Home › Some Kitchen Kinks › Some Kitchen Kinks: White
Some Kitchen Kinks: White
White Sauce.
This sauce is made like the cream sauce, except that half a pint of white-meat broth is substituted for the milk, and two tablespoonsful of flour instead of one are used. The saucepan is put directly on the stove and the sauce is simmered ten minutes. White sauce, like cream sauce, may be modified by the addition of other flavors.
Tomato Sauce.
Cook one pint of peeled and cut tomatoes ten minutes, then rub through a strainer. Beat in a saucepan until smooth and light one tablespoonful of flour and one generous tablespoonful of butter. Gradually beat the hot tomato into this. Add the salt and pepper and cook ten minutes. This sauce may be served with macaroni, rice, etc., as well as with fish and meat. The flavor of the tomato sauce may be modified by the addition of onion, spice, or herbs.
Salads and Salad Dressings.-Nearly all vegetables may be served in the form of salad. The salads made with the raw vegetables are more refreshing and perhaps more generally relished than those made with cooked vegetables. The most common green salad plant in the United States is undoubtedly lettuce, and perhaps celery, alone or mixed with other materials, next. Endive, chicory, blanched dandelion, and other plants should also be used, as they give a pleasant variety to the menu. Such salads are garnished like lettuce. In most of our gardens the only sort of lettuce grown is some variety of the head lettuce. Roman lettuce, the "Salade Romaine" of Europe, which is fairly common in our city markets, is a delicious variety, which should be more generally used by American housekeepers.
Raw vegetables should be used 'only when they are young, tender, and fresh. When boiled green vegetables are used for a salad they should not be cooked so long that they lose crispness and flavor. Salad dressings are usually sharp or pungent sauce, with which the salad is moistened and seasoned, or "dressed." The most serviceable all-round salad dressing is what is known as French salad dressing. This is suitable for any vegetable salad, raw or cooked. Besides the dressing proper there are several herbs which are used as flavorers. In continental Europe some or all of these herbs are almost an invariable accompaniment of all lettuce salads and nearly all other green salads.
These herbs are, in France, termed the fourniture of the salad, and it is a saying among the French that the fourniture is essential to all salads, while the use of garlic, hard boiled eggs, etc., is optional. The herbs generally employed in the fourniture are chervil, tarragon, chives, or cibol. These flavor deliciously lettuce and other tender green salads.
They are also a great acquisition to soups, sauces, omelets, etc., one or more being employed to give special flavor to a dish. They may be readily cultivated in the kitchen garden. Lettuce Salad with French Dressing. 2 heads lettuce. 2 or 3 sprays tarragon. 6 or 8 branches chervil. 1 tablespoonful minced chives or cibol, if the flavor be liked.
French dressing.
Remove all the green, tough leaves from the heads of lettuce. Break off the tender leaves one by one and rinse in cold water. Shake off the water and lay the leaves on a piece of cheese cloth and put the lettuce, wrapped lightly in the cheese cloth, on ice. At serving time, put the leaves in the salad bowl. Have the herbs torn into small bits and sprinkle over the lettuce. Sprinkle the dressing (a spoonful at a time) over the salad. Lift and turn the salad with the spoon and fork. Continue mixing in this manner until all the dressing has been used. The work must be done lightly and carefully that the lettuce shall not be crushed.
Serve immediately. This is the French salad that so many travelers remember with great pleasure. The secret of its exquisite quality is that the lettuce is crisp and tender, delicate flavoring herbs are added to it, the vinegar is never strong, the oil is good, and, finally, the dressing is added just before the salad is served.
In the heat of the summer, when head lettuce is not plenty, the tender young plants may be used. The flavor of the salad may be varied by the addition of other green salads and herbs, such as chicory, sorrel, borage, burnet, etc. When fresh tarragon is not available, tarragon vinegar may be employed.
Lettuce Salad with Cream Dressing. 1 large solid head lettuce. 1 tablespoonful vinegar. 1/2 teaspoonful salt. 1/4 teaspoonful pepper. 4 tablespoonsful thick, sweet cream.
Remove the outer leaves from the head of lettuce, leaving only the APPENDIX crisp, clean, bleached leaves. Break the leaves one by one from the head, and if perfectly clean do not wash them. If not clean, wash quickly in cold water and drain. Tear each leaf into three or four pieces; put the shredded lettuce into a large towel or napkin and place on the ice or in a cold cellar. At serving time put the lettuce in a salad bowl. Mix the salt, pepper, and vinegar in the salad spoon and sprinkle over the lettuce; stir well, then add the cream, a spoonful at a time, and mix by tossing the lettuce lightly with the spoon and fork. Serve immediately.
Cabbage Salad.
Either red or white cabbage may be used for salad, and must be firm, crisp, and tender. Remove the outer leaves and cut the tender cabbage into fine shreds. Wash well and let soak in cold water for half an hour.
Drain and season with French dressing or cooked salad dressing. Serve at once.
Cucumber Salad.
This vegetable should always be crisp and fresh when used. There is an old and widespread belief that cucumbers are more wholesome if the slices are soaked in cold water or in salted water before serving. Doubtless the distress which some persons experience after eating cucumbers is due to the fact that they are swallowed without proper mastication. It does not seem probable that there is any unwholesome property in this vegetable when we recall the extent to which it is eaten in some other countries and the good reputation which it bears there. In Persia the cucumber is most highly prized and is consumed in very large quantities.
On account of its succulent character it is often used by travelers in place of water, as the water supply in many villages and towns is not above suspicion.
Cucumbers should be pared and sliced thin, and then may be dressed with oil and vinegar, like lettuce, or with a little vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Cucumbers are at their best for salads when fairly young, and should not be used after the seeds have become hard and tough, as most persons consider them objectionable. A pleasant variation in the appearance of the dish may be easily obtained by slicing rather small cucumbers lengthwise instead of across, as is the more common method.
DRESSINGS OR SAUCES FOR SAL- ADS French Dressing. 1 tablespoonful vinegar. 4 tablespoonsful olive oil. 1/4 teaspoonful salt. 1½ teaspoonful pepper.
Put the salt and pepper in the salad bowl, or in a small bowl if the sauce is to be served separately. Add a little oil and stir well, then gradually add the remainder of the oil, stirring all the while. Last of all stir in the vinegar, which should be diluted with water if very strong.
This sauce may be modified to suit different vegetables. As it is given it is right for lettuce, chicory, cooked asparagus, cauliflower, artichoke, etc.
Cream may be substituted for the oil, but the salad is not so rich.
Cooked Salad Dressing. 2 eggs. 1 gill vinegar. 2 gills milk. 1 tablespoonful oil or butter. 1 teaspoonful salt. 1 teaspoonful mustard. 1/4 teaspoonful pepper.
Put the oil and dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Add the eggs and beat for five minutes, then add the vinegar and beat one minute.
Now add the milk, place the bowl in a pan of boiling water, and cook until the sauce thickens like thin cream. It will take about ten minutes. Stir the sauce constantly while cooking.
Cool and bottle what you do not require for immediate use. This sauce is good for nearly all kinds of cooked vegetables.
If butter is substituted for the oil, add it just before taking the sauce from the fire.
Sour Cream Dressing. 1½ pint sour cream. 2 tablespoonsful lemon juice. 2 tablespoonsful vinegar. 1 scant tablespoonful sugar. 1 teaspoonful salt. 1/4 teaspoonful pepper. 1 teaspoonful or more mixed mustard.
Beat the cream with an egg beater until smooth, thick, and light. Mix the other ingredients together and gradually add to the cream, beating all the while.
This dressing may be modified to suit different vegetables. Having beaten sour cream for a foundation the seasoning may be anything desired, as, for example, the mustard and lemon may be omitted and the dressing be seasoned highly with any kind of catsup.
A sweet cream may be substituted for the sour; it should be quite thick.
Cream Salad Dressing. 1 cupful cream (sweet or sour). 1½ cupful tomato catsup. 2 tablespoonsful olive oil. 2 tablespoonsful vinegar. 2 tablespoonsful sugar. 1 teaspoonful salt.
Mix the oil, salt, sugar, and vinegar together, then beat in the catsup and finally add the cream, beating it in gradually.
This dressing is very good for vegetables, or for fish salads. APPENDIX CHAPTER IV HEALTH HINTS-WHAT TO DO IN EMERGENCY GEORGE J. FISHER, M.D.