Salad dressing 101 -- I love easy charts :)

Sort of, cheezz

Like Curious says it depends on the acid- but I never start with the oil- I start with either lemon juice or vinegar and whatever else I am mixing together- then I drizzle the oil in a little at a time while madly whisking (or I do it in the food processor). I generally add a little Dijon (not powdered mustard) and a bit of honey to cut the acid. My ratio is usually 2 or 3 to 1.

 
Moi aussi. I vary between about 2 or 3 to 1. But I don't measure now. My vinegar of choice is rice

because if its mildness and no flavours to get in the way, so it takes less oil. A good balsamic seems less acidic, I find. And some good wine vinegars or fruity ones such as Fauchon's wonderful raspberry, are not so needy as well.

And I always use my baby multi-whisk so I find that about 1/2 tsp. of Dijon helps with the emulsion.

Then I think it also depends on how you pretreat the shallots if you use them.

I guess.....it depends.

 
It all depends, as others have said, but I have discovered

I believe, the secret to the absolutely scrumptious dressings on salads in France--it is 2:1, excellent olive oil and a good acid. Just love them.

 
That's odd. Julia Child, Jaques Pepin & most of the French cooking sites I see

Use the classic 3:1 proportions, and sometimes even less acid than that.

 
It's becoming an interesting question. When I think of salads in the So of France, they are

basically with really good (and that makes a difference as well) olive oil with just a hint of acid, usually lemon juice. Tending not to use much else and relying on the freshness and flavour intensity of the salad ingredients. Simple.

Winter salads, maybe in the north, are more reliant on the zing of the dressing to compensate for understated flavours of the major ingredients. So often shallots.

In Italy, my recollection for the most part, is just oil, and add something else squeezed over if needed.

But I am not crazy about salads here, in general, and I rely on shallots in my vinaigrette: REALLY wonderful olive oil (Basilippo from Spain), hazelnut oil, and a spot of Dijon. But still, I think about 3:1, again depending on what I have done with the shallots in advance. Depends on the oil, what it is dressing, whatever herbs may be added.....

I think our tomatoes don't compare with something picked off a hillside in Italy, with enough acid and excitement not to demand much of a dressing. The heat of the sunshine still resides in those tomatoes and killing it with lemon juice....is just not likely to happen. The romaine that I get at stores here, needs to be attacked by a dressing to get the plastic flavour and smell out of it. In Europe, in would be more difficult to find romaine that even smells unappealing in the store.

In most cases, in Europe, you mix your own at the table as you eat it.

And it may be possible that our tastes are changing from the days of Pepin and Child.

It depends.

 
So...not cut & dried ratios. Yes, I think it would very much depend on the acid,

what it's being served on, and freshness of the ingredients.

 
Where do you buy that olive oil here in the US? Do you get the white, purple or green label

here is also a natural evoo that has been aromatized (sp?)

 
One thing we're doing now is using only a smidgeon of salt in the dressing and then sprinkling salt

on the salad before dressing it. I got that from an article by Bobby Flay. It's easy to do and we like the result.

 
Also, it just occurred to me that I have another favourite: Olivier (French) au Citron. A perfectly

infused olive oil...au lemon juice. I've had this served in France and in fact on Air France, just alone. No acid, just the flavour of the lemon. AF served it with a salad. And on AF again on fresh lobster. Nothing else added.

I am not the biggest fan of Olivier olive oils but they do a grand job of this one, IMO.

 
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