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.
II.