Salad can include anything edible, and the spirit of Big Salad behind the Vittles Summer Recipe Supplement might be said to have arisen in the 17th century ‘in the era of what was called the grand sallet’, as set out in the Oxford Companion to Food. In 1685 Robert May published fourteen grand sallet recipes, the first of which begins thus:
‘take a cold roast capon and cut it into thin slices square and small (or any other roast meat), mingle with it a little minced tarragon and an onion, then mince littice as small the capon, mingle all together…then lay capers by themselves, olives by themselves, samphire by itself, broom buds, pickled mushrooms, pickled oysters, lemon, orange, raisins, almonds blue-fits, Virginia Potato, caperons, crucifix pease, and the like…garnish the dishes sides with quarters of oranges, or lemons, or in slices, oyl and vinegar beaten together poured on it over all.’
What madness! What fun! And what a substantial and varied meal can be had by eating from May’s composition, which, though rich, still feels summer appropriate thanks to its unheated state. ‘Mingle’ and ‘lay’ might be the two key culinary methods from May’s recipe when it comes to salads. Either allowing ingredients to be mixed and develop into something greater than the sum of their parts, or laying them down on a serving dish to then be re-encountered in varied combinations on one’s own plate. Both are are to be found in these four ‘big salads’ by four of our favourite cooks, all of which can be eaten as a main course.
** Nick Bramham’s** roast chicken and ‘nduja panzanella was inspired by a private moment of ecstasy during restaurant service, after dragging a piece of focaccia through a dish of pan juices and is also an homage to one of the greatest textures in food: ‘crisp-gone-soft’. Speaking of texture,
Nick Bramham’s supercharged juicy crispy fiery take on the classic Tuscan tomato and bread salad.
Boutheina B Salem’s sweet-sharp caraway scented Tunisian carrot salad garnished with tuna, eggs and olives, and served with crusty bread.
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s vegan reinvention of cold Cantonese jellyfish salad, with slippery glass noodles, fried tofu and crisp celery.
Paris Rosina’s fresh and luxurious take on the classic diced vegetable, meat and mayonnaise salad.
The Vittles Summer Recipe Supplement was written by Boutheina B. Salem, Hetty Lui McKinnon, Nick Bramham and Paris Rosina. It was photographed by Emil Bendixen at Quality Wines in Farringdon. The recipes were tested and prepared by Georgia Rudd. The shoot was styled collaboratively by Georgia and Emli. The full Vittles masthead can be found here.
