There are many worse things to eat in hot weather
than cold roast beef and salad. Now, it will often be
said that if you want a good salad you must go to
Paris. Certainly you do get a good salad there invari-
ably; but it is equally easy to have one at home by
simply doing what they do. One principal reason
why English people so often have bad salads is that
they have an absurd prejudice against oil. Very often,
too, when they use oil, the oil is bad. Of course, it is
as impossible to make a good salad with bad oil as it
is to cook a good dinner with high meat. The oil
must be clear, bright, and of a pale-yellow colour ; if
it looks at all green, it is probably bad. Bearing,
therefore, this in mind, I will now tell you how to mix
a salad, simply repeating the recipe or custom used
in ninety-nine out of a hundred French restaurants.
First get two or three small French cabbage-lettuces.
Wash them, if necessary, in a little cold water, but do
not dry them on a cloth, as you will thereby probably
bruise them and spoil them. Shake them dry in a
little wire basket ; or put them in a cloth, and take
the cloth by the four corners, and make the lettuce-
leaves jump inside ; then put them lightly into a
salad-bowl. Next chop up enough parsley to cover a
Savoury Summer Dishes. 125
threepenny-piece, and also chop three fresh mint-
leaves, and sprinkle this over the lettuce. Next take
a table-spoon, and place in it about half a salt-spoonful
of salt, and quarter of pepper ; fill the table-spoon
with oil. Mix up the pepper and salt with the oil,
and pour it over the lettuce — I am supposing enough
for about four persons — add half a table-spoonful more
oil, and toss the lettuce lightly together for two or
three minutes. Next add not quite half a table-
spoonful of French white vinegar; mix it for a minute
or two more, and it is finished.
Now the difficulty in many households is to over-
come the prejudice against the oil. Perhaps some one,
when they have read this, will do as follows : First
take care to have a fresh bottle of good oil ; then mix
a salad as I have directed, without telling anybody
how it is done. Let it be handed round at dinner-
time, and wait and see what people say. If you tell
them beforehand that there is nearly two table-spoon-
fuls of oi✪ French Saladl, they probably will make up their minds
beforehand that it is nasty ; but say nothing, and give
the recipe a fair chance.
I here are two additions to a salad which many
think an advantage : one is to chop up with the
parsley and mint one fresh tarragon-leaf ; another is to
mb a crust of bread with a piece of garlic, and then
put the crust into the salad-bowl, and toss it about
1 26
Common-sense Cooker j :
with the salad. This is quite sufficient to give it a
decided flavour of garlic, and, where garlic is not
disliked, will be found to be a decided improvement.
XI.— SALADS, AND HOW TO MAKE
THEM.
Page 50 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1880. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
There are many worse things to eat in hot weather than cold roast beef and salad. Now, it will often be said that if you want a good salad you must go to Paris. Certainly you do get a good salad there invariably; but it is equally easy to have one at home by simply doing what they do. One principal reason why English people so often have bad salads is that they have an absurd prejudice against oil. Very often, too, when they use oil, the oil is bad. Of course, it is as impossible to make a good salad with bad oil as it is to cook a good dinner with high meat. The oil must be clear, bright, and of a pale-yellow colour ; if it looks at all green, it is probably bad. Bearing, therefore, this in mind, I will now tell you how to mix a salad, simply repeating the recipe or custom used in ninety-nine out of a hundred French restaurants. First get two or three small French cabbage-lettuces. Wash them, if necessary, in a little cold water, but do not dry them on a cloth, as you will thereby probably bruise them and spoil them. Shake them dry in a little wire basket ; or put them in a cloth, and take the cloth by the four corners, and make the lettuce-leaves jump inside ; then put them lightly into a salad-bowl. Next chop up enough parsley to cover a
Savoury Summer Dishes. 125
threepenny-piece, and also chop three fresh mintleaves, and sprinkle this over the lettuce. Next take a table-spoon, and place in it about half a salt-spoonful of salt, and quarter of pepper ; fill the table-spoon with oil. Mix up the pepper and salt with the oil, and pour it over the lettuce — I am supposing enough for about four persons — add half a table-spoonful more oil, and toss the lettuce lightly together for two or three minutes. Next add not quite half a tablespoonful of French white vinegar; mix it for a minute or two more, and it is finished.
Now the difficulty in many households is to overcome the prejudice against the oil. Perhaps some one, when they have read this, will do as follows : First take care to have a fresh bottle of good oil ; then mix a salad as I have directed, without telling anybody how it is done. Let it be handed round at dinnertime, and wait and see what people say. If you tell them beforehand that there is nearly two table-spoonfuls of oil, they probably will make up their minds beforehand that it is nasty ; but say nothing, and give the recipe a fair chance.
I here are two additions to a salad which many think an advantage : one is to chop up with the parsley and mint one fresh tarragon-leaf ; another is to rub a crust of bread with a piece of garlic, and then put the crust into the salad-bowl, and toss it about
1 26
Common-sense Cooker j :
with the salad. This is quite sufficient to give it a decided flavour of garlic, and, where garlic is not disliked, will be found to be a decided improvement.
XI.— SALADS, AND HOW TO MAKE THEM.
Records on this page
French Salad