Entry from
July 12, 2004
Waldorf Salad
You're the top! You're a Waldorf salad.
You're the top! You're a Berlin ballad.
You're a baby grand of a lady and a gent.
You're an old dutch master, You're Mrs. Astor,
You're Pepsodent.
--Cole Porter, "You're the Top"
The Waldorf Salad comes from the Waldorf Hotel (now the Waldorf-Astoria). It was then (1890s) located where the Empire State Building is today. I found some early citations.
"Apple Salad" and some other variations are iin Good Housekeeping, 26 October 1889, pg. 306, col. 1.
From Table Talk, volume 10, January 1895, pg. 6, col. 2:
_Inquiry No. 3069._
F. R. L., Watertown, N. Y., writes: "Can you give me a recipe for salad containing apples and celery?"
_Answer._
WALDORF SALAD.
This salad is a very simple one, and has become so popular merely through its name and use at the Waldorf in New York. It is composed of equal quantities of celery and chopped, raw, sour apples, dressed with mayonnaise dressing. At that hotel it is seldom served as a course, being preferred with game, and is in reality what is called a game salad. It is a favorite custom, more often adopted at "stag dinners" than elsewhere, to serve the salad with the game instead of as a separate course.
From Table Talk, volume 11, January 1896, pg. 12, col. 1:
_Inquiry No. 3547._
A. M. B. of Leadville, Col. writes: "I would be grateful if you will give me the recipe once more for Waldorf salad, as I cannot find my copy of Table Talk containing it, and we all thought it very nice indeed."
_Answer._
WALDORF SALAD.
This salad is composed of equal parts of celery and chopped, raw, sour apples, dressed with the mayonnaise dressing. At the hotel which gives it its name it is seldom served as a course, being preferred with game and is, in reality, what is called a game salad. This custom of serving salad with game is more often adopted for "stag dinners" than elsewhere.
"Waldorf Salad" is also in The Chicago Record Cook Book (1896), pg. 503.
From the Boston Cooking School Magazine, March-April 1903, pg. 375, col.
2:
_Waldorf Salad (Oscar of The Waldorf)_
"Peel two raw apples and cut them into small pieces, say about half an inch square, also cut some celery the same (pg. 376, col. 1--ed.) way, and mix it with the apple. Be very careful not to let any seeds of the apples be mixed with it. The salad must be dressed with a good mayonnaise."
This is the original recipe. The raisins of which you speak are an innovation. To use them, cut in halves and remove the seeds. Then mix with the apple and celery and, afterwards, with the mayonnaise. English walnuts or pecan nuts, broken in pieces, are often added to the apple and celery. The proportions of the different ingredients are a matter of taste. Half and half of the leading ingredients, with enough dressing to moisten thoroughly, answers nicely.
From the very hefty and important International Cook Book (1906) by
Alexander Filippini, pg. 536:
_SALAD, WALDORF-ASTORIA_
Cut into julienne strips one good-sized pickled beetroot, two medium, sound peeled and cored apples, two very tender well-cleaned stalks white celery, four Spanish sweet peppers, and place all in a bowl. Crack and carefully pick out the perfect meats from thirty-six sound hazel nuts, cut each one in quarters and place with the rest, toss them well in bowl, season with four tablespoons dressing, mix well, wipe the bowl all around and serve.
Walnuts are in 365 Vegetable Dishes (Philadelphia, 1910), pg. 16:
_Waldorf Salad._
Cut equal quantites of russet apples and celery into dice. Halve and peel a similar quantity of walnuts, soak them in fresh water for one-fourth hour, drain them, and add them to the salad, mixing them well with mayonnaise dressing.
***
You're the top! You're a Berlin ballad.
You're a baby grand of a lady and a gent.
You're an old dutch master, You're Mrs. Astor,
You're Pepsodent.
--Cole Porter, "You're the Top"
The Waldorf Salad comes from the Waldorf Hotel (now the Waldorf-Astoria). It was then (1890s) located where the Empire State Building is today. I found some early citations.
"Apple Salad" and some other variations are iin Good Housekeeping, 26 October 1889, pg. 306, col. 1.
From Table Talk, volume 10, January 1895, pg. 6, col. 2:
_Inquiry No. 3069._
F. R. L., Watertown, N. Y., writes: "Can you give me a recipe for salad containing apples and celery?"
_Answer._
WALDORF SALAD.
This salad is a very simple one, and has become so popular merely through its name and use at the Waldorf in New York. It is composed of equal quantities of celery and chopped, raw, sour apples, dressed with mayonnaise dressing. At that hotel it is seldom served as a course, being preferred with game, and is in reality what is called a game salad. It is a favorite custom, more often adopted at "stag dinners" than elsewhere, to serve the salad with the game instead of as a separate course.
From Table Talk, volume 11, January 1896, pg. 12, col. 1:
_Inquiry No. 3547._
A. M. B. of Leadville, Col. writes: "I would be grateful if you will give me the recipe once more for Waldorf salad, as I cannot find my copy of Table Talk containing it, and we all thought it very nice indeed."
_Answer._
WALDORF SALAD.
This salad is composed of equal parts of celery and chopped, raw, sour apples, dressed with the mayonnaise dressing. At the hotel which gives it its name it is seldom served as a course, being preferred with game and is, in reality, what is called a game salad. This custom of serving salad with game is more often adopted for "stag dinners" than elsewhere.
"Waldorf Salad" is also in The Chicago Record Cook Book (1896), pg. 503.
From the Boston Cooking School Magazine, March-April 1903, pg. 375, col.
2:
_Waldorf Salad (Oscar of The Waldorf)_
"Peel two raw apples and cut them into small pieces, say about half an inch square, also cut some celery the same (pg. 376, col. 1--ed.) way, and mix it with the apple. Be very careful not to let any seeds of the apples be mixed with it. The salad must be dressed with a good mayonnaise."
This is the original recipe. The raisins of which you speak are an innovation. To use them, cut in halves and remove the seeds. Then mix with the apple and celery and, afterwards, with the mayonnaise. English walnuts or pecan nuts, broken in pieces, are often added to the apple and celery. The proportions of the different ingredients are a matter of taste. Half and half of the leading ingredients, with enough dressing to moisten thoroughly, answers nicely.
From the very hefty and important International Cook Book (1906) by
Alexander Filippini, pg. 536:
_SALAD, WALDORF-ASTORIA_
Cut into julienne strips one good-sized pickled beetroot, two medium, sound peeled and cored apples, two very tender well-cleaned stalks white celery, four Spanish sweet peppers, and place all in a bowl. Crack and carefully pick out the perfect meats from thirty-six sound hazel nuts, cut each one in quarters and place with the rest, toss them well in bowl, season with four tablespoons dressing, mix well, wipe the bowl all around and serve.
Walnuts are in 365 Vegetable Dishes (Philadelphia, 1910), pg. 16:
_Waldorf Salad._
Cut equal quantites of russet apples and celery into dice. Halve and peel a similar quantity of walnuts, soak them in fresh water for one-fourth hour, drain them, and add them to the salad, mixing them well with mayonnaise dressing.
***