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Dandelion Salad
Dandelions, French dressing, beet root.
This salad takes the place of wild chicory, especially in winter, and by growing it in cellars it can be had very white and tender. Clean the leaves by wiping with a towel--do not wash it; macerate it with a French dressing, adding a few slices of beet root.
Cos Lettuce Salad. (Salade de Romaine.) Coslettuce, chervil, tarragon, French dressing.
Remove all the green leaves until the yellow ones are reached; wipe each leaf well, place in a salad bowl and season the salad with the chervil and tarragon, all finely cut. Macerate with a French dressing.
Two salads in one entry, both built on the same method: dress bitter or blanched leaves with a sharp vinaigrette and let them sit briefly before serving. A few of the terms and assumptions need translating.
- "Macerate" means dress and restHere it simply means to toss the leaves in the dressing and leave them a few minutes so the vinegar softens them. No time is given; sturdier dandelion leaves will stand longer than romaine, which wilts quickly.
- French dressing is a vinaigretteIn a book of this vintage that means oil, vinegar, salt and pepper whisked together, roughly three parts oil to one of vinegar. It is not the sweet orange bottled dressing sold under that name in the United States today.
- Blanched dandelionGrowing it in cellars means forcing it in the dark so the leaves stay pale and are noticeably less bitter, the same trick used for Belgian endive. Supermarket dandelion greens are green and considerably more bitter; cut the amount, or cover a garden clump with a bucket for a couple of weeks before picking.
- Do wash the leavesThe instruction to wipe rather than wash assumes cellar-grown leaves that never touched soil. Anything picked outdoors should be washed and spun dry, and dandelion gathered from lawns or verges should be left alone entirely because of herbicide and roadside residue.
- Beet rootThe beets are cooked and peeled, not raw. Boil or roast until tender, cool, and slice thin; add them at the last moment or they stain the whole bowl.
- Cos is romaineSame lettuce, older English name. Stripping down to the yellow heart discards a great deal, so save the outer green leaves for braising or a sandwich.
- Chervil and tarragonBoth are used fresh and finely chopped, and both fade fast once cut. Chervil is mild and anise-scented; if it is unavailable, lean on the tarragon and add a little parsley rather than doubling the tarragon, which turns medicinal in quantity.
- YieldNo quantities are given. Reckon a large handful of leaves and about a tablespoon of dressing per person; a single romaine heart serves two.
Dandelion belongs to the same family as chicory and endive, and European kitchens treated all three as winter salad plants, forced in the dark of a cellar to draw out pale, tender growth when nothing green was coming from the garden. That practice is why the entry begins by placing dandelion as a substitute for wild chicory: both were cheap, both were bitter, and both were improved by the same trick. The pairing with sliced beet sets a sweet, deeply coloured root against a bitter leaf. The second salad, given its French name in parentheses, reflects the pull of French service on English-language cookery, seasoning romaine hearts with chervil and tarragon.