Handbook of practical cookery

Wash and pare the potatoes, and put them to boil in a sauce-pan containing as much cold water as will nicely cover them. Boil them until tender, but not broken on the surfaces, when the water must be drained off, and the potatoes allowed to get quite cold. Cut them first into quarters, and then these quarters into slices, place the slices into a salad-bowl, sprinkle over them the chopped parsley, and also the onion, which must have been chopped exceedingly fine, when the vinegar, pepper, and salt must be added, and all tossed with a fork until thoroughly mixed. Put now into a small bowl the yolks of eggs, and drop in thereafter the salad oil, drop by drop, stirring all until it comes to a cream, when the mixture must be poured over the salad in the salad-bowl, and the dish garnished with the fresh green leaves of the lettuce. Shrimp Salad. — One can of shrimps, two heads of lettuce, one gill of salad oil, one table-spoonful of vinegar, one teaspoonful of salt, one half tea-spoonful of white pepper, yolks of two eggs. The heads of lettuce should be carefully trimmed, well SHRIMP SALAD — LOBSTER SALAD. 121 washed, and thoroughly dried in a towel, avoiding as much as possible the crushing of the leaves, which causes them to wilt. They should next be picked apart, and the outer leaves torn into medium-sized pieces, reserving the tender inner leaves for garnishing. Place the torn lettuce in the bottom of a salad-bowl, and removing the shrimps carefully from the bag in which they are, put into the can, take from them any bits of shell or specks of black that may mar them, taking care not to break their form, and pile these high upon the lettuce in the centre of the bowl. Put the yolks of eggs into a small bowl, drop in upon them, drop by drop, the salad oil, and beat these to a thick cream, when the vinegar must be added, also the pepper and salt, and all stirred together until thoroughly blended. Pour this dressing over the shrimps, garnish around the sides and in the centre of the top with the pale, delicate inner leaves of lettuce, and serve. This salad must not be mixed at all until it is served at table, as to stir it destroys the fine appearance of the shrimps, which are so delicate as to be easily broken. NOTES.— Mayonnaise dressing should invariably be stirred one way, as to reverse the current of the liquid causes it to curdle. If by accident curdling occurs, its smoothness may be recovered by dropping in the yolk of another egg, and paying strict attention to the rule for stirring. When fresh shrimps instead of the canned ones are used, a large sauce-pan of boiling water, in which have been placed salt, a little lemon-thyme, mint, and bay-leaf, should be prepared, and the shrimps plunged into this, confined in a wire-basket, and boiled until they change their colour, the length of time for which depends upon the size of the shrimps. Lobster Salad. — One quart of brown stock, one half ounce of gelatine, one table-spoonful of vinegar, one sprig of parsley, one tea-spoonful of pepper, two gills of cold water, whites of two eggs, one bay-leaf, one lobster, one ounce of butter, one table-spoonful of cream, one half tea-spoonful of lemon-juice, two tea-spoonfuls of salt, one grain of cayenne, one head of lettuce, two table-spoonfuls of salad oil, yolks of two eggs, one tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar.