses within minutes.