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Cold Sauces and Dressings
A good oil should be used in making salad dressings, but it is not necessary to pay the highest price for it. An excellent quality of olive oil may be purchased at some of the small Italian shops for a reasonable amount. This low price is made possible since it is their own importation.
There is also now on the market a good domestic oil prepared from cotton seed. It is largely used instead of the imported oil, and an excellent mayonnaise can be made from it.
French Dressing No. 1 1 tablespoonful vine- teaspoonful salt White pepper gar 3 tablespoonfuls oil This is the usual proportion of oil and vinegar, but an equal quantity of each may be used if desired, or more oil.1 To the seasoning in a bowl add the oil and vinegar, and beat with Dover beater or fork until it thickens slightly. Use at once. When made at the table the dressing will thicken more quickly if a bit of ice is put in the bowl with the other ingredients. Remove ice when dressing is made.
French Dressing No. 2 2 tablespoonfuls oil 2 tablespoonfuls vinegar 1 tablespoonful beaten egg teaspoonful salt A little pepper Put all together into a bowl and beat with a Dover egg beater. Pour over the salad just before it is sent to the table. 1 In France they say to add the vinegar to salad dressing in the time one can say very quickly, Ners (a French railway station), but the oil is poured in while one is saying, very slowly, Saint- Jean-de-Maurienne.
Two versions of a plain oil-and-vinegar dressing, plus a note on buying oil that dates the book precisely. Nothing here is difficult; the points that matter are the ratio, the emulsion, and the raw egg in No. 2.
- YieldNo. 1 makes about 4 tablespoons, No. 2 about 5 — enough to dress a salad for two or three. Double as needed, but mix in small batches since neither dressing holds.
- The ratioNo. 1 is the classic three parts oil to one part vinegar. The text's own aside allows equal quantities of each, which gives a much sharper dressing; a 3:1, or even 4:1 with a mild wine vinegar, will suit most tastes now.
- Dover beaterA hand-cranked rotary egg beater, a common piece of American kitchen equipment by around the turn of the twentieth century. A small whisk does the same job, and shaking everything in a sealed jar does it faster and with less mess.
- "Until it thickens slightly"This is a temporary emulsion, not mayonnaise. It will separate within a few minutes, which is why the recipe says to use it at once and to pour No. 2 over the salad just before it goes to the table. Beat it last, after everything else is plated.
- The iceChilling the bowl makes the oil marginally more viscous so the droplets break up and stay suspended a little longer. It works, and it is worth doing if the dressing is being made in a warm kitchen.
- Raw egg in No. 2The tablespoon of beaten egg is what holds this version together, and it is never cooked. Use a pasteurized egg, or pasteurized liquid egg, particularly if serving to children, older diners or anyone pregnant. Mix it and serve it; do not keep it.
- Cottonseed oilThe "good domestic oil" being recommended was refined cottonseed oil, which the author says was widely used in place of the imported oil. It is still sold, though a neutral sunflower, grapeseed or light olive oil is easier to find.
- SeasoningWhite pepper was preferred so no dark flecks showed in a pale dressing; black pepper will do, though it is not quite the same in flavour. Salt dissolves more readily in the vinegar than in the oil.
- The footnoteThe joke is a timing instruction: say "Ners" quickly and "Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne" slowly, and you have the rhythm — vinegar in fast, oil in a thin steady thread. It is still the best description of how to build the emulsion by hand.
"French dressing" here means the plain mixture of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper beaten together at the table, not the sweet, tomato-tinted bottled product that later claimed the name in the United States. The opening paragraph is the more revealing part of the page. Good olive oil was an import bought from small immigrant grocers, while refined cottonseed oil, a byproduct of the Southern cotton industry made palatable by improved refining in the later nineteenth century, was arriving as a cheap domestic alternative and was promoted for salads and mayonnaise. That the book pauses to discuss where to buy oil suggests the author expected her readers to be watching the price of every bottle.