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Club French Dressing
½ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons Tarragon 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoons brandy vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil Mix ingredients and stir until well blended.
The ingredient list has been scrambled by the original two-column setting; read it as salt, pepper, olive oil, tarragon vinegar and brandy. It makes a scant quarter cup — enough to dress a salad for four.
- Untangling the columns"2 tablespoons Tarragon" and "2 tablespoons brandy vinegar" appear to be two half-lines run together. The most likely reading is 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar and 2 tablespoons brandy, alongside the 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- The ratio is deliberateThe ratio -- On the reading above, equal parts oil and acid is far sharper than the modern 3:1 vinaigrette; on delicate greens it will taste harsh.
- Brandy is a flavouring hereThe spirit is uncooked and stays raw. Use a plain grape brandy or cognac, not a sweetened or flavoured one.
- Tarragon vinegarStill sold, but easily made by steeping a few bruised sprigs in white wine vinegar for a week or two. White wine vinegar plus a pinch of chopped fresh tarragon is a reasonable substitute.
- Stirring, not emulsifyingThe instruction is only to stir until blended, and with no mustard or egg it will separate within minutes. Whisk or shake again immediately before it goes on the food.
- Season at the end tooThe half teaspoon of salt is calculated for the dressing alone, not for the food it dresses. Taste the finished salad and correct.
"Club" in period cookery writing often signals a richer or more elaborate version of a standard preparation, the kind of thing a club or hotel dining room would send out, and the splash of brandy here may be that gesture. Tarragon vinegar was a standard French touch available to an American cook: bottled, shelf-stable, and carrying the herb's flavour into months when fresh tarragon was unobtainable.