Reprinted from the 1916 Harvard Woman’s Club Cookbook
Two large potatoes passed throo kitchen sieve
Unwonted softness to the salad give;
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon –
Distrust the condiment which bites too soon;
But deem it not, though made of herbs, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt
Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And once with vinegar procured from town.
True flavor needs it, and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs.
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And half suspected, animate the whole;
And lastly, on the flavored compound toss,
A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce;
Then though greenturtle fail, though venison’s tough,
Serenity full, the epicure shall say:
“Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today.”
—Helen L. Morse
Interpretation:
2 large cooked potatoes pressed through a sieve
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 hard-boiled eggs (yolks only) pressed through a sieve
small amount of chopped onion
1 teaspoon anchovy sauce
