Salad Lore

From the Oriental countries has descended our taste for salads. “A lodge in a garden of cucumbers” in the sultry eastern lands was a haven of rest indeed. In those days, cucumbers and melons were among the greatest luxuries.

The Greeks were noted for their fondness of lettuce, which they served at the end of a repast. The Romans, always the imitators of the Greeks, followed their example in this respect, but later they used lettuce with egg as a first course, in order to stimulate the appetite. In default of lettuce, they ate endive. Ancient physicians recognized the narcotic value of lettuce, and the Greek physician, Galen, termed it the “philosopher’s, or wise man’s herb.” The herb doctors prescribed the spring salad for the sick, while the superstitious extolled it as a preventive of disease and decay.Queen Catherine of England, a great lover of the salad, could not procure it in London, and her royal husband, Henry, had to send to the Netherlands for a gardener to come and cultivate the necessary plants.

Many Americans have the erroneous idea that foreign nations excel in salad making. France for a long time lead in this delicate art; we are told that the artist preeminent in salad-making was the Frenchman, Chevelier Gaudet, who fled to England at the outbreak of the French Revolution, and without friends or fortune, realized a handsome property from his knowledge of salad-making alone. He considered the mixing of a salad as so serious and dignified a profession that he never approached the salad bowl except in full gala costume, with his sword by his side. His services were in great demand by the nobility, in order that their guests might be regaled with one of his creations.

The salad stands alone in this particular: It may be served on all occasions, and to any class of people. It is one of the most delightful and healthful of Heaven’s gifts to man. A modern authority tells us “salads refresh without weakening, and make people younger.” While this statement may be accepted with the proverbial grain of salt, it is nevertheless true that salad plants are better tonics and blood purifiers than druggists’ compounds.

Preparing the Perfect Pastry

During the Medieval period someone may have discovered that the pastry on the bottom of the meat was fluffy and tasty and this may have led to the experimentation of mixing fats with the flour and water mix. From this, modern pastries were born.Indeed, pastries as we know them today only work because of the fats worked into the dough. These fats separate the layers of flour as the pastry cooks and dries making the pastry both tastier and crumblier.

If you then take this basic pastry and add an egg or an egg yolk then the pastry both becomes more resilient and also becomes richer in flavour. Then you can add spices, herbs and other flavourings to alter how the basic pastry tastes.You can also alter the characteristics of the pastry by using different fats. Butter tends to give the best flavour and lard gives the best crumbly texture (that’s why many cooks use a half butter, half lard mix). Margarine gives a smoother less flaky texture and a paler overall colour, which can be good for fruit pies. You can also make pastry with liquid oils, but these are hard to handle and need to be used immediately.

However, the true secret of making a good pastry is to use everything chilled (utensils as well as ingredients) so that the fats do not melt before they are baked (this way you get little bits of whole fats in the pastry and this improves both the flavour and the ‘crumbliness’. Then handle the dough as little as possible, to ensure the ingredients do not get too warm.

For making sheet pastries such as filo pastry, flaky pastry or croissant pastry then you will make a basic pastry mix, roll it out then place butter (or other fat) on top and roll it out before putting more butter on fat. This process is repeated several times, so that you get the layers of pastry separated by layers of fat. When the pastry cooks the fats help separates the layers so you get a puffed and brittle effect.