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Salad Dressing (Yolks of two eggs beaten)
The yolks of two eggs beaten thoroughly, one level tea-spoon salt, one of pepper, two of white sugar, two tea-spoons prepared mustard, one table-spoon butter; stir in the mixture four table-spoons best vinegar, put dressing into a bowl, set it in a kettle of hot water, and stir constantly till it thickens; set away, and when cool it is ready for use. This is sufficient for one quart finely chopped cabbage, and should be poured over while hot, and thoroughly mixed with the cabbage, which may then be placed upon a platter, formed into an oval mound, and served cold.
A boiled dressing of the kind that preceded mayonnaise in American kitchens: eggs and vinegar thickened over hot water rather than emulsified with oil. It is quick, but it will scramble if rushed.
- The hinge: gentle heat, constant motionThe bowl must sit over hot water, not in boiling water, and the mixture must be stirred without pause. It thickens to a pourable custard at roughly 170–180F; past that the yolks curdle and no amount of beating brings them back.
- Add the vinegar off the heat firstStir the four tablespoons of vinegar into the beaten yolk mixture before it goes over the water, as written. Vinegar added to already-warm yolks tends to shock them into graininess.
- That teaspoon of pepperA level teaspoon of pepper in a dressing this small is aggressive by modern taste. A quarter to a half teaspoon suits most palates.
- Prepared mustardIn 1880s usage this means a smooth, sharp, vinegar-based table mustard — a plain yellow or Dijon-style prepared mustard is the closest match. Not dry mustard powder, which would need to be slaked first.
- ButterOne tablespoon, listed with the other ingredients before the dressing goes over the hot water, is what gives it body and gloss. Use unsalted if you are following the full teaspoon of salt.
- Yield and the cabbageAbout half a cup of dressing, enough for the quart of finely chopped cabbage the recipe specifies, serving four to six. Pouring it over hot wilts the cabbage slightly and helps it absorb the dressing.
- KeepingThis is an egg custard, not a preserved mayonnaise. Refrigerate and use within two or three days; it will thicken further when cold and can be loosened with a spoonful of cream or vinegar.
Boiled dressing belongs to the era before bottled mayonnaise. Eggs, vinegar, mustard and a little butter cooked over water gave a stable, tangy sauce with ingredients any household kept, and it appears commonly as a dressing for cabbage, potato and cold meat salads in nineteenth-century American cookbooks. The Dixie Cook-Book (1883) drew heavily on the same pool of contributed and reprinted receipts as Estelle Woods Wilcox's earlier Buckeye Cookery, and dressings like this appear in both traditions with only small variations in the sugar and mustard. The finishing instruction — mound the slaw into an oval on a platter and serve cold — reflects a period fondness for shaping even the plainest dish before it reached the table.