Either cold boiled salmon or the canned variety may be used. In the latter event wash the fish, in cold water, drain and expose to the outside air for at least one hour, as this removes any suggestion of the can. Flake the fish into small particles and to each cupful of the fish add the same quantity of shredded lettuce, one coarsely chopped hard-boiled egg, three slices of minced cucumber and six chopped olives. Mix the ingredients well, moisten with either a mayonnaise or boiled dressing and serve in individual portions in nest of heart lettuce leaves. Mask each portion with a tablespoon of dressing and garnish with capers and grated egg yolk.
Drain the liquor from a quart of fresh oysters. Put them in hot vinegar enough to cover them placed over the fire; let them remain until plump, but not cooked; then drop them immediately in cold water, drain off, and mix with them two pickled cucumbers cut fine, also a quart of celery cut in dice pieces, some seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix all well together, tossing up with a silver fork. Pour over the whole a "Mayonnaise dressing." Garnish with celery tips and slices of hard-boiled eggs arranged tastefully.
Boil three dozen hard-shell crabs twenty-five minutes; drain and let them cool gradually; remove the upper shell and the tail, break the remainder apart and pick out the meat carefully. The large claws should not be forgotten, for they contain a dainty morsel, and the creamy fat attached to the upper shell should not be overlooked. Line a salad bowl with the small white leaves of two heads of lettuce, add the crab meat, pour over it a "Mayonnaise" garnish with crab claws, hard-boiled eggs and little mounds of cress leaves, which may be mixed with the salad when served.
Make a salad dressing the same as that given for lettuce salad; flake up the fish free from skin and bone. Wash and dry the lettuce and shred it up, mix the fish with the dressing. Put a layer of lettuce at the bottom of the bowl, then one of fish and dressing. Do this alternatively, leaving plenty of lettuce for the top; garnish with hard boiled eggs cut into slices.
Thoroughly clean the fish; cut off the head or not, as preferred; cut out the backbone from the head to within two inches of the tail, and stuff with the following: Soak stale bread in water, squeeze dry; cut in pieces a large onion, fry in butter, chop fine; add the bread, two ounces of butter, salt, pepper and a little parsley or sage; heat through, and when taken off the fire, add the yolks of two well-beaten eggs; stuff the fish rather full, sew up with fine twine, and wrap with several coils of white tape. Rub the fish over slightly with butter; just cover the bottom of a baking pan with hot water, and place the fish in it, standing back upward, and bent in the form of an S. Serve with the following dressing: Reduce the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls good salad oil; stir in half a teaspoon English mustard, and add pepper and vinegar to taste.
Any remains of smoked blue cod that may have been left from a meal make an excellent salad either with just a simple dressing of oil and vinegar and a lettuce, or with a mayonnaise or salad dressing. Follow the directions for fish salad, but do not put any salt, as the fish is usually salt enough.
All kinds of cooked fish can be served in salads. Lettuce is the best green salad to use with them, but all green vegetables, when cooked and cold, can be added to the fish and dressing. The sardine and French dressings are the best to use with fish.
Prepare the asparagus as before directed. Season a quart of cooked salmon with one teaspoonful of salt, one-third of a teaspoonful of pepper, three table-spoonfuls of oil, one of vinegar and two of lemon juice. Let this stand in the ice chest at least two hours. Arrange the salmon in the centre of the dish and the asparagus points around it. Cover the fish with one cupful of mayonnaise dressing. Garnish the dish with points of lemon. Green peas can be used instead of asparagus.
One pint of celery, one quart of oysters, one-third of a cupful of mayonnaise dressing, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar, one of oil, half a teaspoonful of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper, one table-spoonful of lemon juice. Let the oysters come to a boil in their own liquor. Skim well and drain. Season them with the oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and lemon juice. When cold, put in the ice chest for at least two hours. Scrape and wash the whitest and tenderest part of the celery, and, with a sharp knife, cut in very thin slices. Put in a bowl with a large lump of ice, and set in the ice chest until serving time. When ready to serve, drain the celery, and mix with the oysters and half of the dressing. Arrange in the dish, pour the remainder of the dressing over, and garnish with white celery leaves.
