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Salad Dressing Without Oil
The yolks of four uncooked eggs, one tablespoonful of salt, one heaping teaspoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of mustard, half a cupful of clarified chicken fat, a quarter of a cupful of vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, a speck of cayenne. Make as directed for mayonnaise dressing.
This is a mayonnaise built on rendered chicken fat instead of oil, and it is never cooked at any stage. That single fact is what rules it out.
- Four raw yolks, no heatThe dressing is emulsified cold and served cold; the eggs are never brought anywhere near the 160F at which Salmonella in yolk is destroyed. The vinegar and lemon juice will acidify the mixture, but acidification alone cannot be relied on to make raw yolk safe. Use a current recipe built on pasteurized eggs or commercial mayonnaise.
- No storage guidanceThe original gives no keeping time and no chilling instruction.
- The salt is also out of proportionA full tablespoonful of salt against a quarter cup of vinegar and half a cup of fat is far heavier than modern palates accept.
- What "as directed for mayonnaise" assumedMayonnaise instructions of this period generally involve beating the yolks with the seasonings and then working in the fat very gradually, with the acid added as the emulsion builds. With chicken fat rather than oil, the emulsion would be expected to set firm when cold, giving something closer to a spreadable sauce than a pourable dressing.
Oil-free dressings appear in American cookbooks for two quite different reasons. Olive oil was expensive, often rancid by the time it reached inland kitchens, and widely disliked by cooks raised on butter and cream, so substitutes made with milk, butter or rendered fat were common. Rendered and clarified chicken fat, known as schmaltz in Jewish kitchens, also served a specific purpose: it allowed a rich sauce at a meat meal without dairy. Which motive lies behind this particular version is not stated.