West or
southwest 5 or 6, veering northwest 4 or 5 for a time.
Slight or
moderate.
Mainly fair.
Moderate or
good.
The next 3 posts deal with requests.
The first
one is an odd one. I am no fan of it. But it seems to be a bit like Marmite;
you either love or hate it.
When I came
to the UK, the request for a salad dressing (yes, leaves were often served
bare) resulted in a bottle put on the table. Heinz Salad Cream. Resembling a mayonnaise
which has been thinned, sweet and sour, mainly sweet. It also served as a dip
or a condiment to put on your bread. There was no escaping salad cream. You
could it even get on your chips. Especially in a chip butty.
This British
oddity is now over 100 years old and I still have no clue how anyone can come
up with such an idea. Yes, there is the famous Mrs Beeton`s recipe.
But in the
original she uses only the egg yolks and cream. No oil or butter. She also
suggests, much to my amusement Boil the
eggs until hard, which will be in about 1/4 hour or 20 minutes. I always
wondered if she uses goose eggs.
The Heinz
recipe however used (now vegetable oil and milk) butter. Which makes
sense, vegetable oil was not much in use in common households; you either had lard
or butter. It is also cooked. An odd mixture between a basic white sauce and a
hollandaise.
The
following recipe was given to me by a neighbour. Not because I liked it, but my
son, who ate everything as long as it is not a vegetable, devoured in her house
(and later in mine) even raw vegetables. As long as the dip was there.
I did cut
the sugar and the salt as given in the original recipe. Bear in mind that in
the UK you have normally salted butter. After all I made it for a child, and
the older we get less salt is better for us. Before you put it in the fridge
for the first time, don’t thin it further. The butter will of course solidify a
bit and you can thin it afterwards. It might also taste a bit bland since I
cut the sugar and salt by half. But you have now the perfect canvas to change it
according to your personal taste. If you add later a bit of coarse French mustard
and thin it with more vinegar and pour it over hot boiled small potatoes, you
will have a safe potato salad for a picnic, BBQ or the elderly.
The amount
given here results in about 150ml, and it will keep easy in the fridge for a
week
Salad Cream
1 egg
2
tablespoons malt, or another white, vinegar
4 tablespoons
of COLD water
1 tablespoon
of sugar
2
tablespoons flour (or corn starch or both mixed)
1/2 teaspoon
dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon
salt, a bit of white pepper
1/4 teaspoon
paprika or a sprinkle of cayenne pepper
2
tablespoons salted butter (or a mixture between vegetable oil and milk)
Combine dry
ingredients in a small bowl. Add water and mix thoroughly, removing any lumps.
Beat egg well, add vinegar pour into the water mixture. Heat gently in a double
boiler, stirring constantly until it thickens. Take off the heat and stir in
butter, bit by bit and whisk constantly.
When the
butter is melted, add a bit of (more) cold water until you get the desired
consistency (a bit like thick double cream).
Cover and
put into the fridge. Once it is cold and set, adjust seasoning to your taste
and thin further if desired or if it is too thick.
Verdict:
Maybe my taste buds have changed, but after I did add a bit of coarse mustard
and more vinegar, and poured if over the hot potatoes, I actually liked it. Not
as heavy as mayonnaise, certainly less calories, but a bit more substantial
than a simple dressing.
Might revive the
taste of the seventies
No comments:
Post a Comment