Skip to main content
Salad

Spanish Salad

A salad of shredded cabbage and peppers with a mayonnaise-based dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Spanish Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shred the half of a firm cabbage very finely.

  2. Take all the seeds from two large green peppers, pour over all cold water, add a large piece of ice, let stand one hour to become crisp.

  3. Drain all well and mix with the following.

Make the dressing

  1. Add 1 teaspoonful of mustard, 1 teaspoonful of salt, and 1 tablespoonful of sugar.

  2. Add 1 egg, slightly beaten.

  3. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, 1 cup of vinegar, added (melted).

  4. Add 1 cup of cream.

  5. Cook in double boiler until it thickens.

  6. Let the dressing stand until quite cold, and add one-quarter of a cupful of olive oil.

  7. Break the yolks into a bowl; gradually beat into them the oil; in a cup mix the sugar, salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir until dissolved, and add to the oil mixture; continue stirring until perfectly smooth and creamy; thin with a tiny portion of rich cream.

  8. A little onion grated will greatly improve the mayonnaise, if you like it.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

363Calories
7 gProtein
30 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks emulsify with oil and set when gently cooked, giving the dressing body.
Olive oil
Forms the fat phase of the emulsion, giving the dressing richness and a smooth texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the richness of the fats.
Cabbage (in the method)
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its crisp, fresh texture.
Cream (in the method)
Adds richness and softness to the dressing.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches the cooked dressing and gives it a smooth mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg mixture until it thickens. Egg proteins thicken gently with heat, but too much heat scrambles them into curds. Stir steadily over moderate heat and stop as soon as it coats a spoon.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, vinegar, olive, egg):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Plumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, vinegar, olive, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Chicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesTomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes