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Normandy Salad
1 small can French peas 1/2 teaspoon sugar Salt and pepper 1/2 pound pecans 1/2 cup Mayonnaise dressing 1 small head lettuce Cook the peas slowly in their own liquor, seasoning them with salt, pepper and sugar. When the peas have absorbed all the liquor, set them aside to cool; mix with the chopped pecans and Mayonnaise and serve on lettuce leaves.
A three-ingredient composed salad from the era when canned French peas were a delicacy rather than a pantry staple. The only real technique is the reduction of the pea liquor, and the only real decision is how many pecans you actually want.
- French peasThese are petits pois — small, young, sweet peas, sold canned and still available under that name. A modern small can runs about 8-8.5 oz net weight, which drains to roughly three-quarters of a cup. Thawed frozen petits pois will stand in, but they carry no packing liquor, so add a few tablespoons of water for the seasoning step.
- The hinge: reducing the liquorSimmer very gently and uncovered so the seasoned liquid concentrates and glazes the peas rather than boiling them to paste. Canned peas are already fully cooked; five to eight minutes over low heat is enough to take up the liquid. Stir as little as possible.
- Cool completelyWarm peas will thin mayonnaise and make it break. Spread them on a plate to cool quickly, then chill before dressing.
- The pecan quantityHalf a pound of shelled pecans is close to two cups chopped — roughly twice the volume of the peas, which makes this a nut salad with peas in it. If the original meant pecans in the shell, the yield would be about a cup. The measurement is genuinely ambiguous; start with a cup of chopped nuts and judge by eye.
- MayonnaiseHalf a cup of commercial mayonnaise works and avoids the raw-egg question entirely. Many period mayonnaise recipes are stiffer and more strongly mustard-seasoned than jarred dressing; if yours is, loosen it with a teaspoon of lemon juice so it coats without clumping.
- Toast the nutsNot in the original, but eight minutes at 350F deepens the pecan flavor and keeps them from going soft in the dressing. Cool them before chopping and mixing.
- Yield and serviceServes four to six as a first course or luncheon salad. Use whole cupped lettuce leaves as bowls and spoon the mixture in just before it goes to the table, since the leaves soften once the dressing sits on them.
The name points to Normandy less as a source than as a compliment — geographical names were often attached to American salads in this period to signal refinement. Canned petits pois imported from France were a prestige grocery item in the United States from the late nineteenth century onward, which may be why the recipe has the cook simmer the peas down in their own packing liquor rather than pouring it away. The pecan places the recipe firmly in American rather than French practice; it is native to the South and Southwest, and mayonnaise-bound salads served in a lettuce cup were a standard luncheon course of the era.