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On Fri, 12 Aug 2005, wrote:
> In an old (turn-of-the-last-century) book of recipes from Delmonico's
> called "The Epicurean" there is a menu for a dinner in honor of the
> Russian Fleet in 1862, or
> thereabouts. One of the hors d'oevres was something called "Snit-mitch
> a la Russe".
This is entirely speculative, based on no evidence whatsoever, so those
whose time is valuable are hereby warned to skip to the next message.
I used occasionally to meet a dish called "russian salad" which consisted
of root vegetables, diced into quarter-inch cubes, parboiled, mixed up
together with cooked green peas, dressed in a light mayonnaise, and served
cold. It was quite tasty, and also had a curious non-culinary use in the
days when railway carriages were divided into separate compartments.
Anyway - I wonder whether your dish might be a russian salad trying to
make itself sound exotic by using a Foreign Name. "A la russe" is simple
enough, and I would guess that Snit-Mitch was an attempt at "schnitt" and
"misch" - something chopped up and mixed together.
Actually, if they included some hard-boiled egg, and had some caviare
close at hand, it was probably delicious.
John Wexler
Edinburgh, Scotland
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