Fruit Salad

A skeleton recipe of the kind common in community and bridal cookbooks, where the compiler assumed the reader already kept a jar of boiled dressing in the icebox. The proportions are all there; the method is largely left to you.

• Cooked salad dressingThis means boiled dressing, not mayonnaise: egg yolks, vinegar, sugar, mustard, a little flour or cornstarch and milk, thickened over low heat and cooled. It is sharper and thinner than mayonnaise, and the tartness is what keeps a sweet apple salad from cloying. A good bottled coleslaw dressing is the nearest supermarket substitute.
• ApplesSlice them last and toss immediately in lemon juice, or they will brown before the salad reaches the table. A firm, tart variety holds its shape; a mealy one collapses under the dressing.
• CeleryThe recipe says only "chopped"; the inner ribs, chopped fine, are easiest to eat raw. Celery and walnuts together carry the texture of the salad, so it is worth keeping the quantity as given.
• WalnutsThe recipe adds them raw. If you prefer, toast them briefly in a dry pan and cool before adding; either way they soften once the dressing is on, so add them late.
• AssemblyThe recipe says to mix the lettuce leaves in, though salads of this type were often arranged instead on a lettuce base: line the plates or a shallow bowl with whole leaves, mound the apple mixture on top, and spoon the dressing over just before serving.
• YieldNo yield is given; two apples with the nuts and celery would stretch to roughly four modest side servings. Dress it at the last minute; the apples weep and the nuts soften.