Pineapple Salad

A three-ingredient fruit-and-nut salad of the sort that filled American ladies' luncheon menus in the early twentieth century. The stray characters at the end of the text are typesetting debris from the original booklet, not an instruction.

• ProportionsNone are given. Equal volumes of pineapple and celery with about half as much walnut gives a workable balance; roughly 2 cups pineapple, 2 cups celery and 1 cup nuts would serve four to six on lettuce.
• "Shredded pineapple"Pineapple pulled or scraped into shreds rather than cut in neat cubes; at this date the phrase could equally mean the canned shredded pineapple then sold commercially. Canned crushed pineapple will work but must be drained hard, or the mayonnaise slackens and slides off the lettuce.
• CeleryUse the pale inner ribs and cut them fine across the grain, which shortens the strings. Outer ribs are too fibrous for a salad eaten raw with fruit.
• English walnutsSimply the common walnut, as distinguished from the American black walnut, which is far stronger and would overwhelm the pineapple. Break them by hand rather than chopping, as the recipe says; chopped nuts turn to grit in the dressing.
• Mayonnaise without mustardThe hinge of the dish. Mustard is standard in savoury mayonnaise but fights sweet fruit, so the dressing here is oil, egg yolk, lemon juice or vinegar and salt only.
• "Whitened with whipped cream"Fold softly whipped unsweetened cream into the finished mayonnaise, perhaps a third by volume, shortly before serving. It lightens both colour and flavour, and is best made close to the time it is wanted.
• Raw eggHomemade mayonnaise contains uncooked yolk. Use pasteurised eggs if serving anyone pregnant, elderly or immunocompromised, and keep the salad cold.
• AssemblyDress the pineapple, celery and nuts only shortly before serving. Cut pineapple keeps releasing juice and will thin the dressing if the salad stands.