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To Dress Celery
Beat light the yolk of one egg; add: 2 tablespoonfuls cream. 1 tablespoonful white sugar. 3 tablespoonfuls vinegar. 1 teaspoonful olive oil. 1 teaspoonful mustard. 1 teaspoonful salt. --Mrs. Dr. S.
A small uncooked dressing for raw celery, of the sweet-sour "boiled dressing" family that preceded bottled mayonnaise in American kitchens. It makes about a third of a cup — enough for one head of celery.
- Order of mixingThe recipe's own order is cream, sugar, vinegar, oil, mustard, salt. If you prefer, beat the yolk until pale and thick, work in the sugar, mustard and salt, then the cream and oil, and trickle in the vinegar last while whisking; adding the acid first can leave the dressing looking separated.
- Mustard means powderMustard here most likely means dry mustard powder rather than prepared table mustard, though the recipe does not say. Prepared mustard brings its own vinegar and salt, so if that is all you have, use half a teaspoon and cut the vinegar slightly.
- SaltA full teaspoon in three tablespoons of liquid is aggressive by modern taste, though the dressing is meant to coat a great deal of bland, watery celery. Start with half and adjust.
- Cream and oil"Cream" here is heavy or whipping cream, not half-and-half. Nineteenth-century olive oil was often sold as "sweet oil" and was mild; a fruity modern extra-virgin will dominate the single teaspoonful, so choose a gentle one.
- Vinegar strengthHousehold vinegar of the period was variable and frequently homemade cider vinegar. Standard 5 percent cider vinegar is the closest match; wine vinegar works, distilled white is harsh in this small a quantity.
- Raw yolkThe dressing is never heated, so the yolk stays raw. Use a pasteurized egg if you are serving anyone elderly, pregnant, very young, or immune-compromised, and keep the finished dressing refrigerated and use it the same day.
- The celeryCut the trimmed stalks into short lengths or thin diagonal slices and dry them well; the dressing is thin and slides off wet celery. Dress just before serving, since salt and sugar draw water out of the ribs and thin the sauce within the hour.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by named and initialed Virginia housekeepers — hence "Mrs. Dr. S." — appeared at the height of celery's American reputation as a luxury. Blanched celery was a demanding winter crop, banked up in trenches or cellars to keep it pale and tender, and it was expensive enough that households bought tall footed celery glasses to display the stalks upright on the table. It was often eaten plain with salt, so a dressed celery salad was a step up in refinement; the sweet, sharp, cream-and-egg dressing here is a small-scale version of the boiled dressings that served American cooks for salads of every kind before commercial mayonnaise became widely available in the early twentieth century.