Lobster Salad

Ingredients

• two eggs
• one bay leaf
• one lobster
• one ounce of butter
• one tablespoonful of cream
• one-half teaspoonful of lemon-juice
• two teaspoonsfuls of salt
• one grain of cayenne
• one head of lettuce
• two tablespoonsfuls of salad oil
• yolks of two eggs
• one teaspoonful of Tarragon vinegar

Method

1. 1

   Prepare Aspic jelly a day before.

2. 2

   Heat stock, soak gelatine in cold water.

3. 3

   Add vinegar, parsley, bay-leaf, and gelatine to stock.

4. 4

   Whip egg whites with cold water, pepper, and salt; add to stock.

5. 5

   Strain and cool.

6. 6

   Boil lobster, remove meat, and mix with melted butter, flour, and cream.

7. 7

   Form into cutlets.

8. 8

   Arrange lettuce in a bowl, mix yolks with oil and vinegar, pour over lettuce.

9. 9

   Chop jelly, arrange around salad, place lobster cutlets in the center, garnish with lobster head and coral.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The art of cooking (1880) by Matilda Lees Dods, page 54. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

one bay leaf, one lob- ster, one ounce of butter, one tablespoonful of cream, one-half teaspoonful of lemon-juice, two teaspoonsfuls of salt, one grain of cayenne, one head of lettuce, two table- spoonsfuls of salad oil, yolks of two eggs, one teaspoonful of Tarragon vinegar. The Aspic jelly required for the preparation of this salad, must be made the day before it is designed for use, in order that it may have time to become quite firm. It is to be prepared as follows : Put the stock into a copper or porcelain-lined sauce- pan, and make it hot over a quick fire. While this i& heating, soak the gelatine in half a gill of cold water. When the stock has come to a tepid degree of heat, put into it the tablespoonful of vinegar, parsley, bay-leaf and soaked gelatine. Whip up the whites of egg in a bowl, and mix with it half a gill of cold water and a little pep- per and salt. Pour this egg mixture into the stock and stir all to- gether rapidly with an egg-whisk or two forks until the LOBSTER salad: 121 stock boils. Cover the saucepan closely and draw it aside from the fire, allowing its contents to simmer for ten minutes. Strain all through a clean towel into a bowl, and stand the jelly in a cool dry place to become firm- When the lobster has been boiled and becomes cold, twist off the head, which will be used in garnishing, and remove the coral, if possible, without breaking it. Place the coral upon a plate and stand it where it may be ex- posed to heat sufficient to dry it rapidly, but neither bake nor brown it* Remove also the meat from the tail and claws of the lobster, and cut it into convenient pieces. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir into it the flour. and add to it by degrees a gill of cold water. When this is boiling let it cook for two minutes thereafter rap- idly, and take it from the fire, add to it the cream, the lemon- juice, cayenne and a little pepper and salt ; also the pieces of meat from the lobster. When this is well mixed together it must be turned out upon a plate and put in a cool place, allowed to be- come quite cold. When cold, divide it into five portions and form each one into a cutlet about three inches long. Wash the lettuce, dry the leaves carefully with a towel, and tearing it into irregular pieces, arrange them in the bottom of a salad bowl. Mix in a separate bowl the yolks of egg and salad oil which must be dropped upon the egg drop by drop, and when these are beaten to a cream, add thereto the Tarra- gon vinegar. Pour this over the lettuce in the salad bowl, sprinkle over all the remainder of the pepper and salt, and toss all lightly with a fork to distribute the dressing through the lettuce. 122 SALADS, Chop the Aspic jelly now coarsely, and arrange a wall of it around the sides of the salad bowl, taking care to keep the centre clear, and within this wall place the lobster cutlets in a circle. Into each of the cutlets stick one of the feelers from the lobster, rub the head with a little oil to brighten and bring out the color, and place it in the centre of the dish. Take the dried coral, and either pound it lightly in a mortar, or roll it fine upon a board with a rolling pin, and sprinkle a little of this over each cutlet, and the remainder over the wall of jelly. Notes — To boil lobsters, plunge them into boiling water in which a little salt has been dissolved, and boil them for twenty minutes rapidly. A plain lobster salad may be made by following the directions for shrimp salad, by substituting the meat of the lobster cut in coarse pieces for the shrimps. Oucumber . Salad. — Three medium sized green cucumbers, two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, one table- spoonful of vinegar, one teaspognf ul of salt, one-half tea- spoonful of black pepper. The cucumbers should be kept upon the ice until thoroughly chilled which renders them pleasantly brittle, after which they should be pared lengthwise, taking care to cut deep enough to remove all of the green inner skin which is exceedingly bitter, and when pared slice them into round thin slices, Arrange these slices in a mound in a shallow salad bowl and mixing together the pepper, salt, oil and vinegar, pour this dressing over the cucumbers and stir all together until the dressing is well distributed when serving. LETTUCE SALAD, 123 Note, — ^A tomato salad may be prepared in this same manner with this difference, a little sugar must be added to the ingredients for the dressing. Beef Salad. — One pound of rare roast beef, one- quarter of a boiled beet, one tablespoonful of vinegar, three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, one teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful of black pepper, one head of lettuce. Wash the lettuce, each leaf separately, dry it thor- oughly with a towel, taking care not to crush or wilt it, and reserving the few delicate inner leaves for garnishing, tear the rest into irregular pieces and arrange them in the bottom of a salad bowl. Cut the beef into small square pieces, slice the beet and cut it also into pieces ; mixing both lightly together, put them in pyramidal shape upon the lettuce in the bowl and sprinkle over all the pepper and salt. Mix to- gether in a separate bowl the vinegar and oil, and when thoroughly blended, pour this dressing over the salad, and garnish at the top with the small lettuce leaves. Note. — A salad may be made of sliced cold tongue by following the above directions and substituting the tongue for the cold roast beef. Iiettnoe Salad.— -Two heads of lettuce, one dessert spoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful of pepper, one table- spoonful of salad oil, three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, two hard boiled eggs. Separate the leaves of the heads of lettuce, wash them' carefully, and dry each leaf thoroughly with a towel, handling them gently that they may be neither crushed nor wilted. Tear the leaves into pieces and arrange them lightly in a salad bowl. Sprinkle over them the 124 SALADS. pepper anji salt, and mixing the vinegar and oil together in a separate bowl pour it, when well blended, over the salad and stir all together at table when serving. Cut the hard boiled eggs into quarters and garnish the dish with them. Notes — Endive, eschalot, chickory, watercresses, celery and all green salads may be prepared as the lettuce and salad is prepared. All green salads should have the material of which they are composed made very cold and crisp before dressing. If French dressing is preferred to the vinegar dressing, the propor- tions of vinegar and oil may be simply changed from the above given quantities to three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, one tablespoonful of vinegar. Green salads should be stirred as little as possible before being sent to the table in order that their freshness may be preserved uutil the moment of serving. Salad li-la-Rnsse. — One boiled carrot, one boiled turnip, two boiled potatoes, one-third of a head of fresh celery, one boiled beet, four olives, four anchovies, yolks of two eggs, one tablespoonful of vinegar, one teaspoonful of Tarragon vinegar

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.