Fifty Salads

The salad is the Prince of the Menu, and although a dinner be perfect in every other detail except the salad, the affair will be voted a failure if that be poor. It is therefore necessary for those contemplating dinner giving, to personally overlook the preparation of the salad if they wish favorable criticism. To become a perfect salad maker, do not attempt too much at first; practise on plain salads and plain dressings before you try combination salads, fancy dressings, and elaborate garnishings, and you will soon become proficient in the art. Do not prepare plain salads until the moment they are wanted at table. Should they be mixed long before they are served, you will find the lettuce flabby and the dressing watery and insipid. The importance of using none but the purest condiments must not be overlooked, for a perfect salad cannot be made with inferior ingredients. Garnishing or decorating salads presents an opportunity for displaying artistic taste and judgment.