A fascinating early-20th century cookbook for a large number of salads. In his Preface, then-famous cookbook writer C Herman Senn remarks that this book, A Book of Salads “is the most complete work of its kind I have as yet seen….this manual should find its way into thousands of kitchens.”
Along with salads that have remained popular to this day, such as Corn Salad, Truffle and Potato Salad, and Lobster Mayonnaise Salad, this book gives the modern-day chef or homecook the opportunity to try some exotic dishes. Why not try making a Chrysanthemum Salad, to mimic “the eccentric manners and tastes of the Japanese”, or discover that Ketchup – a salad dressing of the time – really refers “sauce, resembling soy in colour, [which] is prepared by allowing a quantity of chopped mushrooms to steep or marinade in salt in an earthenware pan.” Or perhaps the more adventurous would like to try salads prepared with different parts of the cow, such as Calves’ Brains a la Ravigote, or Calves’ Feet a l’Huille, or Calves’ Head a l’Huille.
An interesting recipe, for Japanese Salad, reads as follows:
Alexandre Dumas fils invented this salad, and one of the characters in Francillon gives the recipe. Cook some new potatoes in meat stock. Cut them into slices and put them into a salad bowl with cooked mussels and a few sprigs of celery heart. There should be rather more potatoes than mussels. Add some fresh truffles cut in slices, salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, and a little chopped tarragon.
Like all cookbooks of the past, this one contains no measurements, and does not have illustrations as well.
