No. 2620

Dressings or Seasonings for Salads, Tarragon and Chili Vinegar

Assaisonnements pour Salades, Vinaigre a l'Estragon et au Poivre de Chili

Remoulade Sauce, Pimentade with Tomatoes, Tarragon and Chili Vinegars.—The quantity of salad to be seasoned and the necessary proportions must be taken into consideration when using these dressings. When a salad is served no oil should ever remain at the bottom of the bowl; the quantity of oil varies according to the salad. It generally takes three to five spoonfuls of oil for one of vinegar. This can be varied according to taste. Americans do not like the taste of oil in which the taste of the olive is prominent, and therefore prefer a neutral olive oil. When a salad is prepared away from the dining-room it is better to put the salt and pepper in a bowl, dissolve them with the vinegar, add the oil and mix well; then pour this over the salad, and stir it in a common salad bowl before removing it to the one intended for the table, this being a much cleaner method. There are glass decanters for mixing the seasonings, adding to them an egg-yolk and a little mustard; shake this well, and by so doing a light mayonnaise is obtained that can be poured over the salad.

Another way is to put the salt and pepper into a spoon, add the vinegar, mix with a fork, pour it over the salad and afterward the oil, or else put the salt and pepper into the salad, stir, then add the oil, stir once more and lastly pour in the vinegar, stirring it well again.

Tarragon Vinegar.—Fill a two-quart jar two-thirds full with layers of tarragon leaves, shallots and onions; pour over some very strong vinegar and use it two months later, filtering it before doing so.

Chili Pepper Vinegar.—Put into a quart jar half its height of Chili peppers, cover with strong wine vinegar, and three months later it can be used, either with the peppers or filtered.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Two things are going on here: a set of general rules for dressing a salad at table, and two shelf-stable flavored vinegars that need months of lead time. The vinegars are the part worth planning around.

The oil-to-vinegar ratioThree to five spoonfuls of oil to one of vinegar covers everything from a sharp 3:1 to a very mild 5:1. Start at 3:1 and adjust to taste, as Ranhofer himself says the proportion can be varied.
Dissolve the salt firstSalt and pepper go into the vinegar and are dissolved before the oil is added; oil coats the crystals and they never disperse otherwise.
"Neutral olive oil"Ranhofer means a bland, low-flavor olive oil, not what we would call neutral oil today. A mild or light-tasting olive oil is the closest equivalent; a robust extra-virgin is exactly the assertive flavor he is steering around.
No oil in the bottom of the bowlThe test of a properly dressed salad, then and now. Dress in a working bowl, toss, then transfer to the serving bowl, and any excess stays behind in the first one.
The shaken decanterAn egg yolk and a little mustard shaken with the vinegar and oil gives a loose, pourable mayonnaise. The yolk is raw and stays raw, so use a pasteurized egg if it is going to people who should avoid raw egg.
Vinegar strength for infusing"Very strong vinegar" means undiluted, full-strength vinegar; the book gives no figure. Use a standard commercial wine vinegar rather than a low-acid specialty one for the shallot-and-onion jar, since the acidity is what keeps the alliums safe over a long steep.
Quantities and timingA two-quart jar packed two-thirds full with tarragon, shallots and onions, topped with vinegar; the yield after straining depends on how tightly the herbs are packed. Tarragon needs two months, the chili vinegar three; keep the strained vinegar stoppered and out of the light.
Chili peppersRanhofer does not say whether the peppers are fresh or dried, and either would have been available to him; small hot pods rather than a large mild chili are what the method implies. A quart jar half full of them makes a fiercely hot vinegar, so filter and taste before pouring it over anything.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) codified the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows him writing for two audiences at once: the professional brigade, who needed the vinegars standing ready in the larder, and the American dining public, whose tastes he notes with some frankness. His remark that Americans dislike a pronounced olive flavor is a useful piece of evidence about late 19th-century palates. Tarragon vinegar is generally said to have been a French larder staple since the 18th century and is the traditional acid in sauce ravigote and béarnaise; steeping the herb in vinegar was the standard way to carry its flavor past its short summer season, since dried tarragon loses most of its character. The chili vinegar belongs to a broader 19th-century enthusiasm for pepper condiments that also produced the bottled hot sauces of the same decades.