Different Salads for the Same Occasion
Salads are not the first thing people think of when they think of Thanksgiving. They are not a continual staple on the menus, coming in and going out of fashion for Thanksgiving. However, they show up often enough and are often intriguing enough to warrant their own section. Some of these "salads" stretch the definition of salad to its breaking point.
Salad Recipes
1882: Lobster Salad
- 1 lobster
- 1 head of lettuce
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp prepared mustard
- 3 tbsps salad oil (soybean, canola, sunflower, etc.)
- Vinegar
- Salt
Cook the lobster and pick all the meat off of it. Throughly beat the yolks of two eggs. Beat into this the mustard to taste. While continuing to beat them, add the oil drop by drop. Add in a pinch of salt and vinegar to taste. Mix this with the lobster meat. Cut up the lettuce and lay in the bottom of the bowl. Add the dressed lobster on top and toss.
Warning: eating raw egg increases your chances of food borne illnesses. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I am going to warn you.
- Dingens Brothers. The Cosmopolitan Cook And Recipe Book. Buffalo: N. Y.: Printing house of E. H. Hutchinson, 1882.
1885: Oyster Salad
- 1 can of oysters
- 1 head of lettuce
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp vinegar, plus enough to make a good quanitity of dressing
- Vegetable oil
Scald the oysters in their liquor. Wash a head of lettuce in cold, salted water and then dry it on a clean towel. Put the egg yolk into a bowl. Add the mustard, salt, pepper, and vinegar, and mix them into a smooth cream. Stir in drop by drop the vegetable oil to make a thick paste. Thin the paste with a little vinegar, and then add more oil drop by drop while stirring. Alternate between vinegar and oil until a sufficient quanitity of salad dressing is made. Arrange the lettuce on a salad dish, arrange the oysters on top, and pour the dressing over the dish. Serve the salad as soon as it is made.
Warning: eating raw egg increases your chances of food borne illnesses. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I am going to warn you.
- Corson, Juliet. Miss Corson's Practical American Cookery And Household Management: an Every-day Book for American Housekeepers, Giving the Most Acceptable Etiquette of American Hospitality, And Comprehensive And Minute Directions for Marketing, Carving, And General Table-service, Together With Suggestions for the Diet of Children And the Sick. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1885.