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Salads, Sandwiches
and
Chafing-Dish Dainties
[Illustration: Table laid for Sunday-Night Tea.
"Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week."--ADDISON.]
Salads, Sandwiches
and
Chafing-Dish Dainties
_With Fifty Illustrations of Original Dishes_
By
Janet McKenzie Hill
Editor of "The Boston Cooking-School Magazine"
Author of "Practical Cooking and Serving"
NEW EDITION
WITH ADDITIONAL RECIPES
"_Things which in hungry mortals' eyes find favor._"
BYRON
Boston
Little, Brown, and Company
1909
_Copyright, 1899, 1903_
BY JANET M. HILL.
Printers
S. J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.
TO
MRS. WILLIAM B. SEWALL,
President of the Boston Cooking-School Corporation,
IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF THE OPPORTUNITY
PRESENTED BY HER FOR CONGENIAL WORK IN A
CHOSEN FIELD OF EFFORT, THIS LITTLE BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
* * * * *
THE favor with which the first edition of this little book has been
received by those who were interested in the subjects of which it
treats, is eminently gratifying to both author and publishers. It has
occasioned the purpose to make a second edition of the book, even more
complete and helpful than the first.
In making the revision, wherever the text has suggested a new thought
that thought has been inserted; under the various headings new recipes
have been added, each in its proper place, and the number of
illustrations has been increased from thirty-seven to fifty. A more
complete table of contents has been presented, and also a list of the
illustrations; the alphabetical index has been revised and made
especially full and complete.
JANET M. HILL.
April 10, 1903.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
* * * * *
THERE is positive need of more widespread knowledge of the principles of
cookery. Few women know how to cook an egg or boil a potato properly,
and the making of the perfect loaf of bread has long been assigned a
place among the "lost arts."
By many women cooking is considered, at best, a homely art,--a necessary
kind of drudgery; and the composition, if not the consumption, of salads
and chafing-dish productions has been restricted, hitherto, chiefly to
that half of the race "who cook to please themselves." But, since women
have become anxious to compete with men in any and every walk of life,
they, too, are desirous of becoming adepts in tossing up an appetizing
salad or in stirring a creamy rarebit. And yet neither a pleasing salad,
especially if it is to be composed of cooked materials, nor a tempting
rarebit can be evolved, save by happy accident, without an accurate
knowledge of the fundamental principles that underlie all cookery.
In a book of this nature and scope, the philosophy of heat at different
temperatures, as it is applied in cooking, and the more scientific
aspects of culinary processes, could not be dwelt upon; but, while we
have not overlooked the ABC of the art, our special aim has been to
present our topics in such a simple and pleasing form that she who
attempts the composition of the dishes described herein will not be
satisfied until she has gained a deeper insight into the conditions
necessary for success in the pursuit of these as well as other
fascinating branches of the culinary art.
Care has been exercised to meet the actual needs of those who wish to
cultivate a taste for light, wholesome dishes, or to cater to the
vagaries of the most capricious appetites.
There is nothing new under the sun, so no claim is made to absolute
originality in contents. In this and all similar works, the matter of
necessity must consist, in the main, of old material in a new dress.
Though the introduction to Part III. was originally written for this
book, the substance of it was published in the December-January
(1898-99) issue of the _Boston Cooking-School Magazine_. From time to
time, also, a few of the recipes, with minor changes, have appeared in
that journal.
Illustrations by means of half-tones produced from photographs of actual
dishes were first brought out, we think, by The Century Company; in this
line, however, both in the number and in the variety of the dishes
prepared, the author may justly claim to have done more than any other
has yet essayed. The illustrations on these pages were prepared
expressly for this work, and the dishes and the photographs of the same
were executed under our own hand and eye. That results pleasing to the
eye and acceptable to the taste await those who try the confections
described in this book is the sincere wish of the author.
JANET M. HILL
Contents
Part I.
SALADS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
THE DRESSING 6
USE OF DRESSINGS 7
ARRANGEMENT OF SALADS 8
COMPOSITION OF MAYONNAISE 8
VALUE OF OIL 8
BOILED AND CREAM DRESSINGS 9
IMPORTANT POINTS IN SALAD-MAKING 9
WHEN TO SERVE SALADS WITH FRENCH OR MAYONNAISE
DRESSING 9
WHEN TO SERVE A FRUIT SALAD 10
SALADS WITH CHEESE 10
HOW TO MAKE AROMATIC VINEGARS, KEEP VEGETABLES,
AND PREPARE GARNISHES 11
HOW TO BOIL EGGS HARD FOR GARNISHING 11
TO POACH WHITES OF EGGS 11
ROYAL CUSTARD FOR MOULDS OF ASPIC 11
HOW TO USE GARLIC OR ONION IN SALADS 12
HOW TO SHELL AND BLANCH CHESTNUTS AND OTHER NUTS 12
HOW TO CHOP FRESH HERBS 13
HOW TO CUT RADISHES FOR A GARNISH 13
HOW TO CLEAN LETTUCE, ENDIVE, ETC. 13
HOW TO CLEAN CRESS, CABBAGE, ETC. 14
HOW TO RENDER UNCOOKED VEGETABLES CRISP 14
HOW TO BLANCH AND COOK VEGETABLES FOR SALADS 14
HOW TO CUT GHERKINS FOR A GARNISH 15
HOW TO FRINGE CELERY 15
HOW TO SHRED ROMAINE AND STRAIGHT LETTUCE 15
HOW TO KEEP CELERY, WATERCRESS, LETTUCE, ETC. 16
HOW TO COOK SWEETBREADS AND BRAINS 16
HOW TO PICKLE NASTURTIUM SEEDS 16
NASTURTIUM AND OTHER VINEGARS 17
TO DECORATE SALADS WITH PASTRY BAG AND TUBES 18
RECIPES FOR FRENCH DRESSING 21
RECIPES FOR MAYONNAISE DRESSING 22
BOILED, CREAM, AND OTHER DRESSINGS 26
VEGETABLE SALADS SERVED WITH FRENCH DRESSING 29
SALADS LARGELY VEGETABLE WITH MAYONNAISE, ETC. 39
INTRODUCTION TO FISH SALADS 53
RECIPES FOR FISH SALADS 55
RECIPES FOR VARIOUS COMPOUND SALADS 77
RECIPES FOR FRUIT AND NUT SALADS 89
HOW TO PREPARE AND USE ASPIC JELLY 97
CONSOMMÉ AND STOCK FOR ASPIC 98
CHEESE DISHES SERVED WITH SALADS 105
Part II.
SANDWICHES
BREAD FOR SANDWICHES 115
THE FILLING 116
RECIPES FOR SAVORY SANDWICHES 119
RECIPES FOR SWEET SANDWICHES 131
RECIPES FOR BREAD AND CHOU PASTE 137
HOW TO BOIL MEATS FOR SANDWICHES 140
RECIPES FOR BEVERAGES SERVED WITH SANDWICHES 143
Part III.
CHAFING-DISH DAINTIES
CHAFING-DISHES PAST AND PRESENT 151
CHAFING-DISH APPOINTMENTS 153
ARE MIDNIGHT SUPPERS HYGIENIC? 157
HOW TO MAKE SAUCES 158
MEASURING AND FLAVORING 160
RECIPES FOR OYSTER DISHES 163
RECIPES FOR LOBSTER AND OTHER SEA FISH 169
RECIPES FOR CHEESE CONFECTIONS 182
RECIPES FOR EGGS 188
RECIPES FOR DISHES LARGELY VEGETARIAN 195
RECIPES FOR RÉCHAUFFÉS AND OLLA PODRIDA 202
Illustrations
Table laid for Sunday Night Tea _Frontispiece_
The Tender Lettuce brings on softer Sleep _Facing page_ 18
Cucumber Salad for Fish Course " " 28
Cooked Vegetable Salad " " 28
Potato Balls, Pecan Meats, and Cress Salad " " 32
Potato-and-Nasturtium Salad " " 32
Endive, Tomato, and Green String Bean Salad " " 36
Stuffed Beets " " 36
Cress, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad " " 41
Tomato Jelly with Celery and Nuts " " 41
Russian Vegetable Salad " " 48
Macedoine of Vegetable Salad " " 48
Miroton of Fish and Potato Salad " " 58
Cowslip and Cream Cheese Salad " " 58
Russian Salad " " 62
Halibut Salad " " 62
Shell of Fish and Mushrooms " " 68
Shrimp Salad in Cucumber Boat " " 68
Shrimp Salad, Border of Eggs in Aspic " " 70
Lobster Salad " " 70
Bluefish Salad " " 72
Litchi Nut and Orange Salad " " 72
Moulded Salmon Salad " " 74
Salad of Shrimps and Bamboo Sprouts " " 74
Spinach and Egg Salad " " 84
Marguerite Salad " " 84
Easter Salad " " 86
Country Salad " " 86
Fruit Salad " " 94
Turquoise Salad No. 2 " " 94
Cheese Ramequins " " 106
Individual Soufflé of Cheese " " 106
Pineapple-Cheese and Crackers " " 110
Salad of Lettuce with Cheese and Macedoine " " 110
Chicken Salad Sandwiches " " 126
Halibut Sandwiches with Aspic " " 126
Wedding Sandwich Rolls " " 128
Club Sandwich " " 128
Boston Brown Bread " " 138
Bread cut for Sandwiches " " 138
Bowl of Fruit-Punch ready for serving " " 143
Copper Chafing-Dish with Earthen Casserole " " 149
Chafing-Dish, Filler, etc. " " 153
Course at Formal Dinner served in Individual
Chafing-Dishes " " 157
Butter Balls with Utensils for Chafing-Dish " " 178
Moulded Halibut with Creamed Peas " " 178
Yorkshire Rabbit " " 186
Curried Eggs " " 186
Mushroom Cromeskies, ready for cooking " " 198
Prune Toast " " 198
PART I.
SALADS.
"_Though my stomach was sharp, I could scarce help regretting
To spoil such a delicate picture by eating._"
INTRODUCTION.
At their savory dinner set
Herbs and other country messes,
Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses.
--_Milton._
Our taste for salads--and in their simplest form who is not fond of
salads?--is an inheritance from classic times and Eastern lands. In the
hot climates of the Orient, cucumbers and melons were classed among
earth's choicest productions; and a resort ever grateful in the heat of
the day was "a lodge in a garden of cucumbers."
At the Passover the Hebrews ate lettuce, camomile, dandelion and
mint,--the "bitter herbs" of the Paschal feast,--combined with oil and
vinegar. Of the Greeks, the rich were fond of the lettuces of Smyrna,
which appeared on their tables at the close of the repast. In this
respect the Romans, at first, imitated the Greeks, but later came to
serve lettuce with eggs as a first course and to excite the appetite.
The ancient physicians valued lettuce for its narcotic virtue, and, on
account of this property, Galen, the celebrated Greek physician, called
it "the philosopher's or wise man's herb."
The older historians make frequent mention of salad plants and salads.
In the biblical narrative Moses wrote: "And the children of Israel wept
again and said, We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely;
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlick."
In his second Eclogue, Virgil represents a rustic maid, Thestylis,
preparing for the reapers a salad called _moretum_. He wrote, also, a
poem bearing this title, in which he describes the composition and
preparation of the dish.
A modern authority says, "Salads refresh without exciting and make
people younger." Whether this be strictly true or not may be an open
question, but certainly in the assertion a grain of truth is visible;
for it is a well-known fact that "salad plants are better tonics and
blood purifiers than druggists' compounds." There is, also, an old
proverb: "Eat onions in May, and all the year after physicians may
play." What is health but youth?
Vegetables, fish and meats, "left over,"--all may be transformed, by
artistic treatment, into salads delectable to the eye and taste.
Potatoes are subject to endless combinations. First of all in this
connection, before dressing the potatoes allow them to stand in
bouillon, meat broth, or even in the liquor in which corned beef has
been cooked; then drain carefully before adding the oil and other
seasonings.
Of uncooked vegetables, cabbage lettuce--called long ago by the Greek
physician, Galen, the philosopher's or wise man's herb--stands at the
head of salad plants. Like all uncooked vegetables, lettuce must be
served fresh and crisp, and the more quickly it is grown the more tender
it will be. When dressed for the table, each leaf should glisten with
oil, yet no perceptible quantity should fall to the salad-bowl.
Watercress, being rich in sulphuretted oil, is often served without oil.
Cheese or eggs combine well with cress; and such a salad, with a
sandwich of coarse bread and butter, together with a cup of sparkling
coffee, forms an ideal luncheon for a picnic or for the home piazza.
Indeed, all the compound salads,--that is, salads of many
ingredients,--more particularly if they are served with a cooked or
mayonnaise dressing, are substantial enough for the chief dish of a
hearty meal. Their digestibility depends, in large measure, on the
tenderness of the different ingredients, as well as upon the freshness
of the uncooked vegetables that enter into their composition.
A salad has this superiority over every other production of the culinary
art: A salad (but not every salad) is suitable to serve upon any
occasion, or to any class or condition of men. Among _bon vivants_,
without a _new_ salad, no matter how _recherché_ the other courses may
be, the luncheon, or dinner party, of to-day does not pass as an
unqualified success.
While salads may be compounded of all kinds of delicate meats, fish,
shellfish, eggs, nuts, fruit, cheese and vegetables, cooked or uncooked,
two things are indispensable to every kind and grade of salad, viz., the
foundation of vegetables and the dressing.
=The Dressing.=
Salads are dressed with oil, acid and condiments; and, sometimes, a
sweet, as honey or sugar, is used. A perfect salad is not necessarily
acetic. The presence of vinegar in a dressing, like that of onions and
its relatives, on most occasions should be suspected only. Wyvern and
other true epicures consider the advice of Sydney Smith, as expressed in
the following couplet, "most pernicious":--
"Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procured from town."
Aromatic vinegars, a few drops of which, used occasionally, lend
piquancy and variety to an every-day salad, can be purchased at
high-class provision stores; but the true salad-maker is an artist, and
prefers to compound her own colors (_i.e._, vinegars); therefore we have
given several recipes for the same, which may be easily modified to suit
individual tastes.
Indeed, the dressing of a salad, though in the early days of the century
considered a special art,--an art that rendered it possible for at least
one noted Royalist refugee to amass a considerable fortune,--is
entirely a matter of individual taste, or, more properly speaking, of
cultivation. On this account, particularly for a French dressing, no set
rules can be given. By experience and judgment one must decide upon the
proportions of the different ingredients, or, more specifically, upon
the proportions of the oil and acid to be used. Often four spoonfuls of
oil are used to one of vinegar. Four spoonfuls of oil to two, three or
four of vinegar may be the proportion preferred by others, and the
quantity may vary for different salads.
Though in many of the recipes explicit quantities of oil, vinegar and
condiments are given, it is with the understanding that these quantities
are indicated simply as an approximate rule; sometimes less and
sometimes more will be required, according to the tendency of the
article dressed to absorb oil and acid, or the taste of the salad
dresser.
=Use of Dressings.=
The dressings in most common use are the French and the mayonnaise. A
French dressing is used for green vegetables, for fruit and nuts, and to
marinate cooked vegetables, or the meat or fish for a meat or fish
salad. Mayonnaise dressing is used for meat, fish, some varieties of
fruit, as banana, apple and pineapple, and for some vegetables, as
cauliflower, asparagus and tomatoes. Any article to be served with
mayonnaise, after standing an hour or more in a marinade,--_i.e._,
French dressing,--should be carefully drained, as, by the pickling
process, liquid will drain out into the bottom of the vessel and, mixing
with the mayonnaise, will liquefy the same.
=Arrangement of Salads.=
In the arrangement of salads there may be great display of taste and
individuality. By a judicious selection from materials that may be kept
constantly in store, and with one or two window boxes, in which herbs
are growing, any one, with a modicum of inventive skill, can so change
and modify the appearance and flavor of her salads that she may seem
always to present a new one.
=Composition of Mayonnaise.=
Mayonnaise dressing is composed largely of olive oil. A small amount of
yolk of egg is used as a foundation. The oil, with the addition of
condiments, is slightly acidulated with vinegar and lemon juice, one or
both, and the whole is made very light and thick by beating. Mayonnaise
forms a very handsome dressing, and it is much enjoyed by those who are
fond of oil.
=Value of Oil.=
Pure olive oil is almost entirely without flavor, and a taste for it can
be readily acquired; and, when we consider that it contains all the
really desirable qualities of the once-famous cod-liver oil, except the
phosphates, and that these may be supplied in the other materials of the
salad, it would seem wise to cultivate a taste for so wholesome an
article. By the addition of cream, in the proportion of a cup of whipped
cream to a pint of dressing, those to whom oil has not become agreeable
can so modify its "tone" that they too will enjoy the mayonnaise
dressing.
=Boiled and Cream Dressings.=
For the French and mayonnaise dressings--particularly for the latter--we
sometimes substitute a _boiled_ and sometimes a _cream_ dressing. In the
first, butter, or cream, is substituted for oil, and the materials are
combined by cooking. In the latter, as the name implies, cream is the
basis, and this may be either sweet or sour.
=Important Points in Salad-Making.=
(1) The green vegetables should be served fresh and crisp.
(2) Meat and fish should be well marinated and cold.
(3) The ingredients composing the salad should not be combined until the
last moment before serving.
=When to Serve Salads with French or Mayonnaise Dressing.=
As a rule, subject, however, to exceptions, light vegetable salads,
dressed with French dressing, are served at dinner; while heavy meat or
fish Salads are reserved for luncheon, or supper, and are served with
mayonnaise or cream dressing.
=When to Serve a Fruit Salad.=
A fruit salad, with sweet dressing, is served with cake at a luncheon,
or supper, or in the evening; that is, it may take the place of fruit in
the dessert course. A fruit salad, with French or mayonnaise dressing,
may be served as a first course at luncheon, or with the game or roast,
though in the latter case the French dressing is preferable.
=Salads with Cheese.=
The rightful place of salads is with the roast or game. Here the crisp,
green salad herbs, delicately acidulated, complement and correct the
richness of these _plats_.
Occasionally when the game is omitted and an acid sauce accompanies the
roast, a simple salad combined with cheese in some form, preferably
cooked and hot, is selected to lengthen the menu. This same combination
of hot cheese dish and salad should be a favorite one for home
luncheons, when this meal is not made the children's dinner. The salad
too in this combination, aided by the bread accompanying it, corrects by
dilution the over concentration and richness of the cheese dish. In
England neatly trimmed-and-cleansed celery stalks and cheese often
precede the sweet course; but by virtue of its mission as a digester of
everything but itself and of the common disinclination to have the taste
of sweets linger upon the palate, the place of cheese as cheese is with
the coffee.
HOW TO MAKE AROMATIC VINEGARS, TO KEEP VEGETABLES AND TO PREPARE
GARNISHES.
=How to Boil Eggs Hard for Garnishing.=
Cover the eggs with boiling water. Set them on the back of the range,
where the water will keep hot without boiling, about forty minutes. Cool
in cold water, and with a thin, sharp knife cut as desired.
=To Poach Whites of Eggs.=
Turn the whites of the eggs into a well-buttered mould or cup, set upon
a trivet in a dish of hot water, and cook until firm, either upon the
back of the range or in the oven, and without letting the water boil.
Turn from the mould, cut into slices, and then into fanciful shapes; or
chop fine.
=Royal Custard for Moulds of Aspic.=
Beat together one whole egg and three yolks; add one-fourth a
teaspoonful, each, of mace, salt and paprica, and, when well mixed, add
half a cup of cream. Bake in a buttered mould, set in a pan of water,
until firm. When cold cut in thin slices, then stamp out in fanciful
shapes with French cutters. Use in decorating a mould for aspic jelly.
=How to Use Garlic or Onion in Salads.=
The salad-bowl may be rubbed with the cut surface of a clove of garlic,
or a _chapon_ may be used. A _chapon_, according to gastronomic usage,
is a thin piece of bread rubbed on all sides with the cut surface of a
clove of garlic and put into the salad-bowl before the seasonings. It is
tossed with the salad and dressings, to which it imparts its flavor. It
may be divided and served with the salad. Oftentimes, instead of one
piece, several small cubes of bread are thus used.
After a slice of onion has been removed, the cut surface of the onion
may be pressed with a rotary motion against a grater and the juice
extracted; or a lemon-squeezer kept for this special purpose may be
used.
=How to Shell and Blanch Chestnuts.=
Score the shell of each nut, and put into a frying-pan with a
teaspoonful of butter for each pint of nuts. Shake the pan over the fire
until the butter is melted; then set in the oven five minutes. With a
sharp knife remove the shells and skins together.
=How to Blanch Walnuts and Almonds.=
Put the nut meats over the fire in cold water, bring quickly to the
boiling-point, drain, and rinse with cold water, then the skins may be
easily rubbed from the almonds; a small pointed knife will be needed for
the walnuts.
=How to Chop Fresh Herbs.=
Pluck the leaves close, discarding the stems; gather the leaves together
closely with the fingers of the left hand, then with a sharp knife cut
through close to the fingers; push the leaves out a little and cut
again, and so continue until all are cut. Now gather into a mound and
chop to a very fine powder, holding the point of the knife close to the
board. Put the chopped herb into a cheese-cloth and hold under a stream
of cold water, then wring dry. Use this green powder for dusting over a
salad when required.
=How to Cut Radishes for a Garnish.=
Cut a thin slice from the leaf end of each; cut off the root end so as
to leave it the length of the pistil of a flower. With a small, sharp
knife score the pink skin, at the root end, into five or six sections
extending half-way down the radish; then loosen the skin above these
sections. Put the radishes in cold water for a little time, when they
will become crisp, and the points will stand out like the petals of a
flower.
=How to Clean Lettuce, Endive, Etc.=
A short time before serving cut off the roots and freshen the vegetable
in cold water. Then break the leaves from the stalk; dip repeatedly
into cold water, examining carefully, until perfectly clean, taking care
not to crush the leaves. Put into a French wire basket made for the
purpose, or into a piece of mosquito netting or cheese-cloth, and shake
gently until the water is removed. Then spread on a plate or in a
colander and set in a cool place until the moment for serving.
=How to Clean Cress.=
Pick over the stalks so as to remove grass, etc. Wash and dry in the
same manner as the lettuce, but without removing the leaves from the
stems, except when the stems are very coarse and large.
=How to Clean Cabbage and Cauliflower.=
Let stand head downwards half an hour in cold salted water, using a
tablespoonful of salt to a quart of water.
=How to Render Uncooked Vegetables Crisp.=
Put into cold water with a bit of ice and a slice of lemon. When ready
to use, dry between folds of cheese-cloth and let stand exposed to the
air a few moments.
=How to Blanch and Cook Vegetables for Salads.=
Cut the vegetables as desired, in cubes, lozenges, balls, _juliennes_,
etc. Put over the fire in boiling water, and, after cooking three or
four minutes, drain, rinse in cold water, and put on to cook in boiling
salted water to cover. Drain as soon as tender.
=How to Cut Gherkins for a Garnish.=
Select small cucumber pickles of uniform size. With a sharp knife cut
them, lengthwise, into slices thin as paper, without detaching the
slices at one end; then spread out the slices as a fan is spread.
=How to Fringe Celery.=
Cut the stalks into pieces about two inches in length. Beginning on the
round side at one end, with a thin, sharp knife, cut down half an inch
as many times as possible; then turn the stalk half-way around and cut
in the opposite direction, thus dividing the end into shreds, or a
fringe. If desired, cut the opposite end in the same manner. Set aside
in a pan of ice water containing a slice of lemon.
=How to Shred Romaine and Straight Lettuce.=
Wash the lettuce leaves carefully, without removing them from the stalk;
shake in the open air, and they will dry very quickly; fold in the
middle, crosswise, and cut through in the fold. Hold the two pieces, one
above the other, close to the meat-board with the left hand, and with a
sharp knife cut in narrow ribbons not more than a quarter of an inch
wide.
=How to Keep Celery, Watercress, Lettuce, Etc.=
Many green vegetables--celery in particular--discolor or rust, if
allowed to stand longer than a few hours after being wet. When brought
from the market they may be put aside, in a tightly closed pail, or in a
paper bag, in a cool, dry place. By thus excluding the air they will
keep fresh several days. A short time before serving put them into
ice-cold water to which a slice or two of lemon has been added.
=How to Cook Sweetbreads and Brains.=
Remove the thin outer skin or membrane and soak in cold water, changing
the water often, an hour or more. Cover with salted boiling water,
acidulated with lemon juice and flavored with vegetables, and cook, just
below the boiling-point, twenty minutes. They are then ready for
preparation in any of the ways mentioned. Tie the brains in a cloth
before cooking.
=How to Pickle Nasturtium Seeds.=
As the seeds are gathered wash and dry them; then put them into vinegar
to which salt (half a teaspoonful to a pint) has been added. When a
sufficient quantity has been collected, scald fresh vinegar, add salt as
before, and the seeds from which the first vinegar has been drained.
Pour scalding hot into bottles, having the seeds completely covered with
vinegar.
=Nasturtium Vinegar.=
Fill a quart jar loosely with nasturtium blossoms fully blown; add a
shallot and one-third a clove of garlic, both finely chopped, half a red
pepper, and cold cider vinegar to fill the jar; cover closely and set
aside two months. Dissolve a teaspoonful of salt in the vinegar, then
strain and filter.
=Tarragon Vinegar.=
Fill a fruit jar with fresh tarragon leaves or shoots, putting them in
loosely; add the thin _yellow_ paring of half a lemon with two or three
cloves, and fill the jar with white wine or cider vinegar. Screw down
the cover tightly, and allow the jar to stand in the sun two weeks;
strain the vinegar through a cloth, pressing out the liquid from the
leaves; then pass through filter paper, and bottle for future use. If a
quantity be prepared, it were better to seal the bottles.
=Fines Herbes Vinegar.=
INGREDIENTS.
2 cups of tarragon vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls of garden cress, chopped fine.
2 tablespoonfuls of sweet marjoram, chopped fine.
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine.
4 small green capsicums, chopped fine.
2 shallots, chopped fine.
_Method._--Mix the ingredients in a pint fruit jar, cover closely, and
set in the sun; after two weeks strain, pass through filter paper and
store in tightly corked bottles.
=Fines Herbes Vinegar, No. 2.=
INGREDIENTS.
1 pint of tarragon vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls of seeds of garden cress, bruised or crushed.
2 tablespoonfuls of celery seeds, crushed.
2 tablespoonfuls of parsley seeds, crushed.
4 capsicums, chopped fine.
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine.
_Method._--Prepare as in preceding recipe.
=To Decorate Salads with Mayonnaise by Use of Pastry Bag and Tubes.=
Make the dressing very thick by the addition of oil, or use "jelly
mayonnaise." Put the dressing into a pastry bag with star tube attached;
twist the large end of the bag with the left hand, pressing the mixture
towards the tube, and with the right guide the tube as in writing, to
produce the pattern desired. To form stars, hold the bag in an upright
position, point downward, press out a little of the dressing, then push
the tube down gently, and raise it quickly to break the flow.
[Illustration: "The tender lettuce brings on softer sleep."--W. KING,
_Art of Cookery_.]
SALAD DRESSINGS.
SALAD DRESSINGS.
"Just, as in nature, thy proportions be,
As full of concord their variety."
=French Dressing.=
INGREDIENTS.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of cayenne or paprica.
1/4 a teaspoonful of pepper.
2 to 6 tablespoonfuls of vinegar or lemon juice.
6 tablespoonfuls of oil.
If desired,--
1/2 a teaspoonful of prepared mustard.
1/2 a teaspoonful of onion juice, or rub the salad-bowl with
slice of onion, or clove of garlic.
_Method._--Mix the condiments, add the oil and mix again; then add the
acid, a few drops at a time, and beat until an emulsion is formed; then
pour over the vegetables, toss with the spoon and fork, and serve. In
Chicago a method has obtained that is well worth a trial: Put a bit of
ice into the bowl with the condiments, and, by means of a fork pressed
against or into this, use in mixing.
_Second Method._--Pour the oil over the vegetables, toss, until the oil
is evenly distributed, and dust with salt and pepper; then add the acid
and toss again. When the salad is prepared at the table, the vegetables
may be dressed in a bowl, then arranged on the serving-dish; or, if but
one vegetable is used, it is preferable to serve from the dish in which
it is dressed.
=To Mix a Quantity of Dressing.=
Put all the ingredients into a fruit jar, fit on one or more rubbers and
the cover; then shake the jar vigorously, until a smooth dressing is
formed.
=Claret Dressing.=
(_For lettuce or fruit salad._)
Mix half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, white or paprica, and
four tablespoonfuls of oil; add gradually one tablespoonful of claret
and one tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar.
=Mayonnaise Dressing.=
INGREDIENTS.
The yolks of 2 raw eggs.
1 pint of olive oil.
2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of cayenne or paprica.
If desired,--
1 teaspoonful, each, of mustard and powdered sugar.
_Method._--An amateur will probably find it helpful to have all the
utensils and ingredients thoroughly chilled, but the professional
salad-maker thinks it expedient to have the ingredients and utensils of
the same temperature as the room in which the dressing is to be served.
Beat the yolks with a small wooden spoon or silver fork, add the
condiments and mix again; then add one teaspoonful of vinegar, and, when
well mixed with the other ingredients, add the oil, at first drop by
drop. When the mixture has become of good consistency the oil may be
added faster. When it is too thick to beat well, add a little of the
lemon juice, then more oil, and so on alternately, until the ingredients
are used. If a very heavy dressing is desired, as when it is to be put
on with forcing-bag and tubes for a garnish, an additional half a cup of
oil may be added without increasing the quantity of acid.
In preparing mayonnaise, there is absolutely no danger of curdling, if
the eggs be fresh and the oil be added slowly, especially if the
materials and utensils have been thoroughly chilled. If the yolks do not
thicken when beaten with the condiments, but spread out over the bowl,
you have sufficient indication that they will not thicken upon the
addition of the oil, and it were better to select others and begin
again. Take care to add the teaspoonful of acid to the yolks and
condiments before beginning to drop in the oil, as this lessens the
liability of the mixture to curdle.
=How to Make Mayonnaise in Quantity.=
If four quarts or more of dressing be required, make the full amount at
one time; cut down the number of yolks to one for each pint of oil, but
keep the usual proportions of the other ingredients. Use a Dover
egg-beater from the start; after a little a teaspoonful of oil can be
added instead of drops, and, very soon, a much larger quantity.
=Curdled Mayonnaise.=
Occasionally a mayonnaise will assume a curdled appearance; under such
circumstances, often the addition of a very little of white of egg or a
few drops of lemon juice, with thorough beating, will cause the sauce to
resume its former smoothness. In case it does not become smooth, put the
yolk of an egg into a cold bowl, beat well, and add to it the curdled
mixture, a little at a time.
=Red Mayonnaise.=
Mix a level teaspoonful of Italian tomato pulp with a teaspoonful of
mayonnaise dressing, and when well blended beat very thoroughly into a
cup or more of the dressing, or add dressing until the desired tint is
attained.
=Red Mayonnaise, No. 2.=
(_For fish._)
Pound dried lobster coral in a mortar, sift, and add gradually to the
dressing, to secure the shade desired. Or, after the salad is arranged
in the bowl, or in nests, mask the top with mayonnaise of the usual
color, and sift the coral over the centre, leaving a ring of yellow
around the edge.
=Sauce Tartare.=
Make a mayonnaise dressing, using tarragon vinegar. To each cup of
dressing add one shallot, chopped fine, two tablespoonfuls, each, of
finely chopped capers, olives and cucumber pickles, one tablespoonful of
chopped parsley, and one-fourth a teaspoonful of powdered tarragon.
=Sardine Mayonnaise.=
Skin and bone three sardines and pound them to a pulp; sift the cooked
yolks of three eggs and add to the pulp; work until smooth, then add to
one cup of mayonnaise dressing.
=Jelly Mayonnaise.=
(_Used for masking cold fish or salads, or as a garnish with forcing-bag
and tube._)
To a cup of mayonnaise dressing beat in gradually from two
tablespoonfuls to one-third a cup of chilled but liquid aspic. More
seasoning may be needed. Apply to a cold surface, or chill before using
with forcing-bag.
=Livournaise Sauce.=
To a cup of mayonnaise dressing add a grating of nutmeg, one
tablespoonful of chopped parsley and the pulp of eight anchovies.
To prepare the anchovies, wash, dry, remove skin and bones and pound to
a pulp in a mortar.
=Boiled Dressing for Chicken Salad.=
INGREDIENTS.
1/2 a cup of chicken stock, well reduced.
1/2 a cup of vinegar.
1/4 a cup of mixed mustard.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 a teaspoonful of paprica.
Yolks of 5 eggs.
1/2 a cup of oil.
1/2 a cup of thick, sweet cream.
_Method._--Simmer the liquor in which a fowl has been cooked, until it
is well reduced. Put the stock, vinegar and mustard into a double
boiler, and add the salt and pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add
carefully to the hot mixture, cooking in the same manner as a boiled
custard. When cold and ready to serve, beat in with a whisk the oil, and
then fold in the cream, beaten stiff with a Dover egg-beater. Melted
butter, added before the dressing is cold, may be substituted for the
oil.
=Boiled Salad Dressing.=
INGREDIENTS.
1 teaspoonful of mustard.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of paprica.
Yolks of 3 eggs.
4 tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
1/2 a cup of thick cream.
2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice.
_Method._--Mix together the mustard, salt and paprica, and add the yolks
of eggs; stir well and add slowly the butter, vinegar and lemon juice,
and cook in the double boiler until thick as soft custard. When cool and
ready to serve, add the cream, beaten stiff with the Dover egg-beater.
=Cream Salad Dressing.=
INGREDIENTS.
3/4 a cup of thick cream.
2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar or lemon juice.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
A dash of white pepper and paprica.
_Method._--Add the seasonings to the cream and beat with a Dover
egg-beater until smooth and light. Add a scant fourth a cup of grated
horseradish, for a change. The radish should be freshly grated, and
added to the cream after it is beaten.
=Dressing for Cole-Slaw.=
Beat the yolks of three eggs with half a teaspoonful of made mustard, a
dash of pepper and one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt; add one-third a cup
of vinegar and two tablespoonfuls of butter, and cook over hot water
until slightly thickened. Set aside to become cold before using.
=Bacon Sauce.=
Heat five tablespoonfuls of bacon fat; cook in it two tablespoonfuls of
flour and a dash of paprica; add five tablespoonfuls of vinegar and half
a cup of water; stir until boiling; then beat in the beaten yolks of two
eggs, and a little salt if necessary. Do not allow the sauce to boil
after the eggs are added. Add to salad after it has become thoroughly
cold. Good with dandelion, endive, chicory, corn salad or lettuce.
=Hollandaise Sauce.=
Beat half a cup of butter to a cream; add the yolks of four eggs, one at
a time, beating in each thoroughly; add one-fourth a teaspoonful of
salt, a dash of paprica or cayenne, and half a cup of boiling water.
Cook over hot water until thick, adding gradually the juice of half a
lemon. Chill before using. This is good, especially for a fish salad, in
the place of mayonnaise.
=Bernaise Sauce.=
Use tarragon instead of plain vinegar, omit the water, with the
exception of one tablespoonful, and the hollandaise becomes bernaise
sauce. Oil may be used in the place of butter. The sauce resembles a
firm mayonnaise, and, as it keeps its shape well, is particularly
adapted for garnishing with pastry bag and tube.
[Illustration: Cucumber Salad for Fish Course.
(See page 36)]
[Illustration: Cooked Vegetable Salad
(See page 37)]
VEGETABLE SALADS SERVED WITH FRENCH DRESSING.
"Bestrewed with lettuce and cool salad herbs."
=Lettuce Salad.=
Wash and drain the lettuce leaves; toss lightly, so as to remove every
drop of water. Sprinkle them with oil, a few drops at a time, tossing
the leaves about with spoon and fork after each addition. When each leaf
glistens with oil (there should be no oil in the bottom of the bowl)
shake over them a few drops of vinegar, then dust with salt and freshly
ground pepper. The cutting of lettuce is considered a culinary sin; but,
when the straight-leaved lettuce, or the Romaine, is to be used, better
effects, at least as far as appearance is concerned, will be produced,
if the lettuce be cut into ribbons. To do this, wash the lettuce
carefully, without removing the leaves from the stem; fold together
across the centre, and with a sharp, thin knife cut into ribbons _less_
than half an inch in width.
=Endive Salad.=
Prepare as lettuce salad, first rubbing over the bowl with a clove of
garlic cut in halves. A few sprigs of chives, chopped fine, are
exceedingly palatable, sprinkled over a lettuce, endive, string-bean, or
other bean salad.
=A Few Combinations.=
Dress each vegetable separately with the dressing; then arrange upon the
serving-dish. Or, have the salad arranged upon the serving-dish and pour
the dressing over all; then toss together and serve. About three
tablespoonfuls of oil, with other ingredients in accordance, will be
needed for one pint of vegetable.
1. Lettuce, tomatoes cut in halves, sprinkled with powdered tarragon,
and parsley or chives.
2. Lettuce, moulded spinach and fine-chopped beets.
3. Lettuce, Boston baked beans and chives.
4. Lettuce and peppergrass.
5. Lettuce, shredded sweet peppers or pimentos, and sliced pecan nuts or
almonds.
6. Lettuce, tomatoes stuffed with peas or string beans cut small, and
chives chopped fine.
7. Lettuce, asparagus tips and sliced radishes. Arrange the lettuce at
the edge of dish, inside a ring of radishes sliced thin, without
removing the red skins; centre of asparagus tips, with radish cut to
resemble a flower.
8. Lettuce, shredded tomatoes and shredded green peppers.
9. Shredded lettuce, English walnuts, and almonds or cooked chestnuts,
sliced.
10. Lettuce, Neufchatel cheese in slices and shredded pimentos.
11. Lettuce, cauliflower, string beans and shredded pimentos.
12. Lettuce or cress, artichoke slices and powdered tarragon.
13. Shredded cabbage and shredded green peppers.
14. Cauliflower broken into flowerets, string beans cut into small
pieces, and beets cut in fancy shapes or chopped. Arrange each vegetable
in a mass by itself; surround with lettuce.
15. Cucumbers and new onions, sliced.
16. Watercress, diced boiled beets, and olives in centre.
17. Lettuce, Brussels sprouts and chopped pepper.
=Lentil Salad.=
Soak the lentils over night; wash and rinse thoroughly, then cook until
tender, adding hot water as needed. Drain, and when cold mix with each
pint of lentils about five tablespoonfuls of oil, two tablespoonfuls of
tarragon vinegar and one teaspoonful, each, of capers, parsley, chives
and cucumber pickles, all, save the capers, chopped fine. Serve in a
mound, on a bed of lettuce leaves. Garnish with heart leaves of lettuce
at the top and sections of tomato, or diamonds of tomato jelly, at the
base.
=White-Bean Salad.=
Toss one pint of white beans, cooked, with one tablespoonful of vinegar
and three tablespoonfuls of oil, a little salt and a dash of cayenne or
paprica. Arrange in a mound on a bed of shredded lettuce, and sprinkle
with chives, parsley and pimentos, all finely chopped. Finish the top of
the salad with a large pim-ola.
=Potato Salad.=
(MISS COHEN.)
INGREDIENTS.
3 cups of cold boiled potatoes, cut in cubes.
1 cup of pecan nuts, broken in pieces.
5 tablespoonfuls of oil.
1 tablespoonful of salt.
1/2 a teaspoonful of onion juice.
A dash of cayenne.
2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Watercress.
_Method._--Mix the potatoes and nuts, add the oil and mix again; add the
other seasonings, and, when well mixed, set aside in a cool place an
hour or more. Remove the coarse stalks from two bunches of watercress
that have been well washed and dried. Season with French dressing and
arrange in a wreath about the edge of the salad.
[Illustration: Potato Balls, Pecan Meats, and Cress Salad.]
[Illustration: Potato-and-Nasturtium Salad.
(See page 34)]
=Potato Salad.=
(CARRIE M. DEARBORN.)
INGREDIENTS.
12 cold boiled potatoes.
4 cooked eggs.
2 small Bermuda onions.
Chopped parsley.
1 saltspoonful of white pepper.
2 teaspoonfuls of salt.
6 tablespoonfuls, each, of oil and vinegar.
1/2 a teaspoonful of powdered sugar.
_Method._--Cut the potatoes into dice and chop the eggs fine. Chop the
onions, or slice them very thin. Sprinkle the potatoes, eggs and onions
with the salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Pour the oil gradually
over the mixture, stirring and tossing continually; lastly, mix with the
other ingredients the vinegar, in which the sugar has been dissolved.
Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top.
=Potato Salad.=
INGREDIENTS.
1 quart of cubes of cold boiled potatoes.
1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of paprica.
3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
4 tablespoonfuls of oil.
Capers, beets, whites and yolks of eggs, and lettuce.
_Method._--To the potato cubes add the salt, pepper and oil, and mix
thoroughly; add the vinegar and mix again. Pile the cubes in a mound in
the salad-bowl. Mark out the surface of the mound into quarters with
capers; fill in two opposite sections with chopped beet; use chopped
whites of eggs in a third, and sifted yolks of eggs in the fourth
section. Finish with a border of parsley.
=Potato-and-Nasturtium Salad.=
(E. J. MCKENZIE.)
INGREDIENTS.
1 quart of potatoes, cut in cubes.
1/2 a cup of chopped gherkins.
1 cup of tender nasturtium shoots, cut in bits.
2 tablespoonfuls of pickled nasturtium seeds.
Onion juice or garlic.
6 tablespoonfuls of oil.
5 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Salt and pepper.
Chopped parsley.
_Method._--Mix the potatoes, gherkins, nasturtium shoots and seeds in a
bowl rubbed over with garlic; add the oil, vinegar and seasonings, and
mix again. Pile in a mound on a serving-dish, dust with chopped parsley,
and garnish with a wreath of nasturtium blossoms and leaves.
=Stuffed Beets.=
Boil new beets, of even size, until tender. Set aside for some hours, or
over night, covered with vinegar. When ready to serve, rub off the skin,
scoop out the centre of each to form a cup, and arrange the cups on
lettuce leaves. For each five cups chop fine a cucumber. Make a French
dressing of two tablespoonfuls of oil, half a tablespoonful (scant) of
vinegar, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of paprica and salt. Stir the
dressing into the cucumber and fill the beets with the mixture. Of the
beet removed to form the cups, cut slices and stamp out from these stars
or other fanciful shapes, and use to decorate the top of each cup.
Chopped radish, cress, olives or celery are all admissible for a
filling.
=Salad of Brussels Sprouts and Beets.=
Soak the sprouts in salted water; then drain and cook in salted boiling
water about fifteen minutes, or until tender; drain and cool. Dress with
French dressing and pile in a mound. Finish the top with a
fanciful-shaped figure cut from a slice of pickled beet, and place a
wreath of cooked beet, chopped and seasoned with French dressing, about
the whole.
=Macedoine Salad.=
Cut pieces of carrot and turnip one inch long and half an inch thick.
Put over the fire in boiling water and bring quickly to the
boiling-point; drain, cover with fresh water, and cook until tender;
score the top of each piece and insert an asparagus point. Dip the
pieces in a little melted gelatine and set alternately in a circle on
the serving-dish. Have carrots cut in small cubes or straws, turnips and
beet root the same, green string beans cut in small pieces, asparagus
and peas, all cooked separately until tender. Mix with French dressing
and dispose inside the circle. Each vegetable may be massed by itself,
or all may be mixed together. Finish the top with half a dozen short
stalks of asparagus.
=Tomato-and-Onion Salad.=
Peel and shred four tomatoes; slice thinly a very mild onion and
separate into rings; dress freely with oil and tarragon vinegar, and
season with salt and pepper. Serve on lettuce leaves, sprinkling the
whole with fine-chopped parsley and green peppers.
=Endive,-Tomato-and-Green-String-Bean Salad.=
Dress the well-blanched stalks of a head of endive, three tomatoes,
peeled, cut in halves and chilled, and a cup of cold cooked string
beans, separately, with French dressing, using in the dressing tarragon
vinegar and a few drops of onion juice; then arrange on a serving-dish.
[Illustration: Endive, Tomato, and Green String Bean Salad.]
[Illustration: Stuffed Beets.
(See page 34)]
=Cucumber Salad.=
(_German style._)
Pare large cucumbers and cut them into thin slices; cut each slice round
and round so as to form a long, narrow curling strip. Let these strips
stand two hours in salted ice water, drain, and dry in a soft cloth.
Serve with French dressing. Toss first in the oil, then add the
condiments, and lastly the vinegar. Americans would prefer to omit the
salt from the ice water, as it softens the cucumber.
=Cucumber Salad for Fish Course.=
With a handy slicer remove the outside rind from the cucumbers, cut in
thin slices, and let stand in ice-water to chill. Wipe dry, and
arrange the slices in the salad bowl in the form of a Greek cross. Make
a French dressing, in the proportion of three tablespoonfuls of cider
vinegar to six tablespoonfuls of oil, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a
dash of paprica. Rub the inside of the salad bowl with the cut side of
an onion before the salad is disposed in it.
=Cooked Vegetable Salad.=
Dress cooked kidney beans, peas, and balls cut from potatoes, each
separately with French dressing, to which a few drops of onion juice
have been added. Dispose upon a serving-dish and let stand in a cool
place an hour or more. Garnish at serving with heart leaves of lettuce.
=Potato Salad.=
(_German Style._)
INGREDIENTS.
1 quart of potato slices or cubes.
About 1/2 a cup of beef broth.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 a teaspoonful of paprica.
8 tablespoonfuls of oil.
1 tablespoonful of grated onion.
2 hard boiled eggs.
4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
1 teaspoonful of mustard.
1 teaspoonful of sugar.
Fine chopped parsley.
(1 cup of mushrooms.)
_Method._--Boil the potatoes without paring. German potatoes, which are
waxy rather than mealy, may be procured in large cities especially for
salads. Peel the potatoes and cut them while hot into slices or cubes;
pour over them as much beef broth as they will readily absorb and
sprinkle with the salt and pepper, the oil and onion; mix lightly and
set aside for some hours. Then add the whites of the eggs chopped fine,
the yolks passed through a sieve, and mix with the rest of the oil,
stirred with the vinegar into the mustard and sugar. After disposing in
the dish, sprinkle with the parsley. If mushrooms be at hand, simmer ten
or fifteen minutes in broth, break in pieces, and add to the salad with
the egg.
SALADS, LARGELY VEGETABLE, SERVED WITH MAYONNAISE, CREAM OR BOILED
DRESSING.
=Cauliflower Salad.=
Soak the cauliflower in salted water an hour; cook in boiling salted
water until tender; drain and chill, then sprinkle with French dressing
and set aside for half an hour. Sever the flowerets partly from the
stalk, but so as not to change their relative positions, and place on a
serving-dish; put heart leaves of lettuce between the flowerets and
about the base of the vegetable; pour a cup of mayonnaise dressing over
the whole, and sprinkle with pimentos or fine-chopped parsley. In
serving, separate the flowerets with a sharp knife.
=Tomatoes Stuffed with Nuts and Celery.=
Peel the tomatoes; cut out a circular piece at the stem end of each and
scoop out the flesh so as to form cups. Chill thoroughly, then fill with
English walnut or pecan meats, broken into pieces, and celery, cut into
small pieces and mixed with mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce leaves.
=Stuffed-Tomato Salad.=
INGREDIENTS.
6 smooth, small-sized tomatoes.
6 tablespoonfuls of chicken, veal or tongue, cut fine.
6 tablespoonfuls of peas.
3 olives, chopped fine.
3 gherkins, chopped fine.
2 tablespoonfuls of capers.
Salt and pepper.
Mayonnaise dressing.
_Method._--Remove a round piece from the stem end of the tomatoes and
scoop out the seeds and centre. Chill thoroughly. When ready to serve,
mix together the solid part removed from the tomatoes, cut fine, and the
other ingredients; season to taste with salt and pepper, adding also
mayonnaise to hold the mixture together. With this fill the tomatoes,
put them in nests of lettuce or cress, and force a star of mayonnaise on
the top of each tomato.
=Tomato Salad, Horseradish Dressing.=
Plunge the tomatoes, placed in a wire basket, into a kettle of hot
water; remove at once and rub off the skin; chill thoroughly and cut in
halves. Serve on lettuce leaves with a star of cream dressing, seasoned
with grated horseradish, on the top of each slice.
=Tomato-and-Sweetbread Salad.=
Cook two sweetbreads as directed on another page, or braise with
vegetables. Cool between two plates bearing a weight. When cold cut into
slices and stamp into rounds of suitable size to use with slices of
tomato. Cover the slices of sweetbread with chaud-froid sauce and
decorate with fine-chopped parsley or sifted yolk of egg; pour over a
little melted aspic. When the aspic is set, trim neatly, and arrange
each round of sweetbread on a slice of chilled tomato. Serve inside a
border of lettuce around a salad made of the trimmings of the
sweetbreads and a cucumber cut in cubes and dressed with mayonnaise.
[Illustration: Cress, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad.
(See page 41)]
[Illustration: Tomato Jelly with Celery and Nuts.
(See page 43)]
=Cress,-Cucumber-and-Tomato Salad.=
Wash the cress and shake dry; arrange as a bed on a serving-dish,
discarding the coarse stems; above this make a smaller bed of cucumbers,
cut in slices or dice and dressed with French dressing, using three
tablespoonfuls of oil and one of vinegar or lemon juice to a pint of
cucumber. Arrange peeled tomatoes, chilled and cut in pieces, upon the
cucumbers. Serve with French, cream or mayonnaise dressing.
=Tomatoes Stuffed with Cucumber.=
Peel five tomatoes, cut off the stem ends and scoop out the pulp, thus
forming cups; set, turned upside down, in a cool place. Chop fine the
solid pulp from the tomatoes and one cucumber, chilled before chopping;
stir into a cup of cream dressing and fill the tomatoes with the
mixture. Salt and pepper will be needed in addition to that in the
dressing. If at hand, a pimento may be chopped with the other
ingredients, or two tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish may be used.
Serve at once on lettuce leaves.
=Tomatoes Stuffed with Jelly.=
Chop one sweetbread and one cucumber fine. To each cup (solid and
liquid) add one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and paprica, a few
drops of onion juice and a tablespoonful of capers; add also half a
tablespoonful of granulated gelatine, soaked in two or three
tablespoonfuls of cold water and melted over hot water. Stir until the
mixture begins to congeal, then fill into tomatoes prepared as above.
Set aside on the ice for half an hour, at least; then serve on lettuce
leaves with either mayonnaise, boiled or cream dressing. Calf's brains,
chicken, veal, tongue or ham may be substituted for the sweetbread.
=Tomatoes Farces à l'Aspic.=
INGREDIENTS.
6 even-sized ripe tomatoes.
1 pint of aspic jelly.
1/2 a cup of lobster meat, chopped fine.
1 tablespoonful of capers.
2 yolks of hard-boiled eggs.
Mayonnaise, parsley, lettuce.
_Method._--Scoop out the centres of the tomatoes, after removing the
skin, and chill thoroughly. Pass the yolks through a sieve, add to the
lobster, with the capers, half a cup of mayonnaise and half a cup of
chicken aspic, thick and cold, but not set; stir these in a dish
standing in ice water until nearly set; then fill the cavities in the
tomatoes with the mixture. Brush over the outside of the tomatoes with
half-set aspic; when the aspic is set, repeat twice, then set aside on
ice for some time before serving. Serve on a bed of lettuce seasoned
with French dressing. Garnish each tomato with a sprig of parsley and
the salad-dish with blocks of aspic. Anchovies or any cooked fish may be
substituted for the lobster. Serve with mayonnaise.
=Tomato Jelly.=
Soak three-fourths a box of gelatine in half a cup of cold water. Cook a
can of tomatoes, half an onion, a stalk of celery, a bay leaf, two
cloves, a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica ten minutes. Add two
tablespoonfuls of tarragon vinegar and the gelatine, stir till
dissolved, strain, and mould in a ring mould. When cold turn from the
mould and fill the centre with
=CELERY-AND-NUT SALAD.=
Cut fine tender stalks of celery and English walnuts and mix with French
dressing. Garnish the centre of the salad and the border of the jelly
with tender leaves of lettuce and bits of curled celery.
=Tomato-Jelly Salad, No. 2.=
Make the jelly and mould as before. Fill in the centre of the ring with
shredded cabbage, pimentos and pecan nuts, mixed with boiled dressing.
=Tomato Jelly with String Beans.=
Cook tiny string beans until tender in boiling salted water; season
while hot with onion juice, salt, pepper and tarragon vinegar. When cold
add oil and toss the beans about until each bean is coated with the oil.
Fill the centre of the jelly, fashioned in a ring mould, with the beans,
and sprinkle over them a fine-chopped pimento. Garnish with lettuce
leaves. Fine-chopped chives may be used in the place of the onion juice;
they are particularly appropriate in any bean salad. If the beans are
large, cut in halves lengthwise and the halves crosswise.
Tomato jelly may be served in a ring mould with turkey, oyster, plain
chicken, French chicken, and other salads. The oysters should be scalded
and drained, then marinated with French dressing. Chicken and turkey
should also be marinated before mixing with celery and the mayonnaise or
boiled dressing.
=Tomato-and-Artichoke Salad.=
(MRS. E. M. LUCAS, IN BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.)
Choose medium-sized tomatoes, firm and smooth skinned. Peel them, cut a
slice from the stem end and remove the seeds with a small spoon.
Sprinkle the interior of these cups with salt and set on ice. When ready
to serve, wipe them dry and fill with artichokes cut into dice and mixed
with mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce leaves. Use tarragon vinegar in
preparing the dressing. Cook the artichoke hearts until just tender,--no
longer,--in salted boiling water, then drain and cool.
=Artichoke Salad.=
(_For game._)
(MRS. E. M. LUCAS, IN BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.)
Peel three oranges, remove the pith and white skin and slice lengthwise;
use an equal amount of tender blanched celery stalks cut into inch
lengths. Mix together lightly with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, one
tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter a
teaspoonful of paprica. Heap together lightly on a serving-dish and
surround with cooked hearts of artichokes cut into quarters; wreathe
with blanched celery leaves.
=Artichoke Salad.=
(_Used as a border for shrimp, lobster, chicken and other salads._)
(MRS. E. M. LUCAS, IN BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.)
Cut boiled artichokes into quarter-inch slices and stamp out with a
French vegetable cutter. To half a pint add one tablespoonful of olive
oil, half a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar and one-fourth a
teaspoonful of salt; toss lightly together and let stand one hour;
drain, and arrange as a border with an outer layer of tiny blanched
lettuce leaves.
2. Scoop out the centres of the artichokes and fill with mayonnaise, or
with ravigote, tartare or tyrolienne sauce. Serve on lettuce leaves as a
border to a meat or fish salad.
3. Fill the centres with walnut meats, sliced, or tender celery stalks,
cut fine and mixed with mayonnaise.
=Asparagus Salad.=
Cut cold cooked asparagus into pieces an inch long, mix lightly with
cream dressing and serve, in individual portions, on curly lettuce
leaves.
=Asparagus-and-Salmon Salad.=
Mix cold cooked salmon with mayonnaise, form in a mound and encircle
with a wreath of cold cooked asparagus tips dressed with French
dressing.
=Asparagus-and-Cauliflower Salad.=
Break the cooked cauliflower into its flowerets, dispose in the centre
of the serving-dish and surround with a wreath of cooked asparagus tips.
Pour over the whole a mayonnaise, a boiled or a cream dressing, and
sprinkle with chopped capers or pimentos.
=Salad of Turnips with Asparagus Tips.=
Cook the turnips in boiling salted water until tender; drain, and cut
out the centres, forming cups. Sprinkle the inside with oil and a few
grains of salt, and, when the oil is absorbed, pour over the cups a
little lemon juice or vinegar. Set aside to become cool. When ready to
serve, arrange the cups on shredded lettuce and fill with cooked
asparagus tips, cold and mixed with mayonnaise or French dressing, as
desired. Peas, flageolets or wax beans, cut fine, may be used instead of
the asparagus. Garnish with radishes.
=Green-Pea Salad.=
Mix the peas with a cream dressing; serve in nests of lettuce; garnish
the top of each nest with a little chopped beet, or a fanciful figure
cut from a pickled beet or pimento.
=Green-Pea-and-Potato Salad.=
Mix equal parts of cold cooked peas and potatoes cut in very small
cubes; season with salt and pepper, and serve as green-pea salad.
=Asparagus Salad.=
Scrape the scales from the stalks, and cook, standing upright in boiling
salted water, until tender; drain and chill thoroughly. Serve on lettuce
leaves with French dressing. Garnish the lettuce with hard-boiled eggs
cut in quarters lengthwise.
=Macedoine of Vegetable Salad.=
Dress one cup, each, of cooked carrots and turnips, cut in dice, string
beans, cut small, green peas, and half a cup of cooked beets, cut small,
with French dressing; add two tablespoonfuls of chopped gherkins;
drain, and mix with sufficient jelly mayonnaise to hold the vegetables
together. Arrange in dome shape and cover with more jelly mayonnaise.
Set a row of sliced gherkins near the top, and fill in the space to the
top with string beans or asparagus tips. Surround the base with
alternate rounds of beet and potato overlapping one another. Decorate
the space above with slices of potato and beet cut in diamonds, and
surround the base with light-green aspic cut in diamonds. One pint of
aspic will be sufficient; use chicken stock, and tint with color paste.
=Russian Vegetable Salad.=
Select two moulds of suitable shape and size (tin basins or earthen
bowls will do) and chill in ice water. Have ready cooked balls, cut from
carrots and turnips, and cooked string beans and cauliflower, all
marinated with French dressing. Drain the vegetables, dip them into
half-set aspic, and arrange against the chilled sides of the moulds;
then fill the moulds with aspic jelly. When set, with a hot spoon scoop
out the aspic from the centre of each mould and fill in the space with a
mixture of the vegetables and jelly mayonnaise, leaving an open space at
the top to be filled with half-set aspic. When thoroughly chilled and
set, turn from the moulds, the smaller mould above the other. Garnish
with flowerets of cauliflower, dipped in aspic and chilled, and lettuce.
Serve with mayonnaise.
[Illustration: Russian Vegetable Salad.]
[Illustration: Macedoine of Vegetable Salad.
(See page 47)]
=Stuffed-Cucumber Salad.=
Pare a short cucumber and cut it lengthwise in two parts; remove the
seeds and let chill in ice water for an hour. Chop together the solid
part of a peeled and seeded tomato, half a slice of new onion, a stalk
of celery and a sprig of parsley; mix with mayonnaise or a boiled
dressing and use as a filling for the well-dried halves of cucumber.
Serve on cress or lettuce.
=Cowslip-and-Cream-Cheese Salad.=
(See cut facing page 58.)
Cook the cowslip leaves until tender in boiling salted water, reserving
a few choice leaves with blossoms for a garnish. Chop fine, season to
taste with salt and paprica, press into a mould, and set aside to become
chilled. Slice chilled cream cheese (Neufchatel or cottage) in uniform
slices, and arrange at the sides of the mound. Serve with French or
mayonnaise dressing.
=Cauliflower Salad, Egg Garnish.=
Separate a cauliflower into flowerets and boil in salted water until
tender, _not longer_. Drain carefully. Season with oil, vinegar, salt,
pepper, and a sprinkling of chopped tarragon leaves (or use tarragon
vinegar). Arrange symmetrically in an earthen bowl, having the upper
surface level. Let stand to become thoroughly chilled, then turn on to
a serving-dish; the shape of the mould will be retained. Cover with
mayonnaise dressing or Sauce Tartare, and surround with lengthwise
quarters of hard-boiled eggs.
=Potato Salad with Mayonnaise.=
Boil the potatoes and let cool without paring. Then remove the skins and
cut into slices, balls, or cubes. Squeeze over them a little onion
juice, sprinkle with fine-chopped parsley, and let stand in a French
dressing several hours. Mix the dressing after the usual formula, and
use enough to moisten well the potato. When ready to serve, make nests
of heart leaves of lettuce, put a spoonful of the potato in each, with a
teaspoonful of mayonnaise above, sprinkle the mayonnaise with capers,
and press the quarter of a hard-boiled egg into the top of the
mayonnaise. Or add the chopped white of egg to the potato before
marinating, and sift the yolk over the mayonnaise.
FISH SALADS.
"_Some choice sous'd fish brought couchant in a dish,
Among some fennel._"
"_Of what complexion?
Of the sea water green, sir._"
FISH SALADS.
Ever, and justly, fish have taken high rank in the list of salad
ingredients. No wonder, when we consider that nothing excels in delicacy
of flavor many a variety of fish; and, while fish are not necessarily
expensive in any locality, in many sections of the country their cost is
merely nominal. Then, too, salad-making appeals largely to one's
artistic nature, and the products of sea and fresh water are constantly
furnishing opportunities for studies in many and varied shades of color.
The lobster's vivid red, the brilliant tints of the salmon and red
snapper, the delicate pink of shrimps, the dull white of scallops and
halibut, and the bluish gray of mackerel and bluefish, each, in its
season, may be made to contrast most effectively with fresh green herbs
and yellow dressings.
Oysters, scallops and little-neck clams are frequently served in salads
without cooking. These should be carefully washed, then drained and set
aside in a marinade for an hour. When cooked, they should be heated to
the boiling-point in their own liquor, then drained and cut in halves.
The adductor muscle of the oyster--the white, button-shaped part that
connects the animal with its shell--is often discarded. Other fish than
shellfish, when used in salads, are boiled, broiled or baked; they
present the best appearance, however, when boiled. Thudichum recommends
sea water, whenever it is available, for boiling fish; lacking this, hot
water, salted (an ounce of salt to a quart of water), and acidulated
pleasantly with lemon juice or vinegar, is the proper medium of cooking.
The addition of a slice or two of onion and carrot, a sprig of parsley,
a stalk of celery, with aromatic herbs or spices, provided they be not
used so freely as to overpower the delicate savor of the fish, is
thought to improve the dish.
The quantity of water should be adjusted to the size of the fish; in no
case should it be larger than will suffice to produce the desired
result. At the moment the fish is immersed in the water the temperature
should be at the boiling-point, and thereafter the vessel should be
permitted to simmer during the process of cooking.
The fish may be cooked whole, or cut into small pieces, similar in shape
and size. In the latter case a wire basket is of service, as, by this
means, the fish may be easily removed from the water and drained. If the
fish is to be served whole, remove the skin and fins, and, when
thoroughly cold, mask with jelly mayonnaise or with a fancy butter.
After chilling again, the mask may be decorated with capers, olives,
eggs, etc. If the fish is to be used in flakes, the flakes will separate
more easily while the fish is still hot. In marinating fish, let the
proportions of oil and acid vary with the kind of fish; _i.e._,
according to the oily nature of the flesh.
RECIPES.
=Brook-Trout Salad.=
Dress the trout without removing the heads; boil as previously
indicated. Remove the backbone without destroying the shape of the fish.
Serve, thoroughly chilled, on crisp lettuce leaves dressed with claret
or French dressing. Prepare the latter with tarragon vinegar.
=Brook Trout Moulded in Aspic.=
Pour a little chicken aspic into a pickle or other dish of suitable
shape and size for a single fish; when nearly set, lay a trout, prepared
as above, upon the aspic, add a few spoonfuls of aspic, let it harden so
that the fish may become fixed in place, then add aspic to cover. Slices
of cucumber pickles, capers, or other ornaments, may be used. When the
aspic is thoroughly set and chilled, remove from the mould and serve on
two lettuce leaves, with any dressing desired.
=Halibut Salad.=
Flake the fish and marinate with French dressing (three tablespoonfuls
of oil, one tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar, a dash of salt and
pepper, for each pint of fish); drain, and add half as much boiled
potato, cut in small cubes and dressed with French dressing. Serve on a
bed of lettuce leaves. Garnish with sardine dressing. Shredded lettuce
or peas may be used in place of the potato.
=Halibut-and-Cucumber Salad.=
INGREDIENTS.
1 pound of cooked halibut.
2 tablespoonfuls of oil.
1 tablespoonful of lemon juice.
A few drops of onion juice.
Salt and pepper.
2 pimentos.
Lettuce.
Cucumbers.
French dressing.
_Method._--Flake one pound of cooked halibut while hot, and marinate
with the oil, lemon juice, onion juice, salt and pepper. When cold drain
and mix with the pimentos, shredded, after cutting from the same a few
star-shaped or other fanciful figures. Arrange heart leaves of lettuce
in an upright position in the centre of a serving-dish, the fish and
pimentos around the lettuce, and, around these, one large or two small
cucumbers, cut in small cubes and mixed with French dressing. With
salmon use capers instead of pimentos. Use enough dressing to moisten
the cucumbers thoroughly.
=Halibut Salad.=