Ideas In Salads

Prepare celery stalks very carefully by removing the stringy fiber until entirely free from shreds; chop quite fine, and to 2 cups of celery add 2 cups of chopped lettuce, the latter crisp and fresh as possible; season with salt, pepper and thyme, vinegar, olive oil, bay leaf; if possible, add 1/2 teaspoon shoyu, or Japanese sauce, which greatly improves the flavor; mix all thoroughly and then add crab, shrimp, sardine, spiced mackerel or halibut filling. Boiled halibut, chilled in salt water, makes a good combination with crab, and when broken into small portions and allowed to stand for 1 hour or so, in the same salt water with crab, can with difficulty be distinguished from the crab itself. For sardine, potato and meat salads, a tablespoon of onion juice is desirable.

Make mayonnaise dressing by using the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs, according to the quantity desired, and after beating add, drop by drop, pure olive oil, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken; then a larger quantity of oil may be stirred in until the mixture becomes of proper consistency, about like heavy cream; do not season until thickened for fear of curdling. Salt very sparingly, and if desired sift in a little cayenne pepper, a few drops of lemon, 2 teaspoons of spiced mustard vinegar from mustard pickles.

Chicken Salad

Cut cold roast or boiled chicken in small dice; add celery cut fine; season with salt and pepper; mix with French dressing and put aside for an hour or more; just before serving stir in some mayonnaise slightly thinned with lemon juice or French dressing; arrange on lettuce leaves and cover with thick mayonnaise.

Crab Salad

One pint of crab meat, 2 stalks of celery, cut fine, 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped fine, and 1 tomato cut into small pieces; season with salt, pepper and vinegar; mix in salad bowl, garnishing it with crisp leaves of lettuce; dress with mayonnaise dressing.

Egg Salad

Cut hard-boiled eggs in half lengths, rub their yolks through a sieve, mix with equal weight of Parmesan cheese, season with chopped chives, pepper and salt, and enough butter to moisten; fill the whites with this mixture, serve on lettuce and garnish with sliced tomatoes.

Hot Slaw

Pick off the bad leaves from head of small cabbage; slice or cut the cabbage very thin; scald it 5 minutes in 2 quarts of boiling water and drain through a colander; mix it well with a sauce made of 1/4 cup of hot vinegar, 1 cup of sour cream, yolks of 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons of oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Cold Slaw

Chop or shred a small white cabbage; prepare a dressing in the proportion of 1 tablespoon of oil to 4 of vinegar, 1 teaspoon mustard, salt and sugar and pepper; pour over the salad, adding, if you choose, 3 tablespoons of minced celery; toss up well and put in a glass bowl.

Potato Salad

Four large potatoes, 1/2 a small onion, a little celery, chopped fine. If the potatoes have been boiled in their skin they are better. The dressing consists of 1 cup of cream, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of butter, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of mustard, 1 of sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

Crab Meat A La Newburg

Clean and pick 2 nice large fresh crabs; place in a saucepan about 1 ounce of butter; when melted, add the picked crab meat; season with 1/2 pinch of cayenne pepper, 2 pinches of salt; let simmer slowly for 2 minutes, then add cream to just cover it; let come to a boil; place 3 yolks of eggs in a bowl with 1/3 cup milk; beat well together and add it to the crab; stir gently for a few minutes till it thickens, but do not boil; serve in a hot casserole or tureen. Serve thin slices of freshly-made hot toast on the side.

Same recipe for shrimp or lobster a la Newburg.

French Dressing

Mix 1/4 teaspoon of salt, dash of white pepper, 3 tablespoons olive oil; stir for few minutes, then gradually add 1 tablespoon vinegar, stirring rapidly until mixture is slightly thickened and vinegar cannot be noticed. Mixture will separate in about 20 minutes.

Lobster Salad

Cut the lobster into small squares and season with 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 of oil, salt and pepper to taste and let it stand in a cool place for an hour; when ready to serve line the salad bowl with crisp lettuce leaves, and after mixing the lobster thoroughly with mayonnaise place it on the lettuce; serve with toasted crackers and cheese.

Mayonnaise Dressing

Put the yolk of 1 egg into 1 cup with salt-spoon of salt and beat until light, 1/2 teaspoon of mustard and beat again; then add olive oil, drop by drop, then a few drops of vinegar and the same of lemon juice; continue this process until the egg has absorbed a little more than 1/2 a teacup of oil; finish by adding a very little cayenne pepper and sugar.

Fruit Salad

Mix 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 2 apples, sliced thin, 1/2 cup chopped celery and lettuce leaves and serve with cooked salad dressing.

Nut Salad

Take equal portions of English walnut, hickorynut and pecan meats; add twice as much chopped celery as nut meats; pour over all a good salad dressing and serve at once on lettuce leaves.

Three-Minute Mayonnaise

Mix 1/2 teaspoon salt, pinch cayenne or paprika and 1/8 teaspoon mustard in a bowl; add 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar and carefully put in 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk so as not to break yolk; pour in 1/2 cup salad oil and beat with an egg beater until blended; continue until the oil is all added.