Russian Salad
INGREDIENTS.- Any cold cooked vegetables, such as peas, asparagus, potatoes, carrots, lettuces and cucumbers, some anchovies, fileted and boned; some stoned olives, any cold fish, flaked, mayonnaise sauce, aspic jelly.
The vegetables should all be cut up small, the lettuce shred finely, and they should then be thoroughly mixed with the flaked fish and the sauce; then the salad should be turned into the dish in which it is to be served, and garnished with the olives, the anchovies and some bright-coloured aspic jelly. A pretty way of serving a Russian salad is shown in our illustration. The aspic, in which is put the fish, is set in a border mould, and, when turned out, the salad is piled in the centre, and a few bright leaves of lettuce cut up finely, with a garnish of slices of beetroot, put round.
SEASONABLE in summer.
Note. Two sweet vegetables, such as beet and carrot, should not be used in the same salad, and both of these should be used sparingly; lettuce and cress should be used in a larger proportion than anything else.
RUSSIAN SALAD. "Squares of coloured ice, Sweetened with syrup, tinctured with spice."
THOMAS BAILY ALDRICH.
SAGE-AND-ONION STUFFING.
AGE-&- ONION Stuffing (for Geese, Ducks and Pork). -INGREDIENTS.-4 large onions, 10 sage-leaves, 1/4 lb. of bread-crumbs, 1½ oz. of butter, salt and pepper to taste, 1 egg.
AVERAGE COST, 5d.
Peel the onions, put them into boiling water, let them simmer for 5 minutes or rather longer, and just before they are taken out, put in the sage-leaves for a minute or two to take off their rawness. Chop both these very fine, add the bread, seasoning and butter, and work the whole together with the yolk of an egg, when the stuffing will be ready for use. It should be rather highly seasoned, and the sage-leaves should be very finely chopped. Many cooks do not parboil the onions in the manner just stated, but merely use them raw. The stuffing then, however, is not nearly so mild, and, to many tastes, its strong flavour would be very objectionable. When made for goose, a portion of the liver of the bird, simmered for a few minutes and very finely minced, is frequently added to this stuffing; and where economy is studied, the egg and butter may be dispensed with.
SAGO SAUCE.
TIME. Rather more than 5 minutes simmer the onions.
A composed cold salad rather than a tossed one: everything is diced to a uniform size, bound with mayonnaise, and either mounded on a dish or set in the centre of an aspic ring. The proportions in the note matter more than the ingredient list.
- Cut size is the whole dishCut size matters -- the original asks only that the vegetables be "cut up small" and the lettuce shredded finely. Dicing everything to a similar small size means a spoonful carries all of them at once.
- Follow the proportion noteBeetroot and carrot are both sweet and both stain; used together and used freely they turn the bowl pink and cloying. Keep leaf and cress as the bulk, as the original instructs, and treat beet as garnish only.
- Aspic jellyPeriod aspic was a clarified, well-reduced meat or fish stock, set by the gelatine in the stock itself or with added gelatine or isinglass. Today use a strong fish or chicken stock with powdered gelatine; allow roughly 1/2 oz per pint for a border mould firm enough to unmould, and less if you only want chopped jelly for garnish.
- Border mouldA ring mould. Rinse it with cold water before filling, chill until properly set, and dip the outside briefly in hot water to release. Unmould onto the serving dish before the salad is piled in the middle, not after.
- The fishAny firm cooked white fish, salmon or cooked shellfish works; flake it and check for bones. Because it is dressed cold and never reheated, cook and chill it the same day and keep the assembled salad refrigerated until it goes to table.
- Anchovies"Fileted and boned" describes salt-packed anchovies, which had to be split and rinsed. Oil-packed fillets from a tin need only draining and patting dry.
- Mayonnaise quantityThe recipe gives none; about 1/2 pint (10 fl oz) will dress a large bowl of diced vegetables and fish. Add it in stages: the salad should be coated, not swimming, or it will slump when piled.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantities, so scale it to what you have. It is best assembled a few hours ahead rather than the day before, as the potato goes mealy and the lettuce weeps.
Salade russe is one of a family of composed cold dishes built on diced vegetables and mayonnaise; the same idea survives as Russian salad in Britain, salade russe in France, ensaladilla rusa in Spain and Olivier salad in Russia itself. Its appeal to a Victorian household was practical as much as fashionable, since it made use of cold cooked vegetables and cold fish, while the aspic border and bright garnish made the result grand enough for a summer supper table. Beeton offers the moulded form as "a pretty way of serving" the salad, aspic being the cook's chief means of giving leftovers architecture.