August. 191! 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



19 



The Secret of a Salad 



TO BE at its best, a salad must be cold and it 

 should be made just before serving. Of 

 course, the ingredients may be prepared as long 

 before as necessary, but they should not be com- 

 bined or the dressing added until serving time. 

 It has been said that salad making is a "knack," but 

 the secret to the knack is to have everything cold. 

 Each leaf of lettuce (the foundation of all salads) 

 should be thoroughly washed and drained, then 

 wrapped in a wet napkin and placed on the ice 

 to crisp. The vegetables should be cut a uniform 

 size and also put in the icebox. 



French dressing is the easiest of all to make and 

 can be used with all salads, either with or without 

 the boiled dressing or mayonnaise. It is made of 

 one tablespoonful of vinegar or lemon juice, two 

 tablespoons of olive oil, a quarter teaspoonful of 

 salt, half as much pepper and a dash of paprika. 

 Some use a little mustard as well. 



Mayonnaise is the most difficult to make, but in 

 my opinion is the most delicious and is worth the 

 trouble. Break an egg and drop the yolk into a 

 cold bowl, add a teaspoonful of dry mustard, half 

 a teaspoonful of salt and a little paprika or cayenne 

 pepper. Use a cup of olive oil and as much vinegar 

 or lemon juice as will be necessary for thinning. 

 Commence by adding the oil a drop at a time to the 

 yolk mixture, stirring constantly, and when it 

 gets so thick that it is almost a solid mass or ball 

 on the fork, add vinegar to thin the mixture; then 

 add more oil, just a very little at a time, until all 

 is used. It will take nearly half a cup of vinegar 

 or lemon juice and when finished the dressing will 

 be like thick cream. Some people have great 

 difficulty making this, as it is apt to separate; if 

 this happens, beat it with an egg beater and it will 

 come out all right. 



The boiled dressing is made as follows: Put a 

 tablespoonful of butter and one of flour into a 

 small saucepan, and set it on the stove. As the 

 butter melts, stir to a paste, then add, a little at a 

 time, a small cupful of milk. Mix together a 

 teaspoonful of dry mustard, three of sugar, half a 

 teaspoonful of salt, a little black pepper, and a 

 dash of paprika or cayenne. Then add this to one 

 egg beaten thoroughly, and pour the whole into the 

 mixture on the stove, stirring rapidly all the time 

 until thick. Lastly, add half a cupful of vinegar 

 slowly, but keep stirring rapidly so that it will not 

 curdle. Take from the stove and, if necessary, 

 strain. Oil may be added if one wishes, but this 

 is really a most excellent "no oil" recipe. 



For a Waldorf salad use an equal amount of 

 celery and apple, which will vary of course, accord- 

 ing to the number of people to be served. Take 

 one leaf of lettuce for each person, put them in a 

 dish and pour over them French dressing until 

 each leaf is covered, but all surplus oil must be 

 allowed to run off. Put one of these on each plate. 

 Take the celery (which, of course, has been soaking 

 in ice water or crisping on the ice for some time), 

 cut it up in half-inch pieces into a large bowl, then 

 break up the walnut meats (each half into about four 

 pieces) in with the celery. Cut up the apples (any 

 good flavored, tart apple will do) in half-inch dice 

 into the same bowl, and over all pour a very little 

 of the French dressing. Toss it around with a 

 silver fork until each bit has taken on at least a 



small particle of the oil. Now add the mayonnaise 

 or boiled dressing, mix all thoroughly and heap into 

 the lettuce cups, spreading over the top a little 

 more dressing. Place at once on the table at each 

 place. 



All vegetable salads are prepared in the same way 

 so these directions will do for them. 



A most delicious and inexpensive salad is made 

 from fruit and nuts. The lettuce is prepared as 

 usual. Use one banana for each person, and a 

 pint of peanuts which, after being shelled, are run 

 through the food chopper to make peanut crumbs. 

 Cut the bananas into half-inch pieces and 

 sprinkle a little lemon juice over them to keep 

 them from turning dark. Add the mayonnaise 

 or boiled dressing, mix lightly, then cover with the 

 peanut crumbs, stirring all together until each 

 piece of banana is coated with the chopped nuts. 

 Fill the lettuce leaves, add a last bit of dressing 

 over the top, and serve at once. This might also 

 be made of oranges and walnuts. 



Massachusetts. (Mrs.) A. H. Brown. 



Cooking the Left-over Vege- 

 tables 



IT IS a problem, toward the end of the season, to 

 know just how to cook the odds and ends of 

 vegetables from the garden that are too good to 

 throw away and yet are not enough or perhaps 

 not sufficiently young or tender to cook in the 

 regular way. 



When there is a handful each of corn, beans, 

 peas, carrots, onions, and potatoes, we first put on 

 the stove those that require a long time to cook 

 (string beans, carrots, and onions), putting with 

 them a small piece of salt pork. We sometimes 

 add, also, a small quantity of string beans that are 

 large enough to shell. The carrots and onions are 

 sliced or cut up and when they are tender, a few 

 small pieces of potato (parboiled first), peas and 

 corn are added. The whole mixture is cooked 

 slowly until mellow without being mushy and is 

 exceedingly good. 



With us peas and potatoes combined are better 

 liked than peas alone. And for this, any quantity 

 of peas will do, for the necessary bulk can be made 

 up of potatoes. We boil them separately and when 

 almost done the potatoes are drained and added to 

 the peas. Do not have too much juice on the peas, 

 for the result must be dry and rich and not watery. 

 A very generous piece of butter is added when the 

 vegetables are put together. 



Peas and string beans, or corn and string beans, 

 or all three together, make appetizing dishes. Of 

 course the beans are cooked alone first and the 

 more tender vegetables added in time to thoroughly 

 combine with the beans. In this case, also, plenty 

 of butter should be added. Two other useful 

 dishes are creamed potatoes and parsley, and peas 

 and carrots, both of which are well known. 



The excellence of corn and tomatoes combined 

 should be more widely appreciated. One family 

 I know of always cans the two together, preferring 

 them to each canned separately. Corn alone, 

 quickly ferments but acid of the tomatoes seems to 



assist in its preservation. Stew the tomatoes to a 

 proper thickness, then add the corn and boil slowly 

 for about half an hour. Fill the jars to over- 

 flowing and seal. 



No one has to be told of the salads than can be 

 made with a bit of lettuce, onions, beans, cucum- 

 bers, tomatoes, peas, or potatoes. A little parsley 

 or onion can almost always be used. 



Succotash, made of green limas and fresh corn, 

 unless carefully made, is disappointing more often 

 than not. The "real thing" must have a sort of 

 amalgamated taste, and not be just corn and beans 

 cooked together, with each flavor distinct. We 

 get better results from placing the limas and 

 scraped com in cold water and letting them 

 cook slowly. We add a good sized piece of but- 

 ter and a little cream just before removing from 

 the fire. 



Excellent soups can be made from odds and ends 

 of vegetables. When we have irregular ears of 

 corn we scrape them carefully, so as not to get the 

 skin of the kernels. Twice as much milk as corn 

 is put on to boil, and the cobs added to it. After 

 it has cooked slowly for half an hour, covered, we 

 take out the cobs and add the corn, cook twenty 

 minutes longer and then strain, if the corn requires 

 it. Flour and butter are rubbed together (two 

 even tablespoonfuls of each to a pint of corn) and 

 added to the soup which is stirred until it thickens. 

 Beaten yolks of eggs, put in the tureen as the soup 

 is gradually poured in, make it much richer 



The ever useful tomato bisque soup we make by 

 cooking tomatoes until soft after adding salt, 

 pepper, a little sugar, and thickening. Strain, add 

 butter, also enough soda to reduce the acid, and 

 pour in boiling milk. Croutons are an appetizing 

 addition. 



To make potato soup we put three medium sized 

 peeled potatoes, an onion and some celery to cook 

 in cold water. When broken up and tender we 

 mash and strain. A medium sized tablespoonful 

 each of flour and butter are then cooked together 

 and added. One cup of milk (or more) and salt 

 and pepper are added last. 



New York. Ida M. Angell. 



String Beans in a New Way 



BREAK the beans as usual and wash thoroughly. 

 Into the kettle -put a piece of butter about 

 the size of a small egg (for two quarts of beans — 

 more in proportion). Lift the beans from the 

 water in which they have been washing and put 

 them immediately into the kettle on top of the 

 butter. Add no water except what clings to the 

 beans. Cook for twenty minutes. If gas is used, 

 turn it quite low and do not worry for fear the 

 beans will burn. They won't. At the end of 

 twenty minutes, add enough boiling water to just 

 show through the beans, and half a teaspoonful of 

 salt. Cook until tender, when the water should be 

 all, or nearly all, boiled away. Add a sprinkling 

 of pepper. It does not take an}' longer to cook 

 beans in this way — in fact, perhaps not quite so 

 long — and the flavor is wonderfully improved. 

 Massachusetts. S. N. A. 



The "left over" odds and ends of the garden can te put to very good uses 



