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Oyster Salad
Take one quart of oysters; one-half cup of mayonnaise; one tablespoon of oil; one-half teaspoon of salt; one pint of celery; two tablespoons of vinegar; one tablespoon of lemon juice; one-eighth teaspoon of pepper. Place the oysters in a stewpan on the fire, adding no water; and when they are boiling, turn them into a colander to drain. Place them, when drained, in an earthenware dish, and add the oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and lemon juice; when cold, set the dish in the ice-box for at least two hours. Cut the white part of the celery into very thin slices, and place it in a bowl in the ice-box, adding a piece of ice to the celery to keep it crisp. When ready to serve, drain the celery, mix it with the oysters and half of the mayonnaise, turn the whole into a salad bowl, and pour over it the rest of the dressing. Garnish with tufts of white celery leaves, and serve at once. If preferred, lettuce leaves may be arranged on a large platter in groups of two or three to form cups, and in each cup may be dropped four or five oysters and one spoonful of mayonnaise poured over them. A tiny spray of parsley may be thrust into the sauce at the center of each cup.
SALMON SALAD (Whole) -For a ceremonious supper this makes a very handsome dish. Choose a salmon weighing from five to ten pounds, rub with salt, wrap in a cloth, and steam or boil until tender. Pull off the skin while hot, and arrange fish at once upon a platter that it may retain its shape when cold. Just before serving time pour a rich mayonnaise over it, and sprinkle with capers, and, if obtainable, a small quantity of oyster crabs. Lettuce leaves may be prettily arranged about the edges of the platter, and slices or quarters of hard boiled eggs may be laid upon them. The lettuce and eggs are served with the salmon, which should be carved with a fish-knife; and a little more dressing may be added to each portion from a mayonnaise bowl.
A cold oyster salad from the era when shucked oysters came by the quart from the fish dealer. The one thing to get right is the cooking: the oysters need only to plump, not to boil.
- Cook the oysters barely at all"When they are boiling" is the outer limit, not a target. Set the shucked oysters and their liquor over medium heat and pull them the moment the edges ruffle and the liquor clouds, about 1 to 2 minutes. Anything longer and they shrink and turn rubbery, and no amount of mayonnaise hides it.
- A quart of oystersThis means shucked oysters in their liquor, roughly 2 pints, sold today in tubs at the fish counter. The number of oysters in a quart varies with grade, so any count is approximate. Two 16-oz containers is the practical equivalent.
- A pint of celeryCelery was measured by volume after cutting. A pint is 2 cups of thinly sliced hearts, about 4 to 5 inner stalks. The pale inner ribs are specified for a reason: outer stalks are stringy and too strongly flavored against the oysters.
- Ice in the celeryThe ice-box instruction still works and is worth keeping. Sliced celery in a bowl of ice water for 30 minutes crisps noticeably; drain it thoroughly and pat dry or the dressing will thin and slide off.
- The mayonnaiseMayonnaise of this period was built on raw yolks. If you make it yourself, use pasteurized eggs; commercial mayonnaise thinned with a little lemon juice is an honest substitute here.
- Earthenware, not metalThe instruction to marinate in an earthenware dish is chemistry, not nostalgia. The vinegar and lemon juice will take on a metallic taste in reactive aluminum or unlined copper. Glass, ceramic or stainless steel are all fine.
- Dress at the last momentChill the seasoned oysters the full two hours, but combine with celery and mayonnaise only when the salad is going to the table. Held longer, the oysters weep and the dressing breaks down into a watery pool.
- YieldA quart of oysters dressed this way serves 6 as a first course, or about 10 to 12 of the lettuce cups described at the end, at four or five oysters each.
- On the salmon that followsThe whole-salmon variation calls for oyster crabs, the tiny pea crabs that live inside oyster shells. They are not sold commercially and were always an "if obtainable" garnish. Skip them. A 5-to-10-lb whole salmon steamed to 125-130F at the thickest point will slice cleanly once cold.
Oyster salad belongs to a moment when oysters were cheap protein rather than a luxury: American beds along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts were being dredged on an industrial scale through the late nineteenth century, and shucked oysters traveled inland by rail packed in ice, which is why a household book of the period can call for a quart without comment. The pairing with celery is a period signature, running through oyster stuffing, oyster stew garnishes and this salad alike, and the combination of cold cooked seafood bound with mayonnaise was itself fashionable. The elaborate presentations here, lettuce cups with a spray of parsley thrust into the sauce, a whole salmon for a "ceremonious supper," reflect the Butterick company's larger project: it sold dress patterns, and its cook book taught the same aspirational middle-class polish in food that its patterns did in clothing.