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Creamy Cooked Dressing
4 tablespoons sugar 4 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups boiling water 2 eggs 1/3 cup lemon juice or vinegar 1/2 cup whipped cream Mix dry ingredients in top of double boiler, add the boiling water and cook over hot water until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Add slightly beaten eggs to mixture, and cook again till it coats spoon. Add lemon juice and beat well. Cool. Then fold in the whipped cream.
A boiled salad dressing of the pre-blender era, thickened with flour and egg rather than emulsified oil. The whole technique rests on gentle heat and constant stirring.
- The hinge: never let it boilOnce the eggs go in, direct heat or a hard simmer in the lower pan will scramble them and the dressing will break into curds. Keep the water beneath at a bare simmer and stir without stopping until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, around 170-175F.
- Temper the eggsBeat the eggs slightly, then whisk a ladle of the hot flour base into them before returning everything to the pot. The instruction as written works if you are quick, but tempering makes curdling much less likely.
- Cook the flour out firstGive the first stage a decent spell over hot water rather than stopping as soon as it looks thick; something like eight to ten minutes is usual. Underdone flour leaves a raw, pasty taste that the lemon juice will not mask.
- Add the acid off the heatLemon juice or vinegar going into a hot egg mixture encourages curdling. Pull the pan off, let it stop steaming, then beat the acid in.
- Whipped cream means unsweetenedThe sugar is already in the base. Whip heavy cream to soft peaks and fold it in only when the base is cold, or it will deflate and thin the dressing.
- Yield and keepingAbout two and a half cups, enough for a large fruit or cabbage salad serving eight to ten. Refrigerate and use within three or four days; the cream will slacken after the first day and want a quick stir.
- Use it where mayonnaise is too richThis is a traditional dressing for shredded cabbage, potato salad, and moulded fruit salads. Without the cream it is a plain boiled dressing; with it, it is close to what older books call a fruit salad dressing.