Foods, their selection and preparation

Cooked Salad Dressings. These dressings are made on the basis of a custard. Milk or water and vinegar make up the liquid. The custard may be thickened with egg alone or with a combination of egg and starch. (The starch is usually flour, although cornstarch may be used.) Vinegar is added for tartness after the mixture is thickened, so that it will not curdle the milk if milk is used, and so as to avoid hydrolyzing the starch if starch is used. Fat is added, usually as butter, mar¬ garine, or heavy cream. Basic proportions are these: one cup liquid (f cup milk and \ cup lemon juice or vinegar), 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, J to 1 teaspoon each of mustard and paprika, 1 egg or 2 egg yolks, and 2 tablespoons butter or margarine or J cup cream. Mix the flour with the dry seasonings, add all but a few tablespoons of the milk, and bring to a hard boil, stirring constantly. Put into a double boiler and add the egg diluted with the remaining milk. Cook over hot water, stirring constantly un¬ til the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat, stir in the fat, and blend thoroughly. Cool, and add vinegar. One or two more yolks may be used and the flour omitted. In this case, the dressing should be cooked as a true custard, and the vinegar or lemon juice added last. When cream is used it may be whipped and added last. In this case the butter or margarine may be omitted. Variations in Dressings. From the basic recipes of salad dressings, many variations of each kind can be made. Rendered chicken fat, mild-flavored bacon, or ham drippings may be used to vary the flavor and character of French dressings; however, fats combine less completely than oils. Also, variety may be obtained by varying the kind of vegetable oil. Many people like the flavor of olive oil best, but it is more expensive than the other oils. A mixture of olive oil and one of the [166] less expensive vegetable oils will reduce the cost, yet give the flavor of olive oil. Tarragon vinegar will give a special flavor to French dressing when used in place of lemon juice or plain vinegar. Cheese dressings are made by adding grated hard cheese to French dressing or by rubbing soft cheese to a paste with the dressing. Herb dressings are made by adding minced parsley, marjoram, and a small amount of thyme to French dressing. Chiffonade dressing is made by the addi¬ tion of chopped onions, peppers, pimientos, parsley, hard-cooked egg, etc. to plain French dressing. Vinaigrette dressing is made by adding chopped chives and chopped hard-cooked egg to a French dressing containing horse¬ radish and ketchup or chili sauce, or both. Lorenzo dressing is a special French dress¬ ing flavored with currant jelly and chili sauce. Honey sometimes is used in place of sugar. It is an excellent dressing for fruits. Thousand Island dressing is a variation of mayonnaise, made by adding different combinations of a great variety of ingredients such as chives, capers, chopped green pep¬ pers, pimiento, pickles, olives, onions, and hard -cooked eggs. Russian dressing is made with about J as much thick chili sauce as mayonnaise.