How to Make English Salad Cream

Back in the old days (you know, the good old days) there was only one kind of salad dressing in Britain. It was made by Heinz and came in a thick glass bottle. It was called "salad cream". You can still buy Heinz Salad Cream today ... or you can make it yourself.

This is one of the easiest recipes I have ever made. It takes only five minutes to prepare and the taste is actually quite similar to the original Heinz product. I have to confess that I have "moved on" from salad cream but I like to try it from time to time, mainly for nostalgic reasons.

Here is how I made it in my kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 dessertspoonful of flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon Colmans prepared English mustard
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 oz butter or margarine
• Pinch of pepper

Preparation

• Put all the ingredients except the butter in a blender and blend until smooth
• Heat gently, stirring all the time until the sauce thickens
• Remove from heat and stir in the butter until it is melted
• Cool and serve

John's Notes
Voila! Almost genuine English salad cream just like the big corporation with 57 varieties still makes after all these years. And what with all the hot weather we have been getting (in Southern Ontario anyway) this spring, you will want to make pots of this stuff to pour on your lettuce, tomatoes and radishes while you are out on the croquet lawn.

PS: I published another recipe for salad cream about a year ago. It was more complicated than this one and didn't taste the same. I sourced this one from an old book of Derbyshire recipes. I think this recipe trumps the earlier one for flavour. You be the judge.

How to Make Salad Cream

Do you remember the flavour of English salad cream? When I was a kid growing up in Merrie England there were only two types of salad dressing: mayonnaise and salad cream.

I never got to try mayonnaise until adulthood but I had a lot of salad cream as a child. I loved the stuff.

I can have it anytime now because it's a standard item on the shelves of Blighty's Tuck Store. But then I came across a recipe for salad cream in my grandmother's recipe book and decided to give it a try. And does it taste just like the Heinz Salad Cream I grew up with? No, not at all actually, but I was quite pleased with the result anyway.

If you go to the Heinz Salad Cream website you can read all about what goes into their salad cream. I compared the Heinz ingredients with my grandmother's recipe book. Bingo, exact match. My salad cream should have tasted just like Heinz's, but it didn't so you can be sure that there are undisclosed secret ingredients in the commercial product.

If you would like to help improve the recipe, buy a bottle of Heinz Salad Cream and see if you can duplicate the flavour. Send me a comment (see link at bottom of this post) with your recipe improvements.

Ingredients

• Yolks of 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons cream
• Colman's Prepared Mustard, garlic powder, salt & pepper
  

Preparation

• Put the eggs yolks into a bowl and stir in the oil until you have a smooth paste.
• Season with garlic powder, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of Colman's Prepared English mustard
• Stir in the vinegar, ensuring the paste remains smooth
• Stir in the cream, adding a little at a time to prevent curdling

Bob's your uncle!
In the picture you can see my homemade salad cream adorning a simple avocado salad - and very nice it was too.

Remember, you can subscribe to Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter. You will receive approximately one email per week with a new traditional British recipe that you can try in your kitchen. Alternatively, you can subscribe to this blog where you will also find occasional blather from me about traditional British food.

Also, keep in mind that you can buy some of the ingredients for these recipes at Blighty's Tuck Store. If you do, you will keep me out of the poor-house and encourage me to keep bringing these recipes to you. Enjoy.