HOW TO GET VARIETY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20235, 20 April 1929, Page 22

HOW TO GET VARIETY.

SALADS AND DRESSINGS. It is surprising to look back at the menus of a few years ago and to realise how unimportant a place salads filled then in comparison with' now, when they are served with practically every dinner and luncheon. The salad plants—lettuce, waterciess, cucumber, clc.—contain but little nutriment, but tlioy are valuable for the water and potash salts they contain, and they assist in stimulating the appetite, and are cooling and refreshing. The olive oil which is usually served with salads furnishes nutriment and is of much value to the system. Nowhere have housewives and cooks realised tho value of salads as they have in France and America, apd from American sources come most of the best salad recipes and tho most attractive garnishings, though some of tho mixtures of sweet and savoury ingredients are not always acceptable to an English or Australian palate.

Almost all vegetables can be made into appetising salads, some in their raw state, others having been cooked and allowed to get cold. Among tho principal vegetables which are used uncooked are lettuce, mustard and cress, watercress, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery and radishes, while the most suitable cold cooked vegetables aro potatoes, beetroot, green peas, French beans, broad beans, haricot beans, asparagus, turnips, carrots and Spanish onions.

Pineapples, oranges, apples and peaches are fruits from which it is possible tomako delicious salads in various ways, while nuts help to give variety. Cooked vegetables to bo used for a salad should never bo pulpy, but quite linn, so that they retain their form, or can bo cut into dice. It is impossible* to exaggerate the importance of absolute freshness and crispness in all green vegetables used for esalads, and they should be served very cold. Lettuce leaves should bo soaked in cold water for an hour before thoy are used, and should carefully be -washed in several waters, and shaken in _ a wire basket or sieve beforo being dried in a cloth. It is important that they should bo served quite dry if mayonnaise dressing is to Do poured over them, otherwise the dressing will not adhere, but will run to the bottom of the dish. If lettuce is soft and wilted it will be wonderfully improved if an eggspoon of carbonato of soda is added to the water in which it is soaked.

The popular idea is that lettuce should never be cut, and most people, who pride themselves on their salad-making, prefer to tear the leaves in pieces with tho fingers, but if a sharp knife is quickly and lightly used it does little harm and tho lettuce looks much better.

The dressing to bo served with a salad is a most important consideration and must depend upon individual tastes. As a general rule, however, tho custom is to have a French dressing for a salad which is to be served with another dish, such &3 a roast, and with light green salads, but for salads which contain meat, fish, lobster, or egg, and are a course in themselves, or for those of fruit and nuts, a cream or egg dressing is usual, and whether it contain oil or not is a matter of taste.

The quality of the oil used for salad dressing is also very important. It should be kept in a cool dark place, and, if it is not used frequently it should be bought in small bottles, as it soon becomes rancid. •

Fresh wine vinegars are tho best to use if they are obtainable. Salads, whether served in a salad bowl or a dish of china or glass, or on individual salad-plates, lend themselves to a variety of garnishings, but, though it is desirable that they should be attractive (and they have great decorative value when the appearance of a luncheon or dinner table is being planned), over-decoration-should be avoided, and the salad should never look as if it had been much handled.

French dressing is made as follows: Two tablespoons salad oil, two tablespoons vinegar, quarter teaspoon salt, one-eighth teaspoon pepper. Put the oil into a basin with the salt and pepper, and add the vinegar drop by drop, stirring all tho time.

Mayonnaise Dressing.—Two yolks of eggs, one gill (six tablespoons) salad oil, one tablespoon vinegar, half teaspoon made mustard, 0110 dessertspoon lemon juice, quarter teaspoon salt, a pinch of cayenne, half teaspoon sugar. Put the yoik of the egg into a basin with the sugar, salt, mustard and cayenne, and stand on ice or on a cloth wrung out of very cold water. Mix these well together with a wooden spoon or egg whisk. Put the oil into a cream tin, in the lid of which a small hole has been made. Beat tho eggs, adding the oil drop by drop till the sauce becomes quite thick, then add the vinegar and leinon juice gradually. If the sauce is not kept cool, or the oil added too quickly, it will curdle. 1 his may bo remedied by putting a fresh yolk of egg into another basin and adding the sauce very slowly to it, beating all the time. (A teaspoon of boiling water added to the sauce ensures its coherence). Salad Dressing (without oil).—One yolk hard boiled egg, half teaspoon mustard, one-eighth teaspoon salt, a pinch of cayenne, two tablespoons condensed milk, two tablespoons vinegar. Put the yolk of eg iT salt, pepper and mustard into, a basin, 'add the milk, gradually stirring with a wooden spoon till it is quite smooth, and then add tho vinegar, a few drops at a time. i