Beyond the Bottle: Unleashing Flavor with Homemade Vinaigrette
Simple, high-quality ingredients have a timeless appeal. The humble Vinaigrette continues to be a staple in modern cuisine due to its versatility and ability to enhance the natural flavors of fresh ingredients. Moreover, homemade dressings allow us to exercise our personal taste; they are customizable to individual preference, which cannot be said for a store-bought option. We live in an era of tremendous availability and consumption, so a little reminder of simple resourcefulness in the kitchen is welcome. The advice below is as practical now as it was when it was first written, and should refine your vinaigrette skills as they have for us.
The advice comes from Good Salads and Salad Dressings, published in 1948. A vinaigrette is, fundamentally, a simple emulsion of oil and vinegar that can be enhanced with many other flavors and ingredients, making it a popular choice for dressing all varieties of salads.
French Dressing (Vinaigrette)
This is the simplest and perhaps best dressing of all, consisting of olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, wine vinegar being the best for the purpose. The proportions may vary according to taste, but the oil should always predominate, usually in the proportion of two or three parts to one of the vinegar. It is sometimes customary, when a plainly dressed salad is being served with a roast, to sprinkle a tablespoonful of the gravy from the roast over the salad after it has been dressed. This must be done, of course, at the very last minute before service. This variation is called “Vinaigrette au Jus.” It is better, by the way, in making this dressing, to dissolve the salt first in the vinegar, and then to add the oil and pepper.
I may be taken to task here by the amateur in salads for adding the oil and vinegar together. The alternative is to turn over the leaves first in the oil, then repeat the process with the seasoned vinegar.
French dressing, or vinaigrette, is made with the oil always in greater proportion. The Vinaigrette au Jus variation includes a spoonful of meat juices added just before serving, but other additions, like fresh herbs or lemon, would be welcome as well. For best results, we agree that the salt should be dissolved in the vinegar before mixing in the oil. While some prefer to dress salad leaves with oil first and then add the seasoned vinegar, the author, Ambrose Heath, suggests combining them together. We find that combining the ingredients first allows for better integration and, as a result, a more even coating on the salad.