An admirable compound

… and another word on salads from Eliza Acton…

Here is a little poem Eliza includes in her salad recipes:

The Poet’s Receipt for Salad

Two large potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve
Unwanted softness to the salad give;
Of mordent mustard, add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment which bites too soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault,
To add a double quantity of salt;
Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And once with vinegar, procured from town;
True flavour needs it, and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs;
Let the onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole;
And lastly, in the flavoured compound toss
A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce:
Then, though green turtle fail, though venison’s tough,
And ham and turkey are not boiled enough,
Serenely full, the epicure may say –
Fate cannot harm me – I have dined today.

Eliza comments; we could not venture to deviate by a word from the original but we would suggest that the mixture forms almost a substitute for salad instead of a mere dressing. It is however an admirable compound for those to whom the slight flavouring of onion is not an objection.