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Cooked Salad Dressing
1/2 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon mustard 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar Few grains red pepper 1/2 tablespoon flour 2 egg yolks 3/4 cup diluted evaporated milk 1/2 cup mild vinegar 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter Mix dry ingredients in top part double boiler, add slightly beaten yolks and stir well. Add the melted butter, then gradually the milk and vinegar. Cook over hot water, stirring constantly, until mixture coats spoon. (This is a custard mixture, and if it should curdle from too long cooking, beat with egg beater to make it smooth again.)
A classic boiled dressing: a thin egg custard sharpened with vinegar, used before bottled mayonnaise became standard. The whole recipe hinges on gentle heat, so keep the water below a rolling boil.
- Diluted evaporated milkEvaporated milk was diluted half-and-half with water to stand in for fresh milk, so 3/4 cup diluted means roughly 6 tablespoons evaporated milk plus 6 tablespoons water. Whole milk works directly, though the undiluted-with-water version gives a slightly richer body.
- Mild vinegar"Mild" here most likely means a cider or white wine vinegar rather than a sharp distilled one; the acidity is not stated, while most supermarket vinegars today are about 5 percent. If yours tastes harsh, cut it with a tablespoon of water rather than adding sugar.
- Double boilerUse a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water that is steaming, not boiling, and do not let the bowl touch the water. Direct heat will scramble the yolks before the flour has a chance to thicken.
- When it coats the spoonThat stage is usually reckoned somewhere around 170-180F, though the recipe gives no temperature. The mixture will thicken further as it cools, so pull it while it still flows.
- Red pepper"Few grains red pepper" means cayenne, not paprika or crushed chile flakes. A scant pinch is what is meant.
- MustardDry mustard powder is intended, not prepared mustard from a jar. It goes in with the flour, salt and sugar so the starch keeps it from clumping.
- The curdling noteThe instruction to beat it smooth again works only for slight graininess. Once the eggs have set into visible curds, straining through a fine sieve is more reliable than an egg beater.
- Yield and keepingThe milk and vinegar alone come to a cup and a quarter, so expect roughly a cup and a half of dressing. Refrigerate it, and thin with a spoonful of milk when it stiffens in the cold.
Cooked or "boiled" dressings were common before stable emulsified mayonnaise was widely available in jars, and a thickened custard of egg, flour and vinegar is less liable to break than a hand-made egg-and-oil emulsion. That this version calls for evaporated milk to be diluted rather than for fresh milk or cream suggests a kitchen in which the canned tin was a pantry staple and a substitute for fresh dairy. Dressings of this type were often served with cabbage slaw, potato salad and the moulded gelatine salads that filled American menu books of the period.