Salad cream
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salad cream is a creamy, yellow condiment similar to mayonnaise. It is most popular in the United Kingdom, where it is used primarily as a salad dressing, also being used as a sandwich spread.
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[edit] History
Salad cream has been a traditional English salad dressing since the 18th century. Recipes exist for a dressing of cooked egg yolks, cream, vinegar, mustard powder, and olive oil in the recipe books of Dr William Kitchiner (1817) and Eliza Acton (1845). Jane Grigson states that Acton's recipe cannot be bettered and is "nothing to be ashamed of at all" when compared with mayonnaise.[1]
Bottled salad cream was promoted commercially by the H. J. Heinz Company in 1925[2] and soon became popular. It was described by the famous chef Marco Pierre White as "one of the greatest culinary inventions of the 20th century".[2]
[edit] Ingredients
Commercially produced salad cream is usually made from distilled vinegar, vegetable oil, water, sugar, mustard, salt, egg yolks, modified cornflour, xanthan gum and guar gum (as stabilizers), and riboflavin (for colouring).
[edit] Brands
In the United Kingdom the H. J. Heinz Company remains the primary producer of salad cream, although it is also produced by other companies and numerous supermarkets under their own brand labels.
In the United States, salad cream until recently was generally unavailable (and unknown), however with the large population of United Kingdom expatriates, especially in the Northeast, it is becoming more common. Apart from the large number of ex-pat stores, major retail supermarket chains such as Maine based Hannaford and Massachusetts-based Stop and Shop are now selling Heinz salad cream as a regular item. Many supermarkets now sell a product both in national and store brands called salad dressing, which closely resembles salad cream.
In Canada, it is available in most Safeway supermarkets.
[edit] In popular culture
- In the episode of Fawlty Towers entitled "Gourmet Night" (first broadcast on BBC television 17th October 1975), a young guest demands salad cream to eat with his bread, and is disgusted with the idea of instead having to use the hotel's freshly-made mayonnaise, to the point of calling it puke.[3]
- In an episode of Red Dwarf, Kryten and Kochanski disagree on whether salad cream should be kept in the refrigerator or cupboard.
- In an episode of Hoonery, Zachary is disappointed when his new girlfriend admits she finds his Salad Cream "untenable."
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Thief of Time briefly discusses Salad Cream, including a footnote "If you live in a country where the [sandwich] tradition calls for mayonnaise, just don't ask. Just don't."
[edit] References
- ^ Grigson, Jane (1999 (4th ed)). English Food. Penguin UK, 400 pages. ISBN 0140273247.
- ^ a b Heinz our products - salad cream. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ Cleese J & Booth C (2001). The Complete Fawlty Towers. De Capo Press, 333 pages. ISBN 0306810727.
