The man himself

A RECIPE FOR A SALAD
To make this condiment, your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two hard-boiled eggs;
Two boiled potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve,
Smoothness and softness to the salad give.

Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, half suspected, animate the whole.
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment that bites so soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault,
To add a double quantity of salt.

Four times the spoon with oil from Lucca brown,
And twice with vinegar procured from town;
And, lastly, o’er the flavored compound toss
A magic soupcion of anchovy sauce.

O, green and glorious! O herbaceous treat!
‘T would tempt the dying anchorite to eat:
Back to the world he’d turn his fleeting soul,
And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl!
Serenely full, the epicure would say,
“Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day.”

Sydney Smith. (1771–1845)

I first came upon this rousing and rhyming recipe in Jane Grigsons Food with The Famous many years ago.

In this she tells us of this epicure and indeed gourmet clergyman, whose support of catholic emancipation led him to be banished to a parish in the wilds of Yorkshire;-“twelve miles from a lemon”.

He came up with this dressing which proved so popular with his aristocratic friends (he dined in France with Tallyrand and with the king of Brussles, in London with Earl Grey, the Hollands, and the Landsdownes) that he turned it into verse for their better remembering.

I have been wondering what it would taste like for years and finally yesterday tried it out.
I had to tweak it a little. It was a little solid as it stood, I added pepper which he omits and put in less salt than he suggests, otherwise it is much as he wrote it in 1795.
Great food like art is timeless.

Rev. Sydney Smith’s Salad Dressing
(first made in 1795)

Yolks of two Hard Boiled Eggs
110g (4 oz.) Boiled Potato
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Chives (or finely chopped onion)
1 Teaspoon English Mustard
2 generous Pinches Salt
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
2 Anchovies finely chopped
Black Pepper
150ml (5 oz.) Extra Virgin Olive oil

Push every bit of the Egg Yolks and the cooked potato through a sieve into a bowl.

Mix in the chopped chives,mustard, salt, vinegar, anchovies and pepper and stir or beat all these ingredients together until they are a smooth paste.

Using an electric beater (or a strong arm) dribble in the oil beating all the time until the sauce has a mayonaise like consistancy.

If it is a little thick you can add some water to thin it at this stage.

I find because it has more oil than the original this tends to curdle when it has been standing for a while but a quick whisk will make itn smooth again.

This can be used for those recipes when you would use mayonnaise.
It is excellent with cold chicken or salmon, very good with smoked mackerel especially when served with lambs lettuce or watercress.
It is fresher tasting and less cloying than than mayo, in texture like a cross between vinaigrette and mayonnaise.