Mayonnaise Dressings

From "The American Salad Book", 1900.

Have all the materials ready, clean and cold, when about to begin. Do the mixing in a cool place and if the weather is hot set the bowl on ice before or during the mixing. A shallow bowl or soup plate is most convenient for beating. Use a silver or wooden fork or smooth wooden spoon. Have the yolks of two fresh raw eggs and two hard boiled ones in a cool bowl, drop on a little oil and rub to a cream: then add a teaspoonful of made English mustard (made by mixing ground mustard with warm water) two teaspoonfuls of dry fine salt and a sprinkle of Cayenne pepper: then drop in oil, drop by drop, stirring and beating hard all the time until the mixture is thick and solid enough to keep its shape and have a glassy look. It will require from eight tablespoonfuls to half a pint of oil, according to size of eggs and quality of materials. Thin the mixture by dropping in vinegar until the dressing is of proper consistency: about two tablespoonfuls of vinegar will be required. A few drops of lemon juice may be added but avoid using too much or it will give the dressing an acidity very unpleasant. Keep the dressing in a cold place until wanted. Just before using, the whites of the raw eggs are usually beaten to a stiff froth and then beaten into the dressing. If, when partly made, it "breaks" or curdles, put in a cool place and when ready begin over again with more egg and instead of using oil drop the curdled dressing into the bowl until it is used. This dressing is always acceptable for any of the numerous green, meat or fish salads where mayonnaise is wanted, but is subject to countless variations according to taste or fancy. When more eggs are used less oil is required, and vice versa. If a very mild dressing should be wanted, omit the mustard and pepper. This is the kind usually preferred for fresh fruit salads. For fruit salads a spoonful of fine sugar can be substituted for the mustard. For sweet fruit it can be made more acid and for acid fruit less so. Cream, if thick and fresh, can sometimes be used to advantage with less oil, especially for fruit and fresh vegetables. Keep in a separate dish and do not mix with other things until just before eating. The process of mixing should take from ten to fifteen minutes. When wanted to coat meats or fish use aspic jelly in place of raw eggs, warming it sufficient to melt and then putting the coated dish in an ice chest. This is sometimes called a "jelly mayonnaise."

White Mayonnaise. This is made by using less egg yolk and more lemon juice in place of vinegar, the acid of the lemon always tending to whiten the eggs. The addition of the beaten white of egg and cream also tend to make it white. If a golden yellow color is wished all these ingredients should be omitted.

Green Mayonnaise is prepared by using a little spinach juice in plain mayonnaise, or the juice of any fresh salad herbs, tarragon, or chives may be used if desired. The prepared colorings that may be bought of grocers are cheap and convenient and should not be harmful. Very soft mashed green peas are used to give color and consistency when the dressing is used to cover fish.

Red Mayonnaise is made by adding some of the prepared coloring, cooked beet juice or highly colored fruit juice to plain mayonnaise. For fish salads, pound the coral of lobster, mix with a little oil and when smooth add to the mayonnaise.

Horseradish Mayonnaise is made by adding about three tablespoonfuls of fresh grated horseradish to the given amount of plain mayonnaise, or, if prepared horseradish is used, take the same amount and use the vinegar in which it is packed instead of plain vinegar. This is a good relish on cold beef and fish salads.

English Salad Sauce, so called, is mayonnaise with eggs in the proportion of two hard boiled to one raw yolk, and about two-thirds as much thick sweet cream as oil, the whole being well beaten together for twenty minutes or more and then cooled in the ice chest.

Mayonnaise Tartare is simply the addition of a little chopped onions or of onion juice, chopped cucumber pickles or capers and parsley, chives, chopped olives or any green herb the flavor of which is desired.

Wedding Salad

Roast unstuffed, three young tender turkeys, or six full grown chickens. Take the white meat only, cut it fine with shears, cutting across the grain, while hot. Let cool, then mix it with ten hearts of crisp celery cut in bits, two heads of tender white cabbage, finely chopped, rejecting hard stalks—use three heads if very small—and set in a cool place.

For the dressing boil thirty fresh eggs twenty minutes, throw in cold water, shell, take out the yolks, saving the white for garnishing, mash the yolks while hot very smooth with a pound and a half of best butter, season them well with salt, pepper, a little dry mustard, celery seed, and, if at hand, a dash of walnut catsup, but not enough to discolor. Add also a teaspoonful of sugar—this to blend flavors only. Add a little at a time enough warm vinegar to make as thick as cream. Chill, and pour over the salad, mix well through, then heap it in a big glass bowl, lined with partly white lettuce leaves, make a wreath of leaves around the top, and in serving, lay a larger lettuce leaf on each plate, filling it with the yellow-white salad.

How Salads Complement Meals

The following is from "Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4", and contains vintage advice still very relevant today on how to balance a meal and a salad.

Because of the large variety of ingredients that may be used in the making of salads, it is usually possible to make the salad correspond properly with the other dishes in the meal. This is a little more difficult to accomplish when left-over materials are used in salads, but, even in this event, the addition of ingredients that will make the salad more nearly approach what must be supplied is usually possible. If the meal is to be a light one and the salad is to serve as the principal dish, it should be sufficiently heavy and contain enough food value to serve the purpose for which it is intended. It should be decided on first, and then the rest of the dishes should be planned to correspond with the salad.

On the other hand, when the meal is a heavy one and the salad is to be one of the lighter dishes, the main dishes should be decided on first and the salad planned so that it will correspond properly with the other dishes. For instance, with meat or fish as the main course of the meal, a fish, egg, or cheese salad would obviously be the wrong thing to serve. Instead, a light salad of vegetables or fruits should be selected for such a meal. It should be remembered, also, that if the other dishes of a meal contain sufficient food value to make the meal properly nourishing, a salad containing a rich dressing will provide more than a sufficient supply of calories and consequently should be avoided.

Another point that should not be neglected in selecting a salad is that it should be a contrast to the rest of the meal as far as flavor is concerned. While several foods acid in flavor do not necessarily unbalance a meal so far as food substances and food value are concerned, they provide too much of the same flavor to be agreeable to most persons. For instance, if the meal contains an acid soup, such as tomato, and a vegetable with a sour dressing, such as beets, then a salad that is also acid will be likely to add more of a sour flavor than the majority of persons desire.

Then, too, it is not a good plan to serve in the salad the same vegetable that is served in the soup or the dinner course. Thus, creamed celery and a salad containing celery, and tomato soup and tomato salad are bad combinations and should, like others similar to them, be carefully avoided. Even though such vegetables may be on hand in quantity, they can usually be kept for another meal.

Chicken Salad

The average cook book contains a good deal of nonsense about this salad. Nothing can be more simple than to mix a little nicely cut cold boiled chicken and celery together, with a tablespoonful or two of mayonnaise. Put this mixture into a salad-bowl, arrange it neatly, and over all add a mayonnaise. Garnish with celery tops, hard-boiled eggs, strips of beets, etc. Use a little more celery than chicken. Or, tear a few leaves of lettuce, put them in a salad-bowl, and add half a cold, boiled, tender chicken that has been cut into neat pieces; pour over it a mayonnaise; garnish neatly, and serve.

For large parties, and when the chicken is apt to become dry, from having been cut up long before it is wanted, it is best to keep it moist by adding a plain dressing. Drain it before using. Put on a flat side-dish a liberal bed of crisp lettuce. Add the chicken, garnish neatly, and, just before sending to table, pour over it a mayonnaise.

If in hot weather, arrange the salad on a dish that will stand in a small tub or kid. Fill this with ice, place the dish on top, pin a napkin or towel around the tub to hide it from view. Flowers, smilax, etc., may be pinned on this, which produce a very pretty effect.

From "50 Salads", by Thomas Murray, 1885

Southern-Style Cole Slaw

Shave very fine half a medium sized head of tender cabbage, put in a bowl, and cover with this dressing. Melt over hot water a heaping tablespoonful of butter, with two tablespoonfuls sugar, a saltspoon of pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, dash of red pepper, and scant teaspoonful dry mustard. Mix smooth, then add gradually four tablespoonfuls vinegar, mix well, then put in the yolk of a raw egg, beating it in hard. Cook till creamy, but not too thick. Take from fire, and add if you like, two tablespoonfuls cream, but it is not essential—the dressing is good without it.

From "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South", by Martha McCulloch Williams, 1913

Tomato Baskets

Tomato baskets are charming accessories for holding vegetable salad, chicken, shrimps, cold beans, asparagus tips, shredded celery, cucumbers cut in cubes and minced peppers. Choose firm, smooth tomatoes, not too large and as nearly one size as possible. Dip for half a minute in boiling water, skin and set in ice box to chill. Cut out pulp and seeds, dress the cavity with salt, pepper, oil and vinegar, then fill with the salad, seasoned with French dressing or mayonnaise. Handles of watercress may be attached to these baskets. Set on lettuce or cress, as desired.

From "Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus -- A Collection of Practical Recipes for Preparing Meats, Game, Fowl, Fish, Puddings, Pastries, Etc.", by Rufus Estes, Chicago, 1911.

Waldorf Salad Made with Crisco Shortening

1 quart chopped apples
2 cups diced celery
1-1/2 cups blanched and shredded almonds
2/3 cup rolled pecan nut meats

Dress with following dressing, adding little more sugar and lemon juice to taste, just before serving. Mix 1 tablespoon melted Crisco, 1 teaspoon each mustard and white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add 2 well beaten egg yolks and then beat in slowly 4 tablespoons lemon juice. Cook in double boiler till it thickens. Then add whites 2 eggs beaten stiff. Keep on ice till wanted. Stir in 1 cup whipped cream just before serving. This is very good made with 5 egg yolks and 1/2 cup thin cream if whipping cream is unobtainable.

From "The Story of Crisco", by the Procter and Gamble Corporation, Eleventh Edition, 1916.

Pineapple Salad

Pare and core a very ripe, sweet pineapple, cut in slices crosswise, lay the slices in a bowl, with a sprinkle of sugar, half a cup rum or sherry, all the juice shed in cutting up, and a grate of nutmeg. Let stand till morning, cool, but not on ice. Make rosettes of small lettuce leaves in the plates, lay a slice of pineapple on each, fill the hole in the center with pink pimento cheese. Make the cheese into a ball the size of a marble, and stick in it a tiny sprig of celery top. Put a little of the syrup from the bowl in each plate, then finish with very sharp French dressing.

Make the pimento cheese by grinding fine half a can of pimento, and mixing it through two cakes of cream cheese, softening the cheese with French dressing, and seasoning it to taste.

From "Dishes and Beverages of the Old South", by Martha McCulloch Williams, 1913