Skip to content

French Salad

A historical recipe from Dishes made without meat, by Peel, C. S., Mrs. (1907).

No ratings yet

A historical recipe

Dishes made without meat, by Peel, C. S., Mrs. (1907). Project Gutenberg eBook #69346.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

France

Known as a French recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

Ingredients 2 ingredients

  1. a slice of onion
  2. 1 dessertspoonful of the best wine vinegar

Cook safely

  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Choose crisp lettuces, cut off the stalk and remove the outer leaves (when well washed these may be used for lettuce purée), tear the lettuce in pieces (on no account cut it), and wash it in a bowl of cold water.
  2. Place it in a clean cloth and swing it round until dry.
  3. This method of drying by centrifugal force gets rid of the moisture and does not bruise the lettuce.
  4. Now rub the salad bowl very thoroughly with a slice of onion, and if the flavour is liked place half a small peeled onion in the centre of the bowl.
  5. Mix in the bowl 1 dessertspoonful of the best wine vinegar and 2 tablespoonsful of oil, and add a little salt and a good dusting of freshly-ground black pepper.
  6. Stir the lettuce round lightly in the mixture and serve.
  7. This quantity of oil and vinegar is sufficient for about 2 medium lettuces, but only experience teaches the exact quantity to use.
  8. The lettuce should not be swimming in the mixture: the leaves should merely be coated with it, and no remains of it should be left at the bottom of the bowl when the salad is mixed.
  9. The chief faults of the average salad, next to the use of inferior oil and flabby lettuce, are the excess of dressing, the excess of vinegar, and the use of pepper which is not freshly ground.
  10. A salad prepared in the manner described is as different as chalk is from cheese from the salad which is generally put before one, and no more difficult to make.
  11. Salads of endive, corn, Batavian lettuce, or cress, should be made in just the same manner.
  12. For orange salad and orange and cherry salad a similar dressing is used, and I notice how these fruit salads are growing in favour.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Mixing bowl
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
  • Vegetable peeler
  • Wooden spoon
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From Dishes made without meat, by Peel, C. S., Mrs. (1907). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #69346 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69346). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.