Salads

Salads are seasoned with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, and sometimes with mustard also.

Chicken salad

Salad oil

The best oil is that made of olives, but much is sold for olive-oil which contains more lard than oil. It is impossible to tell which is pure by the color. Pure olive-oil is of a pale-yellow-greenish color. It is very easy to tell the pure oil by tasting, but of course it is necessary to know the real taste of good oil.

Tuna salad sandwich

Vinegar

The best vinegar is wine-vinegar, with tarragon in it (vinaigre à l'estragon), but it is expensive. Next to it is cider-vinegar. Beer makes good vinegar, but inferior to that made with cider. Pyrolignic vinegar is very unhealthy. No one can be too careful in selecting vinegar. The superiority of the french mustard comes from the compounds used, and not from the way it is made, as thought by many. In the french mustard, besides vinaigre à l'estragon, there is white wine, and more sweet-oil than in any other kind. A good deal of mustard is made here, and often sold as french, after being carefully labelled.

Greens

Salad is made with every species of lettuce; chicory, cultivated and wild; cabbages, red and white; cauliflowers, celery, dandelion, corn-salad, purslain, water-cress, etc.

Salad

If it were possible to clean the salad by merely wiping the leaves with a towel, it would be better than washing; but it must be washed if there is any earth or sand on it. The salad should be made by an experienced person, who can judge at a glance what quantity of salt, pepper, oil, and vinegar is necessary. The quantities cannot be given, as that depends on the quantity of salad. Chopped parsley and chives are served on a small plate at the same time with the salad, as many persons like those spices.