Boiled Salad Dressing

I seem to be on a condiment kick at the moment. Having failed miserably at my past attempts to make mayonnaise, when I found a salad dressing recipe in an old cookbook that didn’t involve tedious dripping of oil and holding your mouth just right, I figured I’d give it a try.

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup water

butter size of a walnut (I used a tablespoon of olive oil)

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon mustard

1 teaspoon salt (I left it out)

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Put vinegar, water and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a small bowl or cup, mix together sugar, flour, mustard and salt. Beat egg and milk together. Stir sugar mixture into egg mixture, then add slowly to vinegar mixture once it has come to a boil, stirring continuously. Continue to stir at a boil (lowering heat as necessary) until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and stir occasionally until steam stops rising. Pour into canning jar and refrigerate.

Makes about 2 cups.

The recipe does work, and did come out the consistency and texture of mayonnaise. It tastes a bit sharper and less creamy than I’d like and I’ll be posting another version once I’ve had a chance to tweak it—I have some modifications in mind.

The original recipe can be found in Things Mother Used to Make by Lydia Maria Gurney (New York, 1914), which is available on Project Gutenberg.