Food & Wine

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Classic salad recipes need little help By Jan Roberts-Dominguez Herald Columnist There are plenty of recipes knocking around these days. But the good ones -- the classics -- are relatively rare. So when a real "clip-and-save" comes along, it's a good idea to take notice. In the salad genre, there are several such keepers, and today I'm sharing three of them. Delicious salad concoctions that have weathered the storms of Nouvelle and California cuisines and still wow 'em at the dinner table. Interestingly enough, when I set out to collect these recipes, along with as much history about each one's creation as possible, I encountered the work of another food writer, Jean Anderson, who shared her passion for the time-honored recipes in "The American Century Cookbook." Subtitled "The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century," this fine collection of recipes and history is an exploration and celebration of the diversity of our nation's cuisine. In the salad section of Anderson's book, I discovered that her opinions of what makes a classic a classic meshed with mine. Every one of my favorites was in this chapter. On the theme of salads, Anderson has some solid opinions and dandy tidbits. They certainly existed before the 20th century, she said. Case in point: The Waldorf salad of apples, celery and mayonnaise, was invented by New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel maitre d' Oscar Tschirky in 1893. The 1900s have indeed been the century of the salad. Anderson reported that green salads of the early 1900s generally meant a wedge of iceberg doused with Russian or Thousand Island dressing. And yet, as early as 1939, she added, author Irma Rombauer was promoting the importance of incorporating raw vegetables and fruits into our diets. As Anderson observed, the 20th century gave us some wonderful classics: Caesar salad, Cobb salad, chef's salad, celery Victor, raw spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, three-bean salad, overnight layered salad, crab Louis and tuna salad. Here are three of my favorites. The first is probably one of the lesser-known classics among home cooks. Yet, as a food professional, it's one of my favorites since I first encountered a variation of it during my test-kitchen days in San Francisco. As far as I know (and Anderson doesn't seem to have much more information than I), celery Victor may have been created by San Francisco chef Victor Hirtzler of the St. Francis Hotel in the early 1900s. At the very least, the recipe was named after him and appears in Hirtzler's "Hotel St. Francis Cookbook" from 1919. Its simple composure is the genius behind its success. Flavors, colors and textures mingle delightfully before your eyes and on your palate. Use it as a first-course salad for a special dinner and you won't be sorry. Celery Victor 3 celery hearts (small celery bunches with the coarser, darker green outer stalks removed and reserved for another use), about 1 pound each 3 cups bouillon (2 10-1/2 ounce cans diluted with water to measure 3 cups, or 4 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 3 cups of hot water) 2 cups vinaigrette (recipe follows) 2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and chopped 12 (canned) anchovy fillets, drained, optional 6 canned pimento strips, drained Additional garnishes: quartered tomatoes, ripe olives Salt and pepper Trim each celery heart to a length of about 8 inches, cutting off leafy ends of stalks and any rough edges around the base of each root. With a vegetable peeler, pare coarse strings from the outer stalks of each heart. Cut each heart in half lengthwise and tie each half with cotton string midway up from the root end to hold the pieces together. Bring the bouillon to a boil in a 12- to 14-inch frying pan. Add the celery hearts; reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender when pierced, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the burner; then lift the celery from the bouillon and carefully place in a shallow 9-by-13-inch dish. Pour the prepared vinaigrette over the celery and chill in the refrigerator for several hours, or overnight, occasionally spooning dressing over the celery bundles to keep them covered in the marinade. To serve, place 1 celery heart half on each of 6 salad plates; drizzle equally with dressing. Mound eggs onto the hearts, dividing equally. If using, crisscross 2 anchovy fillets atop each serving. Garnish each serving with some of the quartered tomatoes and ripe olives. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Vinaigrette: In a medium-sized deep-sided bowl, combine 1/3 cup wine vinegar, 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 finely minced clove of fresh garlic, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and a dash of freshly ground black pepper. Whisk in 1/2 cup canola oil and 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil; mix well. Adjust seasonings. In 1936, Robert Cobb, president of a restaurant group that owned the Hollywood Brown Derby, put together a salad from leftovers in the restaurant's refrigerator for his pal, Sid Grauman of Grauman's Chinese Theater. But instead of your typical "chef's salad," this one clicked. The leftovers included a good-quality blue cheese, perfectly seasoned and poached chicken, avocado, bacon, hard-cooked eggs, herbs, tomatoes and a variety of salad greens. For the presentation, he finely diced all the ingredients and arranged them attractively on top of the greens. Before serving, he tossed it all together with a fine vinaigrette. The combination of flavors and textures was perfect, and a classic was born. Since its creation, variations have abounded. But in my mind, the successful alterations are strictly architectural -- nobody has fiddled with the ingredients and come up with an improvement. In fact, my only favorite spin-off was created in a San Francisco restaurant, MacArthur Park, back in the early 1970s. Individual salads were build up layer by delectable layer in porcelain souffle bowls and crowned with a topping of Roquefort dressing. The result was a delightful stratification of colors and flavors. Cobb salad 2 poached chicken breast halves, finely diced Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 fresh lemon Extra virgin olive oil 1/2 head firm iceberg lettuce, finely diced 1 small head chicory (or other coarse, curly-leafed salad green), finely diced 1/2 head romaine, finely diced 1 medium bunch watercress, coarsely chopped to yield 1 cup of leaves and tender stems 1 avocado 6 slices crispy cooked bacon, crumbled 3 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and diced 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or green onions 4 ounces good-quality blue cheese 2 medium-sized ripe, firm tomatoes, finely diced About 1 cup of a good vinaigrette (see vinaigrette used for celery Victor recipe) Toss the chicken in a small bowl with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a drizzling of fresh lemon juice and olive oil; cover and refrigerate. Choose a big salad bowl with a wide surface. Place the iceberg lettuce, chicory, romaine and watercress in the bowl, tossing to combine them. Halve the avocado, peel and dice it into 1/4-inch pieces. Turn it into a small bowl and sprinkle with a little salad and a few drops of the fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. When ready to serve: Toss the greens with about 1/3 cup of the vinaigrette. Arrange the other ingredients in strips across the top of the greens. From left to right, lay on the avocado, bacon pieces, hard-cooked eggs, green onion, blue cheese and the tomatoes. Bring the salad to the table, then toss with additional vinaigrette. Makes 4 servings. Note: If you wish to arrange the salad in advance, do not toss the greens with any of the vinaigrette before bringing it to the table or the greens will become limp. Instead, simply cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, then toss with the vinaigrette at the table. Variations: You could take your cue from the San Francisco restaurant, MacArthur Park, and layer the salad in individual souffle dishes. Each guest may then toss his or her own -- or not -- as desired. Anderson believes that this recipe might have sprung from a recipe for dandelion salad, German fashion, which was published in 1902 in "Mrs. Rover's New Cookbook," by Sarah Tyson Rorer of Philadelphia. Based on Anderson's extensive research, however, it seems to have taken several decades for a cook to make the leap from dandelions to raw spinach, and from a cold bacon dressing to a hot one. Here's Anderson's own recipe, which she admits is a little spicier than some of the original classics she encountered during her research. Spinach salad with hot bacon dressing 1 pound tender young spinach, trimmed of coarse stems 6 slices bacon, snipped crosswise into julienne strips before cooking 4 green onions, trimmed, washed and thinly sliced 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed 1 tablespoon ketchup 1/2 cup cider or red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Wash spinach well in several changes of cold water, spin dry, then bundle in paper towels and refrigerate. When ready to proceed, mound spinach in a large, heat-proof salad bowl. Brown the bacon in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden and crispy. Drain the crisp brown bacon bits on paper towels and set aside. Add green onions and garlic to the bacon drippings and saute over low heat for about 2 minutes, until limp. Whisk in the ketchup, vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Let the dressing sit for about 2 minutes, just so it's not boiling-hot. Pour the warm dressing over the spinach leaves, along with the bacon pieces and toss well to mix. Serve at once. Makes 4 servings. Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a Corvallis, Oregon, food writer, cookbook author and artist. Readers can contact her by e-mail at janrd@proaxis.com

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