Chapter 8: Salad and salad dressing

Salad and salad dressing
- Before refrigeration,the pantry was where the food products were kept before going into the kitchen.

What is salad?
- salad is a single food or mixture of food accompanied or bound by a dressing.
- contain meat,grains, nuts or cheese , contain no lettuce.
- can be an appetizer, entree, side dish or dessert.
- color,texture and flavor should compliment each other.

Types of salad:

• Appetizer salad - first course, attractive arrangements and garnish are important, stimulate the appetite with tangy, flavorful dressings and look good, should not be too filling
• Accompaniment salad - main course, light & flavorful, not too rich, heavy salads
• Main course salad - variety and balanced meal, cold salad plates
• Separated salad - European version of a salad, a refreshing salad after a wonderful entree to cleans the palate and ready for dessert
• Dessert salad - usually sweet and contain (fruits,sweetened gelatin)

Green salad : spinach,escarole,lettuce,chinese cabbage or celery cabbage,sprouts

Vegetables raw : avocado,broccoli,radishes, cauliflower,carrots

Vegetables : cooked,canned ( asparagus,beets,beans,corn)

Starches : dried beans, potatoes,macaroni products, grains, bread 

Fruits : apples, apricots,bananas,dates,figs 

Protein food : meat(all), poultry(all), fish and shellfish, bacon,cheese

Miscellaneous salad ingredients :

~Gelatin (plain or flavored) 

~Nuts

Four (4) basic parts of a salad:

• Base or underline
• Body
• Garnish
• Dressing

Guidelines for arranging salad:

• use cold plate
• keep the salad off the rim
• strike a good balance of colors
• height keeps a salad attractive
• cut the ingredient neatly
• make salad ingredient identifiable
• keep it simple

Preparing salad greens:

Washing ➪ Draining ➪ Crisping ➪ Tearing and Cutting ➪ Mixing ➪ Platting ➪ Garnishing ➪ Dressing (immediately before service ➪ Serving . 

Vegetable salads

~ all ingredient is vegetables other than lettuce or other leafy greens

~can be raw (cucumbers,celery)

What is bound salad?

~mixtures of foods that held together with thick dressing (mayonnaise type)

~popular cooked: chicken,eggs,rice,crab

Gelatin salad

> started with aspics,highly ornamented appetizers

> elaborate pieces made from fish stocks in natural gelatin

> purefied granular gelatin and gelatin sheets (available in the kitchen)

> know how to prepare the salads using unflavored gelatin with fruit juices and other ingredients

Compose salad

~ made by arranging two or more elements attractively on a plate

~Guidelines: 

  •Observe the guidelines for each of the salad components, such as greens, vegetables,         cooked salads, and fruit salads

  •Prepare each component separately

  •Arrangements may be plated in advance if the components will hold well

  •Prepare and add hot or warm components immediately before serving

  •Observe general guidelines of salad arrangement and presentation

Salad bar and buffet service
~ Salad bars have become the standard fixtures in restaurants
~ Popular with operators and customer
~ Always keep the salad attractive and well stocked

~Arrange the salad bar : plates,mixed greens,condiments,dressings,crackers

Salad dressing
~liquids and semi liquids that used to flavor salad
~three categories of basic salad dressing 
   -oil and vinegar dressing
   -mayonnaise-based dressing
   -cooked dressing

Ingredients :

- depends on the quality of the ingredients and most dressings are oil and vinegar or citrus  

juice

Types of oil used :  corn oil,olive oil,walnut oil

~all purpose oils have a mild,sweet flavor

Salad dressing ingredients
~vinegar: cider vinegar,wine vinegar,white or distilled vinegar
~lemon juice
~egg yolk

      

Seasoning and flavoring 
- any herbs or spices can be used for salad dressing
- dried herbs & spices need extra time to release their flavors
- salad dressing should be made 2-3 hours before serving
- other ingredients added for flavoring are mustard,Worcestershire sauce and various types 
of cheese.

Emulsions
Temporary Emulsions
→simple oil and vinegar dressings because they'll always separate after shaking
→negative side(have to be shaken or stirred before used)

Permanent Emulsions
→mayonnaise is a mixture of oil and vinegar, but bound together by egg yolks(emulsifiers)
→commercial emulsifiers are gums,starches & gelatins

Oil and vinegar dressings
Basic vinaigrette → oil+vinegar (3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar)
Mayonnaise = oil + egg yolks