Southern Pacific Railroad’s Dressing

You know, Max, back in the heyday of the railroad dining cars, refrigeration was not all that advanced. Nor was there much (bottled salad dressings only began to appear on grocery store shelves in the late 1950’s) variety in salad dressings. Heck, people didn’t even eat all that many salads back then. Fresh salad ingredients were unavailable much of the year, and mayonnaise seemed to be THE dressing of choice.

So it is no wonder that fancy restaurants, hotels, and railroad dining cars made a big deal of their “special dressings”, much like today where restaurants push their own House Dressing. I have found dozens of signature dressings that the railroads claimed were their own inventions. Interestingly enough, they can still be found today on the salad dressing shelves, but without the attribution to the railroad chefs who invented or perfected the recipes.

This signature dressing was simply called the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Dressing, and it is unique in using currant jelly instead of the sugar food processors would use today.

I’ll bet the railroad cooks on the Southern Pacific Line made this by the gallons.

Southern Pacific Railroad’s Dressing:

1 tablespoon English mustard
1 level teaspoon salt
¼ cup white vinegar
½ cup currant jelly
2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup catsup

Stir mustard and salt into the vinegar until dissolved. Add jelly and stir to smooth. Mix in the mayonnaise and catsup. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 3 1/3 cups dressing.

This will keep easily two weeks in the fridge–if you can keep from slathering it on with an overly generous hand.