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Macedoine Salad

"The following incident first led me to prepare this salad: Whilst staying at a friend's country house, the mistress of the house came to me in great distress, and confided to me that her supplies having failed, she was quite at a loss how to entertain her numerous guests, and asked me to assist her. When I investigated the state of the larder, I found there nothing but cold meat and poultry, and cold game; all these I took, and, after carefully paring and cutting them up, I made them into a huge salad which I mixed with an abundant and highly seasoned Mayonnaise sauce, adding lettuce, olives, anchovies, hard boiled eggs, pickles, and some chopped tarragon, chervil and shalots. This salad, preceded by a good soup, and followed by sweets and fruit, was highly appreciated by the hungry guests."

With all the materials mentioned it cannot be said the cupboard was very bare anyway, and the salad was neither cheap nor simple, nor hard to imitate; but does not the proceeding show the difference in national customs? An American would never have thought of making a salad, nor would the American hostess have felt comfortable seeing all the provisions going into that sort of compound. Some of us instead would likely have made a bill of fare of about 120 dishes out of the material used to make the dinner described. A macedoine salad, like a macedoine of vegetables, or of fruits, or macedoine jelly, is a mixture of any number of different kinds and colors all cut to one size. Gouffe says his abundant mayonaise was highly seasoned. Elsewhere he says mayonaise should be highly flavored. Some salads contain very high flavored ingredients and a small quantity suffices, as some reject them altogether. Mayonaise may contain a large amount of mustard, used in place of part of the raw eggs. Salads may have the "piquant flavor and delicate seasoning of the sausages of Arles," praised by both Dumas and Savarin--pepper, salt and garlic with smoked beef.