Chapter 16 Salads and Dressings 263
Drying
After salad greens are washed, excess
water must be drained off. Wet greens
become soggy over time. Dressings placed on
wet greens can become diluted, making them
runny, bland, and unappetizing. Greens can
be drained in a colander or perforated hotel
pan. Patting them with absorbent paper
towel also helps, but the best method is to
use a salad spinner. A salad spinner uses
centrifugal force to remove moisture. The
greens are placed in the basket and then
spun at a high rate of speed, 16-9. The result
is salad greens that are dry and uncrushed.
Salad Dressings
A salad dressing should enhance the
flavor of the salad. Many different ingre-
dients can be used to make dressings.
However, dressings fit into one of three basic
types—simple vinaigrette, mayonnaise, or
emulsified dressing.
Simple Vinaigrettes
The French term vinaigrette tends to make
something that is beautifully simple sound
16-9 Most commercial foodservices use salad
spinners to dry their cut lettuce for salads.
technique
Preparing Salad
Greens
1. Remove any wilted outer leaves.
2. Cut away any rusted or discolored parts,
especially on the leaf tips.
3. Remove the core or stem of the salad green.
4. Cut the lettuce or greens into bite-size pieces.
5. Wash greens by submerging them in cold
water.
6. Drain in a salad spinner.
unnecessarily complex. In its most basic
form, a vinaigrette is nothing more than a
mixture of oil and vinegar. Oil is liquid at
room temperature and provides the palate
with a supple mouth feel. It also acts as an
excellent flavor carrier for other ingredients.
The task of the acidic vinegar is to “cut” the
fat, add another taste sensation, and stop the
oil from coating the palate. In short, the only
real secret to preparing a good vinaigrette
is to achieve a balance in fat, acid, and other
seasonings.
Proportion In most cases, the ratio of
three parts oil to one part vinegar by volume
achieves the desired balance for a vinai-
grette. Sometimes, due to the characteristics
of the vinegar, these proportions may need
to be altered. When working with a stronger
vinegar, most chefs choose to adjust the ratio
of oil to vinegar, using four or five parts oil
to one part vinegar, rather than dilute the
vinegar.
Simple vinaigrette doesn’t stay blended
very long. The nature of vinegar and oil is to
repel each other and separate. Therefore, it is
important to stir simple vinaigrette immedi-
ately before serving.