The New York Times republishes antique recipes from time to time.Last Sunday's was a version, 1948, of Green Goddess Salad.
This is not really something I would seek out, but I was captivated. And we just happened to have all the ingredients in the house. Oh, and I love all those flavors.
A couple of my friends run Foreign Cinema, an innovative restaurant in San Francisco. Before they bought the place, they had been restaurant consultants, and taught a Fisherman's Wharf restaurant how to upgrade its menu. One of the things they did was to modernize the Crab Louis.
But they did not nix the iceberg lettuce. "You want that watery crunch," said Gayle Pirie. How smart.
Sometimes old-fashioned is better.
Back to the Green Goddess Salad.
It worked. Crisp and very umami. Perhaps too much vinegar (but sheesh, who knows how acidic your vinegar is going to be, the recipe writer or you? Oh, pooh; I should have known.).
Romaine lettuce, to begin with. Then anchovies, mayonnaise (store-bought!), Worcestershire sauce, garlic and much more. My fingers still smell evil.
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21 comments:
Your blog is super. So are your photographies. They make me hungry. I have spent a nice moment when seeing them. Thanks a lot.
Sounds good to me. Except for that thing about Crab Louis. I cannot abide iceburg in any salad I consume; even as a kid, I couldn't. I use Romaine for mine.
I only like iceberg when it's well-lavished with the genius carrot dressing from the sushi place on the corner.
Will your next post be about fondue? Or perhaps a nice whale-oil confit of wooly mammoth?
Green Goddess - what a fabulous name.
Oh yum, I was looking at that this weekend and wondering if I could pass off those anchovies as, well, not anchovies. Or maybe just eat it all by myself.
How funny, We just made a Green Goddess dressing the other day. Our recipe was from one of the food magazines. It had avocado.
Ms. Goofy is scared of Anchovies, so, I did not tell her. It was pretty decent.
Cookie, you and I have "known" each other long enough that you know how inappropriate I find some of those ingredients. I like that about you. So, since I don't have to pretend to like the idea of Green Goddess dressing, I will complement you on keeping traditional recipes alive. So many of our great-grandparents were far better cooks than we are. The only way to keep a dying art alive is to practice it.
Did the Green Goddess marry the Green Giant? Brings back childhood, and yow, your hands must have resembled the smell of that good Camembert I'm dying to try!
Stop smelling your fingers and tell those upstarts that iceberg belongs. It does. I mean, yes I adore all other leafies but there are classics where it reigns. Green Goddess is a wonderful Amurrican invention and I fully intend to go out tomorrow to fill out the ingredient list to make it for me-self. Vinegars are as individual as wines, we know, and mayhap yours was a touch wilder than what they used back in the day. Thanks for this post!
I have nothing against a fat wedge of iceberg; bleu cheese is my poison, though. I'll admit to being perversely fascinated by the NYT article on green goddess. Who knew it didn't have avocado?
Well, at 63 (soon to be 64), you know that I think that old's cool. However, I made that salad and really liked it. I added Romaine lettuce and liked the vinegar bite. It made a nice change from my usual olive oil and lemon juice dressing. But - like eugenia - blue cheese is my weakness. I'll put blue cheese on anything that I can. Well, almost anything; I do have my standards. I don't want to loose my "hanging around real foodies" status.
I read that article this Sunday and I thought: who is going to tee off on this? Thanks for coming through CC! It inspired me to buy buttermilk yesterday, but that's the extent of it.
Evil smelling fingers indeed. I bet they smelled DEEElightful. In fact, I would have been sniffing my fingers for hours to come, no doubt making my friends and family wonder what in James' name I do in my alone-time.
Oh, store-bought mayo. What can't you do?
Anchovies and garlic do put a hurt on any makeouts, don't they.
Anchovies and garlic impeded makeouts? Only in people's minds. The best way to get rid of bad breath? Makeout. It activates the salivary glands and helps to expel the bad stuff in one's mouth.
(PS -- I'm thrilled beyond belief that the word verification is a real word -- that I love. Crepe.)
Eleonora: I hardly deserve this praise. Thanks a million!
Dagny: Romaine should work just fine; there IS a funny banana-like smell to iceberg.
Peter: That sounds good.
I'm goin' with the mammoth. Fondue's too modern.
Morgan: It was named after a play showing in San Francisco. I hope the goddess had green hair.
Alecto: Oh, I get it. Well, it is pretty yummy, and the anchovies are invisible in the dresssing.
Nah. Eat it yourself.
ChileBrown: Coinkydink! I imagine it would be lovely with avocado; a lot creamier.
Spiteful: Let me guess. You don't like anchovies, garlic, probably mayonnaise. (And you're in cooking school; tsk.)
Yes, I like to explore the oldies. I have a whole shelf of old cookbooks.
Anna: Funny.
PS: You have to actually put in an order for that cheese; they can't even get it out to the cheese case before it's all picked up. Jeez.
Kudzu: For a lot of foodies, "iceberg" acquired the same knee-jerk negative connotations that "socialism" did for Republicans. Oh, and I had a friend who simply would not touch rose wine.
Enjoy your salad!
Eugenia: Yeah, and the English chef thought it had avocado too, so you are an English chef!
Nancy: I'm cool with blue cheese too, but I just don't want to have it *very* often.
El: Almost like a race among the bloggers to get there first. But the truth is, I really wanted it *now*.
Tina: It was worth it. I sniffed my fingers all day. It helped that I was the one who chopped the ingredients.
Heather: I'm awesome.
The secret to stinky makeouts is you both have to eat the same food.
Dagny: I'm all for stimulating the salivary glands. Except when it means I'm about to rush to the bathroom and vomit.
Crepe! Nice.
this really appealed to me too. glad it turned out well.
Maggie: I'd make it again. Lots of flavors.
i cut it out from the mag but haven't made it.
i always do that...
I got inspired by that same article and made it for friends last Saturday, with a few alterations (I was surprised they didn't call for tarragon, which I think is a must). I posted my version today.
BB: Cool! I'll come by and take a look.
It was just dandy without the tarragon, BTW, but I was surprised it was omitted, too.
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