Salad Dressing, Two Methods

“A Spanish proverb says to make a good salad, four persons are necessary — A spendthrift, for oil; a miser, for vinegar; a barrister, for salt; and a madman to stir it up” – Tested Maryland Recipes

Unless you’re a die-hard salad fan, you probably haven’t been thinking to yourself “hell yeah it’s Salad Season!” For the most part you can get decent passable salad-makings year round.

Like so many things, salad used to be at the mercy of the seasons. A lot of the choice lettuces and herbs are “old world” – and though they’ve been here since the colonial days, they don’t appreciate the Maryland summer heat. 

About this time of year in the 19th century, wealthy ladies were wowing their guests with artfully arranged salads served between dinner and dessert. Mary Randolph recommended gathering the lettuce and herbs early in the morning, and crisping the greens in cold (preferably ice) water before dressing. Other 19th century guides offered similar, if less precise, instructions:

“The Queen of the Kitchen, Old Maryland Receipts”, M.L. Tyson, 1874

Washed vegetables were sometimes dried with centrifugal force, just as they are in a salad spinner. This was done by placing them in a special basket and swinging it around.

An 1890 book lists a large assortment of ingredients that could make up this type of salad:

Salads — For these procure mustard and cress, borage, chervil, lettuce, parsley, mint, purslane, chives, burnet, nasturtium leaves and buds, fennel, sorrel, tarragon, corn salad, dandelions, chicory, escarole; water cresses, green onions, celery, leeks, lettuce, very young spinach leaves, the tender leaves of oyster plant, fresh mushrooms, young marshmallow shoots, and the fresh sprouts of winter turnips; also radishes, cucumbers, onions, cabbage, very young turnips, green peppers, and fresh tomatoes. Salad vegetables which can be cooked and allowed to cool and then made into salads are potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, kohl-rabi, artichokes, string beans, green peas, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, spinach, dried haricot beans, Lima beans, lentils, and leeks; among the fruits are apples, pears, oranges, lemons, muskmelons, currants, gooseberries and barberries. – The New Practical Housekeeping, Estelle Wilcox, 1890

So… everything. 

According to “Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine” by David S. Shields, popular lettuce varieties around the Baltimore area in the 1870s included butter lettuce, Simpson, and “curled Silesia.” He asserts that “both lettuce and celery… cultivated in Maryland [were] deemed of superior quality.”

vintage seed packet, ebay

For this post I tried out two types of classic salad dressings. The first recipe, for boiled dressing, was submitted to “Eat Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” by D. Charles Winebrener of Frederick County.

Boiled salad dressing is basically an alternative to mayonnaise-based dressing, and the predecessor of ranch. Boiled dressing is typically used for potato salads and cole slaw, but worked nicely with kale for a week’s worth of lunches. 

Both of these dressings can be seasoned to taste with herbs and spices, and I opted to use a little ground chipotle powder in each.

I served the second dressing in in a somewhat more traditional salad based on the suggestions of Mary Randolph. 

In her recipe she lays out, in typical great detail, her feelings on salad presentation:

“The Virginia Housewife: Or, Methodical Cook”, Mary Randolph, 1827

I also referenced my Maryland lady Mrs. B. C. Howard’s method. As is often the case, her treatments contain less seasonings than Randolph’s. The addition of a little sugar by Randolph is the mark of such an experienced cook.

“Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen”, Mrs. Benjamin Chew Howard, 1881

Edible oils used uncooked in this manner were sometimes generically called “salad oil.”  I wondered about the oil available to these 19th century cooks. We can assume that even the gentry of this era consumed their fair share of rancid oils. Olive oil was available at the time, often known as “sweet oil.”  

On the eve of the Revolution, a 1768 assembly in Annapolis called for a boycott of most goods imported from England. 

Several Maryland counties entered into a resolution of non-importation of British “superfluities” and vowed to cease the import of horses, wine, beer, ale, beef, pork, butter, cheese, candles, refined sugar, and oil, “except salad oil.”

In the early 1800′s or late 1700′s, sunflower oil was developed and was sometimes used as an alternative to olive oil. In 1830, one national newspaper reported that “sun flower oil is likely to become an article of extensive manufacture in this country,” claiming that at “a large dinner party in the neighborhood of Baltimore recently .. a Salad, dressed with Sun-flower oil was eaten, and pronounced to be excellently well dressed, nobody expecting it not to be Olive Oil.”

Around that same time, in 1829, corn oil was discovered, “by accident in preparing mash for distillation.“ According to “corn.org” corn oil didn’t go into commercial production until 1889.

I strongly preferred the hard-boiled egg dressing for both flavor and convenience. I might just make this one a regular. What can I say – there is a reason Mary Randolph is a Southern Classic.

Boiled Salad Dressing

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup of cream or half & half
• ¼ cup vinegar
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp salt

Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, and slowly heat in a double boiler with vinegar, mustard, and pepper. Slowly stir in cream and continue to heat. When thick, stir in salt. Whisk constantly as it cools.

Recipe adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland

kale, onion, tomato, black beans, cheddar cheese, rabbit meat, corn chips

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“To Dress Salad”

• 2 eggs, hard-boiled
• 2 tb oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 tb vinegar

Combine mustard and vinegar and set aside. Mash yolk and slowly mix in oil before adding dry ingredients, then slowly adding vinegar/mustard mixture.

Recipe adapted from “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” and “The Virginia Housewife”

spring mix, onion, egg white, lovage leaves