LESSON 17

Salads

In the preceding lesson, which dealt with the cooking of vegetables, I stressed
the preservation of fine flavors, colors and valuable food elements, by correct cooking
methods.

But there’s one ‘‘best’”’ way to have flavor, color and food value at the peak—
and that is to serve the vegetables raw!

For years, the liking for crisp raw relishes and salads has expanded steadily,
and today one of the most appreciated things on the table for many meals, is the
dish of crisp celery, radishes, scallions, tomato wedges, onions, straws of carrot or
turnip, cauliflowerettes, and so on and on. It adds greatly to the sparkle, crispness
and general attractiveness of things of this sort, to serve them on a bed of crushed
ice or to drop a few ice cubes into the dish with them.

THE SALAD ASSEMBLY

Salads we all like range from the simplest of fresh cool greens with a superbly
right dressing, to beautiful combinations of beautiful foods.

Whatever way your salad-serving turns, you will serve salads more often and
more easily, if you do these things:

(1) Wash and trim all greens on their arrival in the kitchen, and store (a) in
crisper of mechanical refrigerator or (b) loosely wrapped in waxed paper or a
“lettuce bag’’ or a wet towel, and placed near the ice.

(2) Vary the greens, as conditions permit.

(3) Crisp such things as raw carrots, turnip, beets, for cutting, grating or
shredding—they add splendid color and flavor-variety to salads.

(4) Keep flavor to the fore—and achieve it through your main ingredients,
zest-givers, seasonings, dressings . . . the ensemble is the thing! Sometimes skill
lies in adding one thing with a generous hand or another with great restraint, and
it 18 very rewarding to study salads enough to make you an expert.

(5) Contrasts of texture are good—if you use soft things (cooked vegetables,
soft fresh fruits, cooked meats, etc.) balance them with the crispness of something
like celery or diced apple.

(6) Consider a few gadgets that make salad-preparation easier—the sharp knife,
kitchen scissors, good shredders and cutters, etc.

(7) Make up good basic dressings or purchase your favorite commercial dressings
in quantities sufficient to do you for some time (provided you can refrigerate them).
Then vary these dressings by any number of interesting additions which will greatly
alter them.

TO MARINATE INGREDIENTS

One secret of salad-making lies in the marinating of certain types of ingredients
before the salad is made up,

To marinate food just means to sprinkle it, after preparing as required—some-
times each kind by itself—with French dressing or with a mixture of oil and vinegar

123 LESSON 17

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