Salad Dressing

Learn about this recipe from our Historic Foodways staff, then try it at home.

Although salad is known to us year-round, it was seasonal in early America and was served between the main meal and the dessert offerings, not as an appetizer. This version has a mustard/vinegar dressing that gives a nice bite to a cool and crisp summer greens salad.

Learn how we make this recipe in our kitchens based on the 18th-century description below, then use our 21st-century translation to try the recipe at home!

18th Century

21st Century

Ingredients

• 2 small heads of Tennis Ball Lettuce
• 1 small bunch of fresh Parsley
• 1 small bunch of fresh Watercress
• 1 small head of curly Endive
• 1 small bunch of Scallions or Spring Onions
• 2 Large Eggs
• Cold Water
• 2 Tbsp. Salad Oil (Olive or Canola)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. grainy mustard
• 2 Tbsp. White Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. Tarragon Vinegar

N.B. — Since it may be harder to get some salad greens than others, these ingredients will serve as close to Mary’s recipe as possible.

Instructions

1. Hard boil your eggs and set them aside in cold water.
2. Separate the leaves of the lettuce and endive, trim your parsley and cress stalks from the leaf sprigs, and wash them thoroughly in cold water.
3. Drain your greens well and coarse cut the lettuce and endive.
4. By handfuls, layer your salad greens on a large plate, starting with the lettuce on the bottom, then endive, cress, and parsley. Make each layer a little smaller than the previous one to show a layering effect.
5. Shell your hardboiled eggs and cut them in half by the middle, not the length. Gently remove the yolk so the white remains in two halves.
6. Put the egg yolks in a medium bowl and with a tablespoon of cold water mash them gently with a wooden spoon until dissolved
7.  Add the oil, salt, sugar, mustard, and the two vinegars to the egg yolks and blend thoroughly with the spoon.
8. Pour the dressing over the greens as evenly as possible.
9. Slice the egg whites in rings and circle them around the middle center of the salad.
10. Chop off the long green parts of the scallions (leave a little green stalk on them) and slice them length-wise and place them around the outside of the egg whites. Ready to serve!