Apple and Nut Salad

A skeleton recipe of the kind common in 1920s books: four ingredients, no method, and a dressing left entirely to the cook. The one thing to get right is the lemon, which does double duty as seasoning and as the thing that keeps the cut apple pale.

• Toss the apples in lemon firstCore and dice the unpeeled apples and turn them in the juice of half a lemon before anything else goes in. Left bare, they brown within minutes, and the dressing goes on last.
• "English walnuts"The ordinary walnut sold everywhere today. Black walnuts are a different, far more assertive nut with a resinous edge; they will dominate the apples, so use a lighter hand if that is what you have.
• Half a pound of nuts is a great dealThat is roughly 2 cups of shelled meats against four apples. Modern palates usually prefer about half that, coarsely broken and briefly toasted.
• "Seeded raisins"Raisins from which the seeds have been removed, not the seedless varieties we buy by default. Any dark raisin works; plump them in warm water for ten minutes and drain if they are dry.
• The dressingNo proportions are given. A workable reading is 1/2 cup heavy cream whipped to soft peaks, folded with 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice and a pinch of salt, sweetened only if the apples are tart. Add the lemon to the cream gradually or it can curdle.
• Assemble lateWhipped cream slackens and apples weep once dressed. Combine the fruit and nuts ahead, then fold in the cream within half an hour of serving.
• Yield and servingThe recipe gives no yield; the quantities would stretch to roughly six portions as a salad course, served on whole lettuce leaves used as cups. Butterhead or iceberg holds its shape best under a wet dressing.