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Salads, really?! What could be so different about early 20^th century salads? Funny you should ask. We wondered about that too and found some interesting salad combinations advertised in our historic newspapers.

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Twentieth Century Salad Recipe - August 4, 1911

 

The recipe for the Twentieth Century Salad was published in the Watertown Leader on August 4, 1911, and suggests mixing oranges, celery, peeled grapes, pecans, and homemade mayonnaise. We tried it and although the consistency of our mayonnaise was questionable, once mixed with the other ingredients, it was the most popular salad among the Society staff who dared to participate in the battle of the historic salads.

Mayonnaise was a very popular dressing for salads at the time and also essential to the 1916 Banana Salad featured in the Mineral Point Tribune. What is there not to like about half a banana on lettuce with chopped peanuts and some mayonnaise? 

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Salad Dressing Mixture Bottle

 

Not a fan of the rich and creamy egg dressing? Try French dressing, which, in the early 20^th century, had little to do with the French Dressing we are used to now but was basically a vinaigrette. You could prepare it in a beautiful French dressing mixing bottles (see the advertisement in the Baraboo Weekly News, January 6, 1916) and store it for many salads to come. We found a great French dressing recipe in the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser from August 8, 1907. It calls for a lot of ingredients – including curry powder, lemon peel, and shallots – and includes the measurement of “a light saltspoon” – ¼ teaspoon – but the result is flavorful and a crowd-pleaser. We used it as a marinade for a grapefruit and “marischino” cherry salad also found in the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser a few years later (December 16, 1910). The dressing works surprisingly well in this salad because it cuts a little bit of the sweetness from the cherries. This salad was voted the “most surprising in flavor.”

The Recipes in 2020

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Twentieth Century Salad Ingredients

 

Twentieth Century Salad (For 12 people)

• 6 oranges
• ½ lbs. white/green grapes
• ½ lbs. pecans
• 1 quart chopped celery

For the dressing:

• 12 egg yolks
• 1 cup butter (melted)
• ½ pint vinegar
• 2 lemons
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 pinch of paprika
• ½ pint of heavy whipping cream

Peel the oranges, seed them if needed, and cut them into small pieces. Skin and seed the grapes, then mix the fruit with the pecans and the celery. (This mixture is great on its own if you’d rather skip the mayonnaise.)

Add the following dressing: Beat the egg yolks in a bowl over a hot pot of water. Use a double boiler if you have one.  After the yolks have become warm, add the butter and vinegar, which may be weakened with a little warm water if too sharp. Stir the dressing until it is perfectly smooth, being careful not to let it cook too long or it will curdle.

Give it time to become perfectly cold. Then add the juice of 2 lemons, sugar, salt, and paprika. Whip the cream and stir it in. Refrigerate for several hours.

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Banana Salad Recipe 1916

 

Banana Salad

• 1 banana
• Lettuce
• 1 Tbsp. chopped peanuts
• Mayonnaise (we used the dressing made for the Twentieth Century Salad)

Cut banana in halves crosswise and lay on lettuce. Sprinkle with peanuts and serve with mayonnaise.

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French Dressing Ingredients

 

French Dressing

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  French Dressing Recipe - August 8, 1907

   

  1 tsp. curry powder
• ½ tsp. French mustard (what exactly was considered French mustard at the time is debatable, but we ended up using Dijon mustard)
• ¼ tsp. ground mustard
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. fresh parsley (finely chopped)
• ½ tsp fresh chives (finely chopped)
• 2 medium shallots (finely chopped)
• 1 clove of garlic (finely crushed)
• 4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• Rind of 1 lemon (finely chopped)
• Olive oil (chilled)
• White wine vinegar

Mix all spices, herbs, shallots, lemon rind, and mustard, then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and mash until this mixture is a pulp. (We eyeballed the amount of parsley and chives and ended up adding much more than the recipe called for, but it was delicious, and we encourage you to do the same.) Gradually add 4 tablespoons of vinegar, mix thoroughly again and add more vinegar and oil in the proportion of two-thirds oil to one-third vinegar until you have a quart in all. Press through a fine strainer into a jar and refrigerate until ready for use. Always shake the dressing thoroughly before pouring over a salad.

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Grapefruit and Maraschino Cherry Salad Recipe - December 16, 1910

 

Grapefruit and Maraschino Cherry Salad

• 1 grapefruit
• Maraschino cherries (Yes, we cheated and bought a jar of maraschino cherries because the focus is on salads, but we’ll be pickling things in the future)
• Lettuce (butterhead lettuce works well here)
• French dressing (see recipe above)
• Mayonnaise (see Twentieth Century Salad recipe above)

Peel and skin grapefruit and cut it into bite-size pieces. Marinate the grapefruit and some maraschino cherries in French dressing. Don’t marinate for too long or the grapefruit pieces will fall apart. Arrange lettuce leaves in nests and arrange the marinated fruit on top. Serve with mayonnaise if desired.