The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-05-13
PALATE TICKLERS.
SALADS AND Sd UCES THAT FIT
An EPICURES TABLE.
Natures Kindly Provision for Mans
Springtime Wants An Edible
Bouquet-Mixing the Sauces
Considered n Delicate
Bit of Work.

relishes to our table. They have no nu-
tritive qualities and supply no waste, but
their abundant juices are dilutants of ami
NAL food and serve as correctives and
purifiers of the entire system. It is one of
the laws of nature to supply at the right
season what we need, not only for sus-
tenance, but for the continuance of per-
feet health. In the early spring we long
for something cool and refreshing, some
thing to help us tone down the heating and
strong diet of the winter. Nature sug-
gests salads for the purpose by producing
them before any other vegetable. Raw
vegetables are not always easily assimi-
lated by the action Of the gastric juices;
sometimes fermentation occurs-a result
neither pleasant nor even comfortable.
So the wisdom of man originated sauces to
stimulate the digestive organs-all condi-
ments assisting digestion, and olive oil,
more than the others, preventing fermen-
| tation.
In the fields and on the river and creek
banks you can gather the wild, peppery
cress, and in the pastures are golden dan
delions. The latter look very much pref
tier than they taste; they are good
foundation for sauce, but only the very
hungry or those who have Hobson's choice
will eat them. OF the cress there are two
varieties. One kind, most often found In
neglected fields, has long, narrow, in
denied leaves, and two rows grow like a
crown around one stalk. This stalk ap-
pears just above the surface of the ground,
and the leaves lie fiat and close to it. Later
in the season the stalks run up or 10
inches and produce little bunch of tiny
yellow flowers. Before this stalk grows
is the time to eat the cress. The second
variety is a watercress, found, as its name
indicates, along water courses. The leaf
is crinkled and rather round, and the stem
long. The growth of the plant is low and
bunchy. The leaves of both are exceed
ingly healthful, eaten fresh and uncooked,
with sauce of oil, vinegar, pepper and
salt. The watercress, with shrimp, makes
salad a croquet.
The cress is the best edible green that
nature volunteers for the table, but the
kitchen sgardener,, with his cold frames
and knowledge, gives us in the spring
| homegrown lettuce, cucumbers, onions,
radishes, beets, nasturtiums, chevril, &C.,
while the Southern ATTITUDES and railroads
provide US with tomatoes.
Lettuce is the most popular of all sal
ads. 1t was eaten by the Hebrews at the
Feast of the Passover, and has been eaten
ever since, as it probably was before, with
the spring lamb. In days of old it was
| served as first course, as it was supposed
to excite the appetite, but now custom has
it to follow the roast. If the hostess is
not keen about having many courses, and
| if the palate is consulted, 1t is really incest
eaten with the roast. The good Juice of
the meat accords with the sauces and i'm
proves the lettuce, which is, although
healthful, rather tasteless. If served
alone, it comes between the dinner proper
and the sweetmeats and buildings, and,
with its acid sauce the richness of the
preceding dishes disappears and the palate
is prepared for the desserts.
Until ready for service lettuce should be
kept fresh by sprinkling the heads and
standing the stems in water. Care should
| be taken not to crush or bruise the leaves,
and any that are SO injured should be re-
jected from the dish. On the crispness of the
| leaves depend the beauty anditaste of the
vegetable. Lettuce has no odor, and, when
young, little taste, but as it grows older it
acquires an acrid and rather bitter one.
| The leaves must be carefully separated
broken apart, not cut-then washed care
fully in cool water, to remove any dirt and
insects, and shaken lightly to free from
water. AS the vegetable contains large
quantities of water and some mucilage it
becomes Shiny if left submerged in water.
Pile the leaves lightly in deep bowl, or
arrange number of little cups by placing
several small, pale, inside leaves within
| larger green one If this is done spoon
full of sauce can be put IN each cup. The
serving should be from large, fiat dish.
| Canon Sydney Smith wrote of good
things on earth as well as those of Heaven.
He thus ends poetic recipe for a salad:
OH great and glorious and herbaceous treat,
'Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat.
Back TO the world he'd turn his weary soul
And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl.
This is a good precedent for helping
yourself with your fingers, and one may if
| he likes, but it Is more usual to do so with
fork and spoon. Switzerland supplies
us with these, made of wood, with handles
beautifully carved.
A sauce should never be poured over let
tuce. 1t willis the leaves and goes to the
| bottom of the bowl; those served first get
none of it and those served last too much
of it. If lettuce comes to the table in a
deep vessel, the sauce should be left in
mug or bowl by itself and passed with the
lettuce This, too, gives those who pre-
fer it chance to eat their salad with salt
and pepper alone. A bowl of granulated
white sugar should also be passed with
the lettuce; all continental foreigners like
it sprinkled over the leaves, and many
Americans, too.
Lettuce is sleepy vegetable. 1t has
narcotic properties in the milky juice that
eXudes when it is cut. The properties of
this fluid are analogous to those of opium,
but without the latter's disagreeable after
effects. The rapid growth of lettuce in a
cold frame diminishes the somnolent
quality of its juice.
Sulphur comes to us much more pleas |
antly in the radish than in the cup of mo-
lasses. The horseradish is washed, |
scraped and boiled in cup of milk, into
which must be put little vinegar and SUI
gar. 1t is a relish for roast beef. The |
little radish comes with its pink coat well |
washed and its green top cut off within an |
incl of ie INN in
salt for breakfast, dinner and supper. |
Corn salad comes early to all the Northern |
markets, and is liked by many. Sorrel |
and chevril are both early, but they are |
used in combination with other leaves as |
salad. Cucumbers are refreshing prod i
ucts of the cold frame. The fruit is sus-
piciously eyed by the dyspeptic and deli |
cate, but cultivation has done away
greatly with its unwholesome properties, /
and to the healthy it is harmless, cooling
and palatable. 1t is an odd fact that |
while the cucumber is regarded by many |
as q disturbing element in the stomach,
its juices are supposed to be healing and |
soothing for external application. This |
juice enters largely into French pomades |
and cosmetics, and is made into ointments |
that heal. The cucumber is an antiscor |
butte, but too powerful except to the |
healthy.
The fruit should be peeled lengthwise,
cutting toward the stem, for this end has |
a bitter, acrid taste that will be communi- |
Gated to the other parts if the cutting be-
gins at that end. The substance next the |
green outer covering should be cut away |
also, leaving only a narrow circle or rim |
surrounding the juicy, sweet seed vessels. |
Slice this part crossways as thinly as pos
sible, and the dish is ready for the table.
1t is the opinion of many that the cucum-
Der should be sliced and sprinkled with
salt several hours before tits needed. The
sailing releases the fluid which is said to
hold the unwholesome parts in solution.
This fluid should be drained off before the
linz addad AtEars |