I have discovered that the secret of French dressing, to my way of
thinking, is to use plenty of salt. When I make it at home—say for
five or six people—I take an ordinary salt dish or saucer and cover
the bottom with a lot of salt. Add black pepper and some of that Chili
powder that comes from a place down in Texas. This Chili powder has
a better flavor than paprika, and has a sort of onion taste to it,
but don’t use too much of it. Then I cover this with a good quantity
of olive oil and beat it up with a fork until it gets stiff. It is a
good idea to have the olive oil cold. Then add your vinegar—good,
old-fashioned cider vinegar. There is a lot of it around nowadays
because, while it is easy to turn sweet cider into hard, it is a good
deal easier to turn hard cider into vinegar. You add the vinegar to
suit your taste—and this depends a good deal on the kind of salad you
are going to have. For asparagus I like the dressing a little tart. For
lettuce, not so tart. But this is a matter you can easily adjust to
your own satisfaction.