_By W. F. Giles (of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading)._
Salads just now are recommended by the medical profession, besides
being a popular dish, and so I cannot do better than give Mr. Giles’s
list of plants for this purpose, though practically nearly every
vegetable grown can be used for cooked or uncooked salads, the
composition of which depends on the taste of the consumer.
=Australian or Golden Cress.=--Belongs to the same class as the garden
cress, but the leaves are broad and almost yellow in colour, and is
cultivated in exactly the same way.
=Belle Isle or American Land Cress.=--It resembles somewhat the
watercress; in flavour, however, it is more pungent, but it is a useful
plant as a component of salads.
=Cabbage Lettuce.=--Often seen in many gardens in the spring.
=Celeriac--Turnip-rooted Celery.=--Is not much in request in this
country, although in France and America it is largely grown. It is
chiefly used for soup flavouring and served cooked, although it can of
course be included in salad. There are white, golden, and green forms.
=Chives--Chenopodium Amaranticolor.=--This is a plant which has only
recently been heard of in England. It grows to a height of five or six
feet, and produces a large quantity of succulent leaves, which are
green in colour but marked with purple. In habit of growth it resembles
the Orache or mountain spinach, but continues in use for a longer
period. The seed can be sown in pots in the spring and transplanted,
and the plants will continue to bear young leaves all through the
summer and well into the autumn. A little of it can be added to the
salad bowl, but it should be used sparingly.
=Lettuce.=--One of the most useful salad plants.
=Mercury or Good King Henry.=--Although usually cooked like spinach, it
can be eaten in a mixed salad.
=Orache or Mountain Spinach=, of which there are the white and red
varieties.--The leaves, which are large, can be used either boiled as
spinach, or mixed with other ingredients as a salad.
=Pimpinella or Salad Burnet.=--Burnet is an old-fashioned herb, and
is called by the French and Italians “Pimpinella.” In Italy it is so
highly prized that they have a proverb which says:
“That salad is neither good or fair,
If Pimpinella be not there.”
It has a very distinct flavour, and is quite easily grown. The plant
is perennial, very hardy, and will grow almost anywhere. It will, in
fact, continue green during the greater part of the year, and may
be used in the winter when little other salad is to be had. Seed is
usually sown in spring and summer, and the leaves, which are produced
in great abundance, are tender, and used as salad.
=Poirée, Swiss Chard, or Leaf Beet.=--I have now enumerated most of
the cultivated plants which are used for salad purposes either in this
country or on the Continent, but still the list is not complete. There
are various wild ones which are sometimes used; in fact it is said
that the poorer French and Italians gather almost anything green and
tender and use them as salads. Such things as the tops of nettles, the
leaves of the wood sorrel, sweet cicely, and of the cuckooflower or
ladies’ smock, of scurvy grass, nasturtiums, and of salad rocket or
wild cress, besides shoots of hops, of vines, and asparagus, are all
used to a greater or lesser extent in the great salad-eating countries.
In addition, the foliage of salsify, tansy, borage, and caraway, the
shoots of sage, and the leaves of balm, and even the pods of young
peas, are sometimes brought into use; in fact, there almost seems no
end to the supply of tender material which can be eaten dressed with
salt, vinegar, and oil, as a good salad should be.
The great art of preparing a salad from these lesser-known plants
is to so judiciously mix them that the taste of one may not overpower
the remainder. The more popular subjects, such as lettuce or endive,
are used as a basis, and with the addition of a little of one or
more of the other plants I have mentioned, an agreeable mixture may
be obtained to suit all palates. One special point, however, which
is often overlooked in this country, is the fact that a salad should
always be served freshly made. It is a common experience in Continental
hotels or restaurants to see the waiter mixing the oil and vinegar and
adding them to the salad immediately before placing it on the table.
There are one or two points which are not seen to in this country.
First, supposing the salad is to have lettuce for the foundation. The
leaves should be torn, and not cut. If not very dirty they are simply
wiped, but should it be necessary to wash them, they must be afterwards
drained and tossed lightly on a soft cloth to get rid of every drop
of water. In this country salading is often put to soak, thus making
the leaves sodden, and being imperfectly dried, a good deal of the
water goes into the salad bowl, which, according to the Continental
idea, immediately spoils the mixture. Next the leaves are selected
and put into the salad bowl whole, and not shredded up, as is usually
done here. No steel knife should be allowed to touch them. They should
then be turned about with a wooden fork whilst being sprinkled with
good salad oil. Only sufficient oil should be added to moisten every
leaf well. Vinegar must be added in very small quantities, the object
being to give merely an appetising flavour, and not to make an acid
mixture. The thing to avoid is too much dressing; if any liquid stands
at the bottom of the bowl, it will cause the leaves to become sodden
and discoloured. Any additional flavouring required can be obtained by
adding to the lettuce small quantities of such things as finely chopped
chives, tarragon, chervil, burnet, shallot, or almost any of the plants
I have referred to, and a little salt and pepper to taste completes the
salad.
=Purslane--Tarragon--Curled Chervil.=--Known as a herb rather than a
salad plant, but is useful for the latter purpose.
=Radishes--Winter
Radishes--Tomatoes--Cucumbers--Celery--Beet--Endive--Onions--Mustard
and Cress--Watercress--Chicory= (or _Barbe de
capucin_)=--Witloef--Blanched Dandelion--Finnochio= (or _Florence
Fennel_)=--Corn Salad or Mache--Rampion= (rampions are eaten raw like
radishes, or boiled and cut up into salads).