Tips On Making Green Salads

The fundamentals of making a good green salad require fresh, interesting greens and a good quality dressing. To our way of thinking, the only good dressing is homemade. Once you discover how easy it is to make your own dressing, hopefully, the bottled types will be a distant memory.

Select fresh greens without brown spots or "burnt" edges if possible. Try to buy lettuces that look crisp and moist, not wilted and dry. Smaller lettuce heads tend to be younger and less bitter near the core than gargantuan heads. We're fondest of leaf lettuce (red and green), romaine, butter lettuce, escarole (with its own desirable bitterness), and spinach. Iceberg lettuce is usually crisp but lacks the flavor of these other varieties; we're most likely to use it as a shredded garnish for dishes such as enchiladas or burritos. You'll need to experiment with the greens available in your region to find your favorites.

To prepare the greens, separate the leaves from whatever white, inner core may exist. Rinse them under cold running water or swish them in a clean sink full of cold water to allow the sandy grit to fall to the bottom, and drain well. Tear the leaves into bite-size pieces (either before or after drying them) and be certain to dry them well. We prefer to use a salad spinner, but you can pat leaves dry on paper toweling if you like. Cleaned dry lettuces will keep well for two or three days when packed into a large plastic bag along with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture.

A good salad dressing consists of an appealing blend of fat and acid—in other words, oil and vinegar (or citrus juice)—and seasonings. The vinegars that are best for salads, in our opinion, are rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and balsamic vinegar. Rice vinegar is light-colored and mild, often found in the Asian foods section of your market. White wine vinegar is a little more acidic usually, often found flavored with fresh or dried herbs. Red wine vinegar is a little more assertive yet, and is sometimes sold flavored with herbs. (There is nothing inherently wrong with a flavored vinegar so long as the flavoring fits into the cook's overall plan.) Balsamic is a white wine vinegar aged a long time in casks so that it becomes dark red in appearance and is especially mellow. (Note to dieters: A little sprinkling of balsamic vinegar alone makes an acceptable dressing on greens or vegetables.)

Plain vegetable oil — "salad" oil — works to make a salad dressing, but olive oil packs a lot more flavor. "Extra-virgin" grade costs a bit more than "pure" grade olive oil, but is worth it; it has a more delicate, less acidic, flavor. Supermarket brands such as Bertolli now offer extra-virgin grade olive oil, while specialty food stores may offer you a shelf-full of different brands to taste, many of them quite expensive. Please your taste buds and your wallet and buy the brand you like best. Life is full of pleasant decisions to make!

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis.