How to Make Vegetable Salad — The Victorian Way

Buy your copy of our ’Victorian Way’ cookery book: It’s the height of summer at Audley End House and Mrs Crocombe is preparing a summer salad of vegetables, with aspic jelly. This ’salad’ is based on a homemade mayonnaise, but filled with delicate diced vegetables, surrounded with asparagus and decorated with jewel-like pieces of aspic — a jelly made from meat stock. English Heritage is a charity that cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites. Find out how you can support our work here: Visit Audley End House and Gardens for yourself: INGREDIENTS • 2 eggs • 1 tsp mustard • 225ml (8oz) neutral oil (e.g. sunflower) • 2 tbsp white wine vinegar • 3 sheets of gelatine dissolved in 75ml hot water and set aside • Small bunch of green asparagus • Small handful of each of cauliflower, green beans, celery, new potatoes • Small amounts of capers, olives, gherkins • Salt and pepper To Decorate: • Carrots, nicely sliced • Cauliflower florets in equal sizes • Another bunch of green asparagus • Celeriac (or parsnip) • Hard boiled quail’s eggs (or other small eggs) METHOD 1. Briefly boil (blanche) your vegetables, taking care not to over-do them. 2. Separate the yolks from your two eggs and put these in a bowl. 3. Stir in a small teaspoon of mustard and a generous pinch of salt. 4. Add the oil a small drop at a time while continually stirring. 5. Add some aspic to help the mayonnaise to set, and mix in. 6. Mix in the vegetables to the mayonnaise mixture. 7. Place a greased mould over ice and fill it with the mixture. 8. Chill in the fridge until set. 9. Decorate the set mayonnaise salad with the remaining vegetables, aspic and quail’s eggs. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: FIND A PLACE TO VISIT: LIKE US ON FACEBOOK: FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 00:45 For this recipe, you will need... 01:16 Preparing the vegetables 02:09 Mayonnaise 04:52 Adding the vegetables 05:26 Filling the mould 06:40 Decorating with asparagus 07:57 Adding the crown 08:24 Final decorations 09:33 Finished salad