Russian Salad Dressing (James Beard)

This is Mom's favorite dressing. It tastes delicious with endive and arugula. She swears she got it out of James Beard's American Cookery, but we can't find it in there anywhere!

1/4 cp sugar
3 T water
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
2 1/2 T lemon juice
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T vinegar
1 cp salad oil
1/2 cp catsup
1/4 cp grated onion

In a saucepan, cook sugar and water until it spins a thread, about 230°. Cool syrup. Combine remaining ingredients; add syrup and whisk to blend well. Chill thoroughly.
Makes about 2 cups of Russian dressing for salad.