Tip – Don’t Use Expensive Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Salad Dressing
There is no reason to use good olive oil when making a mustard vinaigrette. Why?
The mustard overpowers the taste of the olive oil. You might as well use vegetable oil or canola oil. You do however want to use decent French mustard with lots of flavor. I typically use a Dijon mustard. If you do insist on using olive oil, be careful not to over beat the olive oil when combining with the other ingredients so not to lose its delicate flavor and make it bitter. You may want to try making a blend of olive oil and some other type of oil.
I like to mix my vinaigrette in a used jar with a cover for easy storage. Usually I save an old mayonnaise or baby food jar. If the dressing gets low, just add some more ingredients, taste, and adjust the amounts. Some recipes insist on using a whisk to combine ingredients although I find a fork works just fine.
What vinegar you use is your choice and depends on what you are putting the vinaigrette on. I prefer a Balsamic vinegar, but you can use red or white, cider, flavored, infused, or even try no vinegar at all and substitute a citrus juice. (but then it wouldn’t be called a vinaigrette, would it?)
What salad dressing tips do you have?
For more of mine, visit my How to Make a Great Mustard Vinaigrette Recipe
For some reason I tend toward a lighter vinegar with mustard–sometimes champagne, sometimes rice wine vinegar. Both really let the mustard and, generally, herbs (esp. chives) come through. I guess that’s why I always think of balsamic vinegar dressings in the winter, when the tender fresh greens or garden-fresh herbs aren’t to be had.
Do be careful of keeping vinaigrettes in glass jars with metal screw-top lids–the acid can really do damage to the rubber seal. But I don’t like plastic containers for them, either. I’ve always favored glass jars with plastic lids (just be sure to discard the cardboard liner in the lid, if there is one).
A salad dressing tip that I give to my customers. After putting the greens through a salad spinner and draining the water, put the greens back into the salad spinner and add the salad dressing and give it another spin. The results are just enough salad dressing on the greens without saturating the salad and thus less salad dressing is used.
Hi Steve: If you don’t like the commercial commercial blue cheese preps because they are too thick or too overpowering, dilute the mix with an equal part of buttermilk. Tasty.
actually, i always make salad dressing with natural and fresh vegetables. this one that i always made a lot of times. firstly, i made tomato sauce from fresh tomato and it blended. mix with boiled egg, lemon just take the water, cucumber, belnd it all but not too soft.
…..made some fresh beets the other day and wanted a salad-sort-of taste which did not over-whelm the beauty of the beets….an apricot infused balsamic(Trader Joes) and olive oil (just a tiny bit of each) took them(the beets) to another level.