iz., the
foundation of vegetables and the dressing.

=The Dressing.=

Salads are dressed with oil, acid and condiments; and, sometimes, a
sweet, as honey or sugar, is used. A perfect salad is not necessarily
acetic. The presence of vinegar in a dressing, like that of onions and
its relatives, on most occasions should be suspected only. Wyvern and
other true epicures consider the advice of Sydney Smith, as expressed in
the following couplet, "most pernicious":--

"Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procured from town."

Aromatic vinegars, a few drops of which, used occasionally, lend
piquancy and variety to an every-day salad, can be purchased at
high-class provision stores; but the true salad-maker is an artist, and
prefers to compound her own colors (_i.e._, vinegars); therefore we have
given several recipes for the same, which may be easily modified to suit
individual tastes.

Indeed, the dressing of a salad, though in the early days of the century
considered a special art,--an art that rendered it possible for at least
one noted Royalist refugee to amass a considerable fortune,--is
entirely a matter of individual taste, or, more properly speaking, of
cultivation. On this account, particularly for a French dressing, no set
rules can be given. By experience and judgment one must decide upon the
proportions of the different ingredients, or, more specifically, upon
the proportions of the oil and acid to be used. Often four spoonfuls of
oil are used to one of vinegar. Four spoonfuls of oil to two, three or
four of vinegar may be the proportion preferred by others, and the
quantity may vary for different salads.

Though in many of the recipes explicit quantities of oil, vinegar and
condiments are given, it is with the understanding that these quantities
are indicated simply as an approximate rule; sometimes less and
sometimes more will be required, according to the tendency of the
article dressed to absorb oil and acid, or the taste of the salad
dresser.

=Use of Dressings.=

The dressings in most common use are the French and the mayonnaise. A
French dressing is used for green vegetables, for fruit and nuts, and to
marinate cooked vegetables, or the meat or fish for a meat or fish
salad. Mayonnaise dressing is used for meat, fish, some varieties of
fruit, as banana, apple and pineapple, and for some vegetables, as
cauliflower, asparagus and tomatoes. An