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How to make perfect salad dressing

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This article in the New York Times gives credence to what I've known for years: for really great salad dressing, use more oil, less vinegar.

I've always made my dressings with a 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar (or other acid). Some people (like Martha Stewart) recommend 3 parts oil to 2 parts vinegar, but that is just too much vinegar for my taste. In fact, growing up my mom often dressed our salads with just an excellent extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.  That's still my favorite way to dress a salad.



[photo credit of my kids' favorite salad: Stefania Pomponi Butler; salad bowl is a made out of Oregon myrtlewood]

September 20, 2006 in Salads, Tips/Tricks/Shortcuts |

Comments

Mrs. Featherbottom

Do you recommend a certain brand of olive oil? I've been making my own salad dressing ever since I had salad over at your house. Yum! But the olive oil I use never tastes as good. Suggestion?

Posted by: Mrs. Featherbottom | September 20, 2006 at 07:00 PM

CityMama

You can keep some fancier olive oils around for special salads (check gourmet shops and the like) but for everyday, I actually really like the imported ex. virgin olive oil from Costco (it's from Tuscany and it's cheap.) Also, Trader Joe's has good ones, too. For salads just make sure it's dark green and labelled "extra virgin."

Posted by: CityMama | September 20, 2006 at 08:07 PM

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    I use the stainless line. I love it because you can put it in the dishwasher. If you like to cook it is sooo worth it to have quality pots and pans. I recommend buying a set on sale and then filling in extras as you need them. (Watch for sales and specials.)
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