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Sardine Salad
Drain the oil from a box of sardines, then squeeze 3 drops of lemon juice on each fish and let them stand on ice for one hour. Arrange crisp lettuce leaves on a chilled platter and place a sardine on each leaf, with 1 spoonful of mayonnaise dressing poured over each. Garnish the edge of the platter with cold boiled beets cut into fancy shapes. Serve with crackers and cream cheese.
An assembly rather than a cooked dish, so the quality of the tin and the crispness of the lettuce carry it entirely. A few of the quantities need translating.
- A box of sardinesToday's standard tin runs about 3.75 oz and holds roughly four to six fish. If you are feeding four to six, buy two tins, and choose skinless, boneless fillets packed in olive oil if you want the mildest result.
- Three drops of lemonTaken literally this is barely a trace. The intent is to cut the oil without overwhelming the fish, so a scant quarter teaspoon squeezed over each fillet is closer to the effect wanted.
- The hour on iceThis is the hinge. Sardines straight from the tin taste oily and flat at room temperature; an hour at refrigerator temperature firms the flesh and lets the lemon settle in. Chill the serving platter as well, as the recipe specifies.
- Mayonnaise dressingIn a book of this period this would most likely mean a made-from-scratch emulsion of egg yolk, oil and vinegar or lemon, looser and sharper than jarred mayonnaise. Thin commercial mayonnaise with lemon juice and a little cream so it pours rather than sits in a lump.
- Fancy shapesCold boiled beets were cut with the small aspic cutters found in better-equipped kitchens: stars, crescents, diamonds. Small metal cutters do the job, or simply slice the beets thin and cut them into rounds. Keep them on a separate plate until the last moment or the juice will bleed pink across the mayonnaise.
- Cream cheeseThe unaged fresh cheese of the period was softer and tangier than the block cheese now sold under the name. Modern cream cheese works if you beat it briefly with a spoonful of cream so it spreads on a cracker without tearing it.
- ServingOne sardine per lettuce leaf, one leaf per person as a first course, or two or three each as a light luncheon. It will not hold; dress and garnish immediately before it goes to the table.