Shrimp Salad

A recipe written in shorthand for cooks who already knew what a marinade and a mayonnaise were. The whole thing hinges on the marinating step, which is the only seasoning the shrimp get.

• "Marinade" means French dressing"Marinade" here most likely means a simple French dressing -- in books of this period a salad marinade is usually oil and vinegar or lemon juice with salt and pepper, often somewhere around three parts oil to one of acid, though this recipe does not say. Twenty to thirty minutes chilled is enough; much longer and the acid begins to firm and dull the shrimp.
• A pint of shrimpRecipes of this period commonly measured cooked shellfish by volume. A pint of peeled cooked shrimp is roughly 12 oz by weight, which comes from something like 1 lb of shell-on raw shrimp. That serves about four as a salad course.
• Shrimps or prawnsThe distinction here is size and market name, not species behavior in the salad. Use medium shrimp so they stay whole as instructed; anything jumbo wants cutting, which the recipe deliberately avoids.
• Canned shrimpThe praise is genuine for 1911 but canned shrimp today often carries a metallic edge. Drain, rinse well, and soak 10 minutes in ice water with a squeeze of lemon, then dry thoroughly before dressing.
• DeveiningOlder recipes rarely mention it. Pull the dark dorsal line from larger shrimp; on small ones it makes no difference to taste.
• Dry the shrimpWet shrimp thin the mayonnaise into a puddle on the plate. Blot them after marinating, and drain off any marinade that has pooled before spooning the dressing over.
• The baseShaved cabbage holds up far better than lettuce if the salad has to sit. Shred it as finely as the recipe says, on a mandoline or with a long knife, and keep it cold and crisp.
• Raw-egg mayonnaiseA period mayonnaise is raw yolk, oil and vinegar. If serving anyone vulnerable, use pasteurized eggs or a commercial mayonnaise; keep the finished salad below 40F until it goes to the table.