Homemade Salad Cream

Hooray for the warmer weather and salad season.   Salad cream is an ingredient which is used frequently over here in the UK, and quite traditional when it comes to salads.  You can buy it in jars and bottles at the shops and more often than not if you eat out in a medium priced restaurant, salad cream will be the salad dressing on offer.  It also comes in little packets like the ketchup and vinegar and brown sauces.   I often use it in Potato Salads, and coleslaw types of salads.  It is a lot tangier than mayonnaise and adds a really special touch.

It can be somewhat difficult to find in North America however and so today I am showing you how you can very easily make your own, and in truth, I like the homemade salad cream much better than the storebought variety, but that is often the case with most things.

Its very simple to make actually and I am betting you have everything in your house right now that you need to use to make some.

A bit of flour, white sugar, dry mustard powder, eggs and white wine vinegar,  whisked together and cooked over simmering water.  You might be surprise to know that there is actually real cream in it.  Nothing artificial here!  It gets whisked into the thickened mixture after cooling it. A bit of lemon juice and some seasoning and Bob’s your Uncle!   You have the perfect mixture for all of your summer salad needs!  It will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator and makes about 1 1/4 cups.  So no waste here either.

Whisk the flour, sugar, mustard powder and a healthy pinch of salt together in a glass bowl.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.  Whisk in the vinegar.  Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. (Alternately you can put it in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.)  Don’t allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water.  Cook over the simmering water, stirring constantly until thickened and warmed.  This will take 5 to 6 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.  Whisk in the cream and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt as required.  Scrape into a jar and cover tightly.  Keep in the refrigerator.  Will keep from between one and two weeks.

And just to whet your whistle and let you know that it won’t be a waste once you have it made, here are some of my recipes which use it:

Creamy Macaroni Salad

Mom’s Potato Salad 

Baked Potato Salad  

Creamy Potato Gnocchi Salad. 

 Bon Appetit!

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The English Kitchen
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