elizabeth_mn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elizabeth_mn) wrote2014-06-27 12:32 pm
elizabeth_mn) wrote2014-06-27 12:32 pm
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Historical Food Fortnightly #2: Mrs. Beeton's salad dressing
Challenge 2: Soups and Sauces June 15 - June 28
Soups, stews, sauces, gravies! Make a soup or a sauce from a historical recipe.
I've been reading Mrs. Beeton's and thought I would do one of her vegetable soups. I brought some turnips home, which the husband promptly made fun of, because he hates them. Everything else was stuff I had on hand. But as June rolled on, I felt less and less like eating hot soup, so yesterday I decided I'd better just make something and sat down with my thick paperback copy of Mrs. Beeton's and flipped.
After spending a few minutes reading hilarious excerpts aloud (ridiculously vague directions, servant management, uses of animal bladders, and so on) I settled on a salad dressing, which surely counts as a sauce.
Let's just get straight to the point: this was NOM NOM NOM.
Okay, the details:
The Recipe: 507: Salad Dressing - 2 from Mrs. Beeton's Household Management.
The Date/Year and Region: 1850s/60s, England
How Did You Make It:
For the salad, I just pulled whatever vegetables we had from the fridge. Romaine lettuce, red cabbage, daikon, and a little red onion. I don't terribly like raw onion, but Mrs. Beeton recommended it, and I found that just letting it sit with the lettuce for 20 minutes gave the whole thing a delicate hint of onion flavor that I loved.
I also grabbed a big bunch of fresh parsley from the garden and threw that in.
I hardboiled the eggs, halved them, and put the yolks in the mortar.
This was as close to "a smooth paste" that my egg yolks wanted to be.
I added the cream, mustard, and seasonings in the mortar.
Transferred to a measuring cup and slowly added the cider vinegar, while whisking with a fork, until it looked the right consistency. I dressed the whole bowl of salad (which felt odd; modern times custom seems to always dictate dressing on the side) and garnished with eggwhite rings and a little more parsley.
I served it with almond and white bean croquettes. YUM.
Time to Complete: From hitting the kitchen to sitting down at the table, about an hour, but I was toggling between the dressing and the main dish. Dressing and salad alone would probably take 30 minutes.
Total Cost: I had everything on hand, and it used so little anyway. Maybe $3 for the dressing?
How Successful Was It?: This was SO. GOOD. I'm normally a plain vinaigrette gal. Creamy dressings like ranch I find just bleh. But this was creamy and GOOD. It was so smooth and fatty, and the vinegar gave it just enough spike. The perfect way to make vegetables unhealthy.
How Accurate Is It?: The "prepared mustard" I used was coarse German-style brown mustard with horseradish. Mrs. Beeton has a recipe for mustard that's just mustard powder, salt, and water. I could have prepared some but I just didn't think of it, and used what I had in the fridge. And I am not sure if the prepared mustard called for would be the plain sort or something with more flavorings. I suppose it must have been up to the cook.
I used apple cider vinegar because, again, that's just what I have on hand. I don't know if the original would have used cider or white, as it's not specified.
Otherwise, I followed the recipe pretty accurately.
Soups, stews, sauces, gravies! Make a soup or a sauce from a historical recipe.
I've been reading Mrs. Beeton's and thought I would do one of her vegetable soups. I brought some turnips home, which the husband promptly made fun of, because he hates them. Everything else was stuff I had on hand. But as June rolled on, I felt less and less like eating hot soup, so yesterday I decided I'd better just make something and sat down with my thick paperback copy of Mrs. Beeton's and flipped.
After spending a few minutes reading hilarious excerpts aloud (ridiculously vague directions, servant management, uses of animal bladders, and so on) I settled on a salad dressing, which surely counts as a sauce.
Let's just get straight to the point: this was NOM NOM NOM.
Okay, the details:
The Recipe: 507: Salad Dressing - 2 from Mrs. Beeton's Household Management.
The Date/Year and Region: 1850s/60s, England
How Did You Make It:
For the salad, I just pulled whatever vegetables we had from the fridge. Romaine lettuce, red cabbage, daikon, and a little red onion. I don't terribly like raw onion, but Mrs. Beeton recommended it, and I found that just letting it sit with the lettuce for 20 minutes gave the whole thing a delicate hint of onion flavor that I loved.
I also grabbed a big bunch of fresh parsley from the garden and threw that in.
I hardboiled the eggs, halved them, and put the yolks in the mortar.
This was as close to "a smooth paste" that my egg yolks wanted to be.
I added the cream, mustard, and seasonings in the mortar.
Transferred to a measuring cup and slowly added the cider vinegar, while whisking with a fork, until it looked the right consistency. I dressed the whole bowl of salad (which felt odd; modern times custom seems to always dictate dressing on the side) and garnished with eggwhite rings and a little more parsley.
I served it with almond and white bean croquettes. YUM.
Time to Complete: From hitting the kitchen to sitting down at the table, about an hour, but I was toggling between the dressing and the main dish. Dressing and salad alone would probably take 30 minutes.
Total Cost: I had everything on hand, and it used so little anyway. Maybe $3 for the dressing?
How Successful Was It?: This was SO. GOOD. I'm normally a plain vinaigrette gal. Creamy dressings like ranch I find just bleh. But this was creamy and GOOD. It was so smooth and fatty, and the vinegar gave it just enough spike. The perfect way to make vegetables unhealthy.
How Accurate Is It?: The "prepared mustard" I used was coarse German-style brown mustard with horseradish. Mrs. Beeton has a recipe for mustard that's just mustard powder, salt, and water. I could have prepared some but I just didn't think of it, and used what I had in the fridge. And I am not sure if the prepared mustard called for would be the plain sort or something with more flavorings. I suppose it must have been up to the cook.
I used apple cider vinegar because, again, that's just what I have on hand. I don't know if the original would have used cider or white, as it's not specified.
Otherwise, I followed the recipe pretty accurately.