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Sect. 2.-French Salads
714. French salads are mixed with less care than is used by the English, inasmuch as the flavour of raw oil is not objected to by their consumers. The lettuce, endive, dandelion-leaves, or other saladherbs, are merely chopped up and incorporated with a little tarragon, chervil, and garlic or shalot; after which a mixture of half a teaspoonful of pepper, a whole one of salt, two table-spoonsful of vinegar, and four of oil, are simply stirred together with a fork and poured over the salad. 715. COLD MEAT, FOWL, FISH, AND GAME, mixed up with the above salad in fine shreds or slices, and flavoured in the same way, are extensively used in France.
A dressing formula and a method rather than a fixed dish: the proportions in entry 714 are the whole of it, and they are sharper than most modern vinaigrettes.
- The ratioFour tablespoons oil to two of vinegar is 2:1, sharper than the 3:1 commonly recommended today. Start with the oil and add the vinegar to taste if you find it aggressive; the salt quantity, a full teaspoon, is also generous for a single bowl.
- What the oil is"Raw oil" means unheated oil, most likely olive, and the passage implies its flavour was thought objectionable in England. Use an oil you would happily taste on a spoon, since nothing here disguises it.
- ShalotAn older spelling of shallot. Garlic or shallot here is meant as a whisper rather than a component: rub the bowl with a cut clove, or mince a teaspoon of shallot at most.
- Chervil and tarragonBoth are best fresh; chervil in particular is worthless dried, and dried tarragon is much diminished. If chervil is unavailable, a little flat parsley with a few extra tarragon leaves comes closest; the anise note of the tarragon is what most marks the dressing as French.
- Dandelion leavesPick young leaves before the plant flowers, from ground you know has not been sprayed or treated. Older leaves turn bitter enough to overwhelm the dressing.
- ChoppingThe instruction to chop the herbs is period practice; lettuce and endive are better torn, as cut edges bruise and weep. Dress at the table and toss only once, or the leaves collapse.
- QuantitySix tablespoons of dressing is enough for a large head of lettuce or endive serving four, with a little left over.
- The meat saladEntry 715 is a way of using cooked leftovers. Keep the meat, poultry or fish refrigerated until the moment it is shredded, dress it just before serving, and do not let it stand at room temperature.