Choppy Salad? (On a Sunday Roast)

[DurhamDales]

Since moving to the NE I’ve discovered many eating establishments serve something they call a ‘choppy salad’ along side a Sunday Roast.

It looks like bits of lettuce and onion floating around in a minty liquid. What is it? And does it not make your roasties and Yorkshire pudding go soggy?

I'd never heard of it but it sounds lovely. My grandparents used to do 'cucumber and onion in malt vinegar' thing which I liked. Mint sauce was also never bought but made from chopped mint from the garden with malt vinegar and sugar. Deconstructed choppy salad maybe!

I've never heard of this, but (after Googling a recipe) it sounds delicious.

It is delicious! My mam used to make it once or twice a year on a 'special roast' eg Easter

It is in Middlesbrough.

Not in my part!

yes to red such being called monkeys blood though. Lemon tops are in top this side of the river though.

Never heard of a pickled onion then!?

I've never heard of it but I'd be interested to try it!

Yes, monkey blood. Not sure the stuff we had ever met with any fruit, it was quite a bright red.

In East Yorkshire growing up we'd have cucumber in vinegar with basically everything.

Normally Yorkshire salad is served with a starter on Yorkshire puddings and gravy if you're having roast beef. It's spring onion, cucumber and finely diced iceberg. The mint sauce is made up with sugar and much more vinegar than usual. It's much nicer than it sounds.

Yeah but that's Middlesbrough 😉😁

Monkey's blood and lemon tops definitely are a thing in Hartlepool though 😂😁

Omg i need this wet salad in my life

Mint sauce in a jar is a different concoction than old-style mint sauce which was indeed fresh mint and spring onion in malt vinegar. I loved it on new potatoes with a Sunday roast.
My mum also made finely sliced onion and cucumber in vinegar which was a staple to go with a salad. I realised last summer that really I was essentially doing the same with veggies and herbs steeped in pickling vinegar.

I grew up in NE and have never heard of it but actually think it sounds ok. We used to have grated carrot in vinegar with sugar which I liked.

However can we all stop saying wet salad it's making me feel a bit...heebie jeebied.

Oh wow! I have never before come across anyone who's heard of wet salad and now here are many!!!

I'm originally from S. Yorks and I've only found references to it as Yorkshire salad. But each family had their own recipe, so the lettuce etc, the cucumber and onion, just cucumber are all variations of wet salad. I've also seen a recipe which is the same as the lettuce, onion, mint, sugar but with finely chopped cucumber instead of the lettuce. The common denominator is the vinegar, with different combinations of a small number of other ingredients. We ate ours as part of a Sunday tea, with cold meat (usually ham), regular salad, hb egg etc, never with a hot roast.