Dish of English Pea Salad
(click to enlarge)

English Pea Salad


England
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 2-1/2#
***
50 min
Yes		 An outstandingly tasty non-wilting salad for buffet, picnic, or table - it is easily made Vegetarian - see Bacon.




2
9
10
5
5-1/2
-------
2
1/4
3/4
1/2
1
-------
lrg
oz
oz
oz
oz
----
t
c
c
t
t
----
Eggs
Potatoes, new (1)
Peas, frozen
Onion, red
Bacon Lardons (2)
-- Dressing
Dijon Mustard
Mayonnaise (3)
Yogurt (3)
Pepper blk
Flaked Sea Salt (4)  
-----------------
Do-Ahead
  1. Hard boil EGGS - for best method see our recipe Boiling Eggs. Shell and cool thoroughly.
Prep   -   (30 min)
  1. Dice Eggs about 1/3 inch. Best to use a Wire Cutter.
  2. Cut POTATOES into cubes about 1/3 inch. Hold in cool water until needed.
  3. Thaw PEAS.
  4. Dice ONION about 1/4 inch.
  5. Cut BACON (or Cheese) into about 1/3 inch dice.
Run   -   (20 min + cooling time   30 min if using Bacon Lardons)
  1. IF using fry BACON LARDONS until cooked through with little browning.
  2. Put Potatoes in a sauce pan with water to cover well. Bring to a boil and simmer until just cooked through. Add thawed Peas and bring back to a boil for 2 minutes. Drain and cool well.
  3. Mix together all Dressing items until well blended. Stir in all remaining items until well coated. Stir in Eggs last.
  4. Serve cold.
NOTES:

  1. New Potatoes:

      These tiny thin skinned Potatoes are very scarce here in Southern California, so we select small Red Potatoes in lieu of those. I peel them, if you don't you can use an ounce less. For details see our Potatoes page.

  2. Bacon Lardons:

      These are just small cubes (1/3 inch or so) of Smoked Bacon (UK Smoked Streaky Bacon), best cut from Slab Bacon.   For Vegetarian I replace this with small cubes of Smoked cheese, The photo example is with smoked Gouda.

  3. Mayonnaise & Yogurt:

      The pattern recipe calls for "low fat" in both cases, suggesting to me that this recipe has been lightened quite a bit. I use full fat, but the traditional dressing is certainly Salad Cream, the premier English salad dressing.

  4. Flaked Sea Salt:

      This being an English recipe, "Flaked Sea Salt" would imply Maldon Sea Salt. Fleur de Sel or another flaky finishing salt could be used, or the same measure of Diamond Kosher salt or Korean sea salt for pickling. If you only have regular Table Salt, use about half as much. For details see our Salt page.

  5. Comments:

      The pattern recipe I used is from a Web site titled "Great British Recipes", dedicated to preserving recipes from the British Isles - and the measures are in grams and centimeters so I presume authenticity. Every other recipe for "English Pea Salad" I have seen on the Web comes from the American Southeast or Midwest. Books on Salads have been published in England from the late 1600s, but of my stack of 9 English cookbooks, only three even have an entry for "salads" in the index - lingering depredation from the Victorian Age.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste

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