I.
506. INGREDIENTS.—1 teaspoonful of mixed mustard, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of salad oil, 4 tablespoonfuls of milk, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, cayenne and salt to taste.
Mode.—Put the mixed mustard into a salad-bowl with the sugar, and add the oil drop by drop, carefully stirring and mixing all these ingredients well together. Proceed in this manner with the milk and vinegar, which must be added very gradually, or the sauce will curdle. Put in the seasoning, when the mixture will be ready for use. If this dressing is properly made, it will have a soft creamy appearance, and will be found very delicious with crab, or cold fried fish (the latter cut into dice), as well as with salads. In mixing salad dressings, the ingredients cannot be added too gradually, or stirred too much.
Average cost, for this quantity, 3d.
Sufficient for a small salad.
This recipe can be confidently recommended by the editress, to whom it was given by an intimate friend noted for her salads.
SCARCITY OF SALADS IN ENGLAND.—Three centuries ago, very few vegetables were cultivated in England, and an author writing of the period of Henry VIII.'s reign, tells us that neither salad, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor radishes, nor any other comestibles of a like nature, were grown in any part of the kingdom: they came from Holland and Flanders. We further learn, that Queen Catharine herself, with all her royalty, could not procure a salad of English growth for her dinner. The king was obliged to mend this sad state of affairs, and send to Holland for a gardener in order to cultivate those pot-herbs, in the growth of which England is now, perhaps, not behind any other country in Europe.
[Illustration: THE OLIVE.]
THE OLIVE AND OLIVE OIL.—This tree assumes a high degree of interest from the historical circumstances with which it is connected. A leaf of it was brought into the ark by the dove, when that vessel was still floating on the waters of the great deep, and gave the first token that the deluge was subsiding. Among the Greeks, the prize of the victor in the Olympic games was a wreath of wild olive; and the "Mount of Olives" is rendered familiar to our ears by its being mentioned in the Scriptures as near to Jerusalem. The tree is indigenous in the north of Africa, Syria, and Greece; and the Romans introduced it to Italy. In Spain and the south of France it is now cultivated; and although it grows in England, its fruit does not ripen in the open air. Both in Greece and Portugal the fruit is eaten in its ripe state; but its taste is not agreeable to many palates. To the Italian shepherd, bread and olives, with a little wine, form a nourishing diet; but in England, olives are usually only introduced by way of dessert, to destroy the taste of the viands which have been previously eaten, that the flavour of the wine may be the better enjoyed. There are three kinds of olives imported to London,—the French, Spanish, and Italian: the first are from Provence, and are generally accounted excellent; the second are larger, but more bitter; and the last are from Lucca, and are esteemed the best. The oil extracted from olives, called olive oil, or salad oil, is, with the continentals, in continual request, more dishes being prepared with than without it, we should imagine. With us, it is principally used in mixing a salad, and when thus employed, it tends to prevent fermentation, and is an antidote against flatulency.