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Plain French Dressing
1/2 cup Mazola 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons vinegar 1/8 teaspoon white pepper or Beat thoroughly and use with any vegetable, meat or fish salad. If a sweeter dressing is desired add 1 teaspoon Karo Red Label.
A three-to-one oil-and-vinegar dressing from a corn-products promotional booklet, built to be shaken up in a minute and used the same day.
- MazolaMazola is corn oil, promoted as a neutral, inexpensive alternative to olive oil. Any mild vegetable oil works; olive oil gives a heavier, more assertive dressing than the booklet intends.
- Karo Red LabelRed Label Karo was the darker, more strongly flavoured corn syrup, as against the pale Blue Label. A teaspoon of light corn syrup, honey or sugar dissolved in the vinegar does the same job.
- The ratioThree tablespoons vinegar to half a cup oil is roughly 1:2.7, sharper than the classic 1:3 and considerably sharper than modern bottled dressings. Taste before committing it to delicate greens.
- VinegarAssume plain white or cider vinegar at the period's ordinary strength. Wine vinegars and anything labelled as reduced-acidity will read milder; sherry or balsamic will change the character entirely.
- Beat thoroughlyWhisking by hand gives a loose emulsion that separates within minutes. A jar and vigorous shaking is quicker, and a small blender or immersion blender will hold it together far longer if you want it to cling.
- White pepperProbably chosen over black so no dark flecks show in the pale dressing, though the recipe itself allows an alternative. Grind it fresh if possible; pre-ground white pepper loses its character quickly.
- YieldAbout two-thirds of a cup. Refrigerate leftovers and shake again before use; the oil will thicken and cloud when cold.
This comes from a booklet published to sell corn products — Mazola oil and Karo syrup as ingredients. Corn oil was a by-product of wet corn milling that manufacturers spent the early twentieth century teaching American cooks to use, and a common tactic was to give away recipe pamphlets in which the dishes called for the sponsor's goods, here even the optional sweetening. The dressing itself is the ordinary vinaigrette that English and American cookbooks had been calling "French dressing" since the nineteenth century, meaning simply oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in the French manner rather than a boiled or cooked dressing.