Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Another way : — Apple salad is made with firm, tart apples, which should not be prepared until a short time before it is to be served. Peel and cut the apples into tiny cubes, and to each cupful of the apple dice add a cupful and a half of celery, also cut fine. Stir lightly together, and immediately pour over all a thick mayonnaise dressing. The salad may be garnished with the green leaves of the celery. Asparagus Salad. — Boiled asparagus is frequently served cold, with a plain French salad dressing. Assorted Salad. — Cut all the white, tender part of one bunch of celery in pieces half an inch long ; add to it all the small white leaves. Wash the salad in plenty of cold water, then put it in ice-water one hour before using, so as to have it very crisp. Parboil for two hours two bunches of red beets, drain, and bake them for one hour. Peel, and, when cold, slice them thin. Drain the salad in a salad-basket or in a clean towel, not squeezing it. Add the beets to it, then pour French salad dressing over the salad ; stir gently with two forks, and serve. Banana Salad SALADS Celery-and-apple Salad Banana Salad. — A strip of the peel of a large and perfect banana may be turned back, and most of the pulp carefully scooped out. The short, thick variety of banana, in either red or yellow, is the best for this purpose. To fill the space left by the removal of the pulp, prepare a mixture of thinly sliced banana, shredded orange or grapefruit, seeded and peeled white grapes, and a few kernels of English walnuts or pecans in small pieces. In their season, stoned cherries may be added. All must first be mixed in a bowl with a generous supply of dressing, and after the yellow cases are filled with the salad, each must be laid on lettuce leaves. These, like the apples, must be prepared a short time before using. Either a mayonnaise or a good, boiled dressing may be used. Bean Salad. — Yellow wax-beans, cooked until tender, cooled, and laid in French dressing for an hour before dinner, may be made into a delicious salad by chilling them, arranging them on a round platter on lettuce, and putting a mould of mayonnaise in the centre. This is made by preparing it half a day before it is needed, by setting a small cupful of gelatine in a mould. If this is too much trouble, the stiff mayonnaise alone may be piled in the centre with a heart of lettuce. Beet Salad. — To some nicely boiled and well-sliced beets lay alternate rows of fresh onion, also sliced, and pour over them any salad sauce, or simply oil and vinegar, if preferred. Garnish with curled parsley. Instead of raw onions, cold boiled ones may be used, together with slices of egg, hard boiled. Bohemia Salad. — Yolk of one or two raw eggs, one or two young onions or leeks, three table-spoonfuls of salad oil, one table-spoonful of vinegar, some lettuce, and slices of beet-root, salt, and mustard. Take the yolk of one or two raw eggs, according to the size of the salad you require, beat them up well, add a little salt and mustard, and chop up one or two young onions or leeks about the size of grass ; then add the salad oil and the vinegar, and beat the whole up into a thick sauce. Cut in the salad, and put thin slices of beet-root at the top. Sprinkle a little salt over it, and do not stir it up till the moment you use it.