HOME SCIENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 18

HOME SCIENCE

S. A. RHODES FELLOWSHIP

SALADS AND DRESSINGS Parti.

(Contributed by Miss V. MacMillan, S. A. Rhodes Lecturer, Massey College, Palmerston North.)

By eating vegetables and fruits raw, all the valuable mineral salts, vitamins,and roughage, the presence of which in combination in those foods makes them indispensable to health, are consumed. Cooking processes all too often ■ waste much of the food value of fruits and vegetables. Old and tough vegetables require cooking, but young and tender ones can well be taken raw, especially if finely grated and blended with other foods as in a salad. Salads are extremely valuable additions to a diet in winter and in summer.

General Priuciplcs.—Make salad dressing in quantity and have it always at hand. Cut lettuces when unwilled, wash at once under running water, wrap in a piece of muslin, and put in ah airy place. They will freshen aud become crisp. Do* not soak in water. Crispness is the first, essential of a good salad. Prepare ingredients first (provided they will Hot "brown" with standing), and keep fresh and cool, and combine immediately before serving. Baw eabbagej carrot, swede, etc., should be finely shredded or grated. Celery, •apples, cold (cooked) potato, beetroot, etc., cut into conveniently small cubes. - SALAD DRESSINGS. .French Dressing.—Vinegar 1 tablespoon, olive oil 3 or 4 tablespoons, onion juice i-tablespoon, pepper -J-teaspoon, salt 1 teaspoon. Method: Put vinegar hr a cold or iced cup and add salt, pepper, and onion juice. Add olive oil gradually and stir thoroughly. Mayonnaise Dressing.—Egg yolks 2, salt 1 teaspoonful, paprika J-teaspoon-ful, olive oil 1£ cups, vinegar 2 tablespoons, lemon juice 2 tablespoons. Method: Mix together the dry ingredients and stir into the yolks. Beat -with ■fork or, Dover egg beater and add cold oil gradually, beating continually until thick. "Whipped cream may be added just before serving. Cooked Cream Salad Dressing.—Egg yolks 5, salt 1 teaspoonful, paprika, olive oil.br butter 1 tablespoon, vinegar i-cup, l cream J-eup,. sugar 1 tablespoon, mustard 1 teaspoon, celery salt. Method:, Beat eggs, add cream, and mix thoroughly, and put in the lipper part of a double boiler over hot water. Mix salt, sugar, pepper, and mustard with yinegar; add slowly to egg and cream, stirring constantly. Add butter last. ■ Boiled Salad Dressing.—Mix together i-teaspobn salt; /I teaspoon mustard, 1-t tablespoons'sugar,;-. pepper, 2 tablespoons flour r^Beat slightly one egg or two yolks,-aid to it add J-cup of milk. Place this in; a saucepan standing over hot water, and;stir constantly, while adding1 gradually i-cup of mild vinegar; When the mixture thickens like a custard add ll tablespoons butter or dripping; Stand the saucepan in cold water and beat for afe^v minutes, and then pour into a, cold basin.. Note;— For honey salad dressing, substitute 2 tablespoons' honey' for the sugar, and lemon juice fof the vinegar. " Sour Cream Dressing.—Sour cream 1 cup, sugar 3 tablespoons, ground mustard 1 teaspoon, butter .1 tablespoon, vinegar J-cup, eggs (well beaten) 3, salt and pepper to taste. Method: Cook slowly until mixture thickens. Add cream when cold and beat until it is thoroughly mixed. " Uncooked Cream Dressing.—Press one hard cooked egg yolk through a fine sieve, or mash, it with a fork. Mix with it 1 teaspoon of sugar, salt, and pepper to taste, and, •$ teaspoon of mustard. Gradually work in 2 tablespoons of cream, and thin the dressing with 1 dessertspoonful of .vinegar or lemon juice. Use plain French dressing for fresh salad greens, vegetable salads, fish salads, fruit salads, cheese salads; whipped cream mayonnaise for fruit salads; and mayonnaise or boiled dressing for fish and shellfish dishes, succulent vegetables, as cucumber, tomatoes, and celery, cream cheese, and nuts salads, meat salads, fruit salads. FRUIT SALADS. Banana and Nut Salad.—Skin the bananas and cut them in halves lengthwise. Roll the lialves in chopped nuts and arrange on beds of crisp lettuce. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice and serve with mayonnaise. Stuffed Peach Salad. —Eipo peaches 6 halves, chopped nuts Jib, stoned dates (chopped) -Jib, crystallised or Maraschino cherries 1 small bottle, mayonnaise. Method: Mix together the chopped nuts and dates and cherries. Add enough juice from the bottle of cherries to make-a stiff paste. Form the mixture into balls the size and shape of peach stones, and fill the centre of the peaches. .Use half a. peach to each serving and serve on crisp lettuce leaves. Manyfruit Salad.—Fresh or canned pineapple 6 slices, banana 1, honey salad dressing, orange 1 large, strawberries 6, sprigs of fresh mint. Method: Wash the inint and arrange on salad plates— stem end towards the centre. Place a slice of pineapple on each bed of mint. On this put a slice of orange, then a layer of banana sliced into discs, and top off with a strawberry. Serve with salad dressing. ' Apple may be substituted for pineapple. LUNCHEON SALADS. Chicken and Cucumber Salad. —Cut a whole cucumber into cups, removing some of the seeds and soft inside part, and chipping off the green peel here and there from the outside". Mix equal parts of cold cooked chicken and cucumber cut into cubes. Season this with salt, pepper, and a few drops of onion juice. Add a few chopped radishes and moisten with mayonnaise. With it fill the cucumber cups and serve very cold Salmon or other fish, well seasoned may be used in place of chicken if prefer red.

Veal Salad.—Cold veal (diced) 2 cups, string beans or* celery 1 cup (or equal parts of each diced), cream cheese, hard-cooked eggs •6, salad oil 4 tablespoons, vinegar 1J tablespoons, mayonnaise, tomatoes 3, parsley, lettuce, salt I teaspoon, paprika, ' pepper a few grains. ~: Method: Chop eggs rather coarsely and combine with the veal, string beans, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Let stand thifty miiiutes to marinate. Then add mayonnaise to moisten. Arrange the salad in a mound on a large round plate, cover witn mayonnaise, border ■with lettuce, and surround-with the tomatoes sliced and overlapping. Garnish with the cream cheese formed into balls and dusted with paprika. Serves six. ' »

Jellied Tomato Salad.—Granulated gelatine 2 tablespoons, cold water i-cup, boiling water 1 pint, vinegar J-cnp, salt J-teaspqon, tomato puree 1 cup, lettuce, tnayonnaise i-cup, sugar 1-3-cup. Method: Soak gelatine in the cold water five minutes. Dissolve it-in the boiling water, then add the; sugar, salt, vinegar, and tomato puree. Pour into cold, wet moulds, and set in,a cold place to chill. Serve on shredded lettuce garnished with mayonnaise. This makes ten individual* servings.