First of all, h/t @brightersideoflife (do people even write things like this anymore? “h/t”? I think people just retweet things nowadays.) I have taken up brighter’s challenge and made this. It was quite tasty but I think anachronistic in a number of ways, not the least of which is the whole concept of salad being widely eaten in the first years of the 20th century. Maybe in the heartland, I guess. For example, I have a copy of The Fannie Farmer Boston Cookbook (revised, 1910, of course I do) and there’s a whole chapter on salad dressings but the “salads” are things like “dressed celery” and potato salad. This is a bare-bones Chef Salad. The Chef Salad is most often connected to Louis Diat, who was the chef at the New York Ritz-Carlton in the 1940s, when hotel dining rooms were almost the only decent restaurants to be found, even in major cities, but who knows. This recipe itself comes from St. Louis’s Mayfair Hotel. 

Brighter pointed out that the last line of the recipe says, “There are no amounts. Use as much or little as desired.” I’m more intrigued by another passage from the source, “St. Louis Magazine,” from 2017, where the author, Helen Fletcher, writes:

When my husband and I were first married, we would go to the Mayfair Hotel and buy this dressing by the pint. Armed with the dressing and the ingredients, we could enjoy as many of these salads as we could eat before the dressing ran out. It was a luxury we loved, in those days. We still love this dressing above all others, and now we can have it whenever we want.

Helen, how old are you? The thought of stopping by a hotel dining room and buying salad dressing by the pint certainly appeals to me, but then again if I could come back as a fictional character I’d be hotel-apartment-living and hard-drinking Nora Charles with my beloved husband Nicky and our dog Asta and it would be the 1930s.

Well, anyway, mix up a strong batch of martinis and attempt this:

Mayfair Salad Dressing:

• 1 cup coarsely chopped celery

• 1 large clove garlic

• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion

• 2 ounces canned anchovies rinsed in hot water

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 1 tablespoon black pepper

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 1/2 cup prepared mayonnaise

Instructions

1. Place all but the mayonnaise in a food processor or blender. Using the processor gives the dressing some texture; using the blender will make it perfectly smooth. It’s your choice.

2. Process to puree.

3. Add 1/2 cup of the mayonnaise to the processor or blender, then process.

4. Whisk in the remaining 1 cup mayonnaise by hand. 

Original Mayfair Salad 

Romaine lettuce

Ham, julienned

Swiss Cheese, julienned

Croutons

Mayfair Dressing

There are no amounts. Use as much or little as desired.