Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A RECIPE FOR SALAD, by SYDNEY SMITH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A RECIPE FOR SALAD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: To make this condiment, your poet begs
Last Line: "fate cannot harm me, -- I have dined to-day."
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Sidney
Variant Title(s): A Receipt For A Salad;salad;recipe For A Salad
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Mnemonics; Salads; Cookery


To make this condiment your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two hard boiled eggs;
Two boiled potatoes, passed through kitchen
sieve,
Smoothness and softness to the salad give;
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, half suspected, animate the whole;
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment that bites so soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt;
Four times the spoon with oil from Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar, procured from town;
And lastly, o'er the flavored compound toss
A magic soupcon of anchovy sauce.
O green and glorious! O herbaceous treat!
'T would tempt the dying anchorite to eat;
Back to the world he'd turn his fleeting soul,
And plunge his fingers in the salad-bowl;
Serenely full, the epicure would say,
"Fate cannot harm me, -- I have dined to-day."




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net