Home › Salads and Salads Dressings › Oil Dressing II
Oil Dressing II
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons powdered sugar Few grains cayenne 2 tablespoons oil 1/3 cup vinegar diluted with cold water to make one-half cup 2 eggs, slightly beaten Mix dry ingredients, add egg and oil gradually, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed; then add diluted vinegar. Cook over boiling water until mixture thickens; strain and cool.
Mayonnaise Dressing I 1 teaspoon mustard 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon powdered sugar Few grains cayenne Yolks 2 eggs 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 1/2 cups olive oil Mix dry ingredients, add egg yolks, and when well mixed add one-half teaspoon of vinegar. Add oil gradually, at first drop by drop, and stir constantly. As mixture thickens, thin with vinegar or lemon juice. Add oil, and vinegar or lemon juice alternately, until all is used, stirring or beating constantly. If oil is added too rapidly, dressing will have a curdled appearance. A smooth consistency may be restored by taking yolk of another egg and adding curdled mixture slowly to it. It is desirable to have bowl containing mixture placed in a larger bowl of crushed ice, to which a small quantity of water has been added. Olive oil for making Mayonnaise should always be thoroughly chilled. A silver fork, wire whisk, small wooden spoon, or egg-beater may be used as preferred. Mayonnaise should be stiff enough to hold its shape. It soon liquefies when added to meat or vegetables; therefore it should be added just before serving time.
This is a boiled dressing rather than a mayonnaise: the eggs do the thickening and the oil is present in a token two tablespoons. It behaves like a thin, tart custard and suits potato, cabbage and cold meat salads better than delicate greens.
- The hingeCook it over simmering water, never over direct heat, and pull it as soon as it coats the spoon. Egg thickens from about 150F and scrambles not far above 180F, so the double boiler is doing real work here.
- Whole eggs, not yolksThis dressing uses two whole eggs rather than yolks alone, and the whites may be part of why the recipe calls for straining. Beat them only until the whites are broken up, or ropy strands of white may show in the finished sauce.
- The vinegar dilutionA third of a cup of vinegar topped up with cold water to reach half a cup is the whole acid content. Vinegar strength was less consistent than it is now and may have been weaker than today's 5 percent, so taste before adding the last of it.
- Add the acid lastThe recipe holds the diluted vinegar back until the egg and oil are combined. Acid present early lowers the temperature at which egg protein sets, which can give a grainy result.
- Strain while hotPush it through a fine sieve straight off the heat, not after cooling, or any small curds will set firm and refuse to break down.
- Yield and keepingAround a cup. It will keep a few days covered in the refrigerator and thickens as it chills; loosen with a spoonful of cream or water.
- On the mayonnaise that followsThat second dressing is uncooked and depends on raw yolks. Made with supermarket eggs it should be eaten the same day and kept cold throughout; pasteurised eggs are the usual choice now for anyone feeding the very young, elderly or immunocompromised.