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Cream Dressing II
1 teaspoon mustard 1 teaspoon salt Few grains cayenne 1 teaspoon butter 2 teaspoons flour Yolk 1 egg 1½ teaspoons powdered sugar 1/3 cup vinegar 1/2 cup thick cream, sweet or sour Mix dry ingredients, add butter, egg, and vinegar slowly. Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens; cool, and add to heavy cream, beaten until stiff. Boiled Dressing I ¼ tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon mustard 1½ tablespoons sugar Few grains cayenne Yolks 2 eggs 1½ tablespoons flour 1½ tablespoons melted butter 3/4 cup milk ¼ cup vinegar Mix dry ingredients, add yolks of eggs slightly beaten, butter, milk, and vinegar very slowly. Cook over boiling water until mixture thickens; strain and cool.
Yolks 4 eggs ½ cup olive oil
A cooked egg-and-vinegar base folded into whipped cream, meant for potato salad and other cold vegetable salads. It is closer to a hollandaise-thickened custard than to mayonnaise, and the whole thing hangs on not letting the egg base overheat.
- Cook it gentlyUse a bowl over simmering water, not direct heat, and stir without stopping. Take it off the heat as soon as it thickens; held too long or too hot, the egg can curdle.
- Cool completely before foldingThe base must be at room temperature or colder, or it will deflate the whipped cream on contact. Chilling it over ice speeds this up and gives a firmer finished dressing.
- "Thick cream, sweet or sour"Sweet cream here means plain unsoured heavy cream; the period term distinguishes it from cream deliberately soured. Modern heavy or whipping cream works, and cultured sour cream can be stirred in rather than whipped, since it will not take air.
- MustardA teaspoon of mustard in this era means dry powdered mustard, not prepared. If you substitute prepared mustard, use about a tablespoon and cut the vinegar slightly.
- Vinegar strengthHousehold vinegar of the period was broadly comparable to modern cider vinegar, though strengths varied. A third of a cup is a good deal of acid for a single yolk, and the cream softens it considerably.
- KeepingRefrigerate and use within two or three days. The whipped cream will weep as it sits; whisk briefly before serving rather than re-beating.
Boiled and cream dressings were common in American salad-making before commercial mayonnaise became widely available, and this book gives several variations on the theme. A cooked flour-and-egg base used far less fat than the oil an emulsified mayonnaise demands. Dressings of this sharp, slightly sweet, mustard-forward type are often associated with New England potato salad and coleslaw.