Salad

SALAD, a preparation of fresh or cooked vegetables or other ingredients, eaten cold, and served with a dressing of which oil, vinegar and salt are essential ingredients. The word comes from Med. Lat. salata, salted, pickled, salare, to sprinkle with salt.

Salads are prepared from raw green leaves and stems such as lettuces, watercress and endive, but many varieties are also made from fresh fruits and cold cooked vegetables. Cold fish, poultry, game, meat and eggs, may likewise be included.

The preparation of lettuce, endive, watercress, small cress and corn salad needs care. For salad green leaves are best when young and should be gathered early before the sun is up and kept in a cool place until needed. Soaking in cold water for 4 hour before use makes them crisp. Each leaf should be separated and washed thoroughly. Watercress needs special care in cleansing, and small cress should have the black seed cases removed and should be kept in small bunches. After cleansing, the plants should be well drained in a salad basket, on a cloth on a sieve, or in a colander, or they can be shaken lightly in a cloth. The leaves may well be broken with the fingers or cut with a fruit knife; a steel knife must never be used or both colour and flavour will be spoilt. Chives, radishes, tomatoes and celery, cabbage, cucum bers and onion are in this class, as they are used raw. Chives may be chopped or whole ; radishes cut in slices or whole ; celery used in pieces or shredded, when it curls and makes a pretty garnish; tomatoes cut in slices or quarters; cucumbers in slices, cubes or shreds, cabbage shredded, green peppers shredded; chopped or sliced canned pimento is much used, as cubes or shredded.

Among fruits used for salads are bananas cut in slices, apples cut in cubes, oranges in slices or in natural divisions, pineapples and pears in cubes, cherries and plums, stoned, whole or in halves, grapefruit in sections, kumquats whole and shredded, grapes (seeded). Cold cooked vegetables useful in salads are also numer

ous, e.g., peas, beans, carrots, turnips, potatoes, artichokes, beet root and cauliflower buds, asparagus tips, brussels sprouts, spinach or other greens, okra, whole boiled onions. Care must be taken when cooking these, as if overcooked they will break up and become too soft ; they may be cut in cubes, shreds or slices. Occasionally raw grated carrot is used.

Salad Dressings.

(1) The simple French dressing of oil and vinegar, seasoned with pepper, salt, mustard and sugar. This may be further flavoured with chopped tarragon, chervil, parsley, sha lot, onion or chives. This dressing is used for green salads and for fruit and vegetable salads when served with poultry and cold meats. Cubes of apple with a French dressing are delicious with cold meat. Use at least twice as much oil as vinegar, season ing to taste. Mix all in a basin and pour over the salad, mixing thoroughly ; or mix from the oil and vinegar cruets directly on to the prepared salad, pouring the oil over the leaves first, for the vinegar is apt to make them flabby and it runs off them, whereas the oil coats them and then holds the vinegar ; mix thoroughly.

(2) Mayonnaise (see also SAUCE). This dressing is used when a salad is to be served as a separate course, e.g., salmon mayon naise, and for the more elaborate salads.

Garnishes.—Hard-boiled egg in slices or yolk of egg rubbed through a wire sieve and the white chopped, the two being placed in alternate groups; beetroot in fancy shapes, cucumber crimped and cut in slices, celery shredded and made to curl by keeping in cold water 3o minutes before use, the small heart of a lettuce, bunches of mustard and cress.

For fruit salad, a syrup flavoured with lemon, liqueurs or wine is made, and to this fruits of all descriptions are added.

(E. G. C.)