One Hundred and One Salads: Cooking in America

MAIS BOIL young fresh corn on the cob in salted water for twenty minutes. Remove from the fire and wrap in a napkin until cold. Cut from the cob with a sharp knife, and mix with thick mayonnaise and put on ice. Remove the skin of some firm, smooth tomatoes, cut a slice from the stem end, take out enough of the seed part to make a well for the corn, and place these on the ice also. Just before sending to the table, line a salad platter with crisp lettuce, fill the tomatoes with the corn and arrange on the lettuce, with a spoonful of mayonnaise on each top. NEWBURG REMOVE the meat of a lobster, reserving the creamy fat adhering to the body shell and the coral. Shred the lobster with a silver fork and cut the tender white part of celery into pieces the same size, allowing one-third as much as the amount of meat. Arrange the crisp, dry white lettuce leaves in the center of an oval platter, with the larger green on the outer edge, decorated with the claws. Mix the lobster meat and celery together with enough mayonnaise to moisten it, and heap in the center. The coral pound and pass through a sieve and mix with the remaining mayonnaise. Pile this red dressing on top and put all on ice till ready to serve. MAYONNAISE PLACE in a shallow plate the yolk of one egg, and beat well with a silver fork. Add drop by drop, stirring constantly, about a half-pint of olive-oil. When it is thick and jelly-like cut with a tablespoonful of vinegar or lemon-juice and season with a saltspoonful of salt and pinch of cayenne. Have plate and all materials very cold. Should the egg curdle and obstinately refuse to thicken commence on another plate with a fresh yolk, and after it begins to thicken the curdled mayonnaise may be slowly added.

A deceptively simple idea, salads can be a centerpiece or an accompaniment to any type of meal. The word "salad" comes from the French salade of the same meaning, which in turn is from the Latin salata, "salty", from sal, "salt." May Southworth's 1906 work provides readers with showcase salad recipes that show home cooks how to create a variety of salads, from the simple to the complex, utilizing meat, vegetables, fruits, and/or cheese.