Sauce plays a key role in creating the taste of the dish. A salad of the highest quality products will hopelessly be spoiled by an unsuccessful dressing.
Usually, salads and vinaigrettes are seasoned with oil, sour cream, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Vegetable oil is traditionally chosen for vinaigrette. But is this really the only tasty option?
Get to know vinaigrette
Before you figure out what to season with vinaigrette instead of oil, it would be nice to figure out what kind of dish it is and why mayonnaise is rarely used for it.
Vinaigrette is a salad of French origin, which was originally seasoned with a sauce called vinaigrette, which was a simple mixture of vinegar and olive oil.
Theoretically, you can season the vinaigrette with mayonnaise, sour cream, and unsweetened yogurt. If the vinaigrette recipe includes mushrooms and beans, it is even recommended to replace the oil with mayonnaise to emphasize the taste. However, “not in oil” vinaigrette, even if it is tasty, is already a slightly different dish. But below we will consider such options.
What ingredients to use for oil dressings
What oil to fill with vinaigrette if you do not like olive? It just so happened that in Russia, from vegetable oils, the most common is sunflower. For salads, unrefined is often taken. If vinaigrette is being prepared, the oil is mixed with mustard or grated horseradish, vinegar and a little sugar. Sometimes only oil is used without any additives.
You need to focus on the composition of the salad and taste preferences. For example, add less vinegar if the dish has a lot of pickled cucumbers. Or replace it with lemon or lime juice, if you like it more.
The presence in the salad of sauerkraut and pickled cucumbers eliminates the need to add salt to the dressing.
If you do not want to use either lemon or vinegar, mix vegetable oil in a 3: 1 ratio with cucumber pickle. Another replacement option is white wine.
When choosing the best seasoning for vinaigrette, experiment, but do not forget about the sense of proportion and compatibility of the ingredients. If you choose unrefined oil, then let the vinegar be a less pronounced odor. If you prefer balsamic vinegar, then take refined oil.
Classic dressing
So, what to season with vinaigrette, if the sauce from vegetable oil is quite suitable for you, and you do not want serious experiments? We select the ingredients:
- Butter. Oil with a smell - olive or unrefined sunflower oil is recommended. But you can use the familiar and not smelling option.
- Vinegar. You can also take the usual, but it is better to prefer grape or apple. An alternative is lemon or lime juice.
- Mustard. Used for stabilization. The component is optional, but it is interesting that even people who do not like mustard willingly eat it as part of a vinaigrette. You can replace the yolk with hard-boiled chicken eggs, grated horseradish, chopped hot pepper.
- If desired, and for the brightness of the taste, the sauce is complemented by herbs and spices. Optimal marjoram, thyme, tarragon, basil, rosemary.
Take 3 parts of oil for 1 part of vinegar. Salt (preferably large) and pepper are added to taste in vinegar, then mixed with oil. Beat the ingredients or place in a closed container and shake vigorously several times. If mustard is added, then oil and vinegar are mixed first.
The principle of preparing the sauce is almost always the same, only the components change.
Season the vinaigrette just before serving.
Interesting additions to classic dressing
Since a sauce based on oil and vinegar is the most suitable option, we will learn how to deliciously season the vinaigrette without departing much from the classic recipe.
The universal component is garlic. It is enough to grind one slice and add to ordinary sauce, so that the taste becomes much more saturated.
Or enrich the oil-vinegar mixture with vegetables: baked and mashed pepperoni or mashed tomato. By the same principle, you can add olives and capers.
An unexpected component is honey. Literally 1 teaspoon in 3 tbsp. tablespoons of oil.
You can also finely chop onions, mix with chopped green onions, parsley, dill and add the resulting mass to the sauce.
Egg and broth dressing
Prepare 1 raw egg yolk, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable broth, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of oil. You will also need 3% vinegar, but its amount is chosen to taste. The neutral option is 1 teaspoon.
Mix the broth, yolk and oil in a small saucepan and place on a slow fire. Stir constantly, heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from the stove and add vinegar. Cool.
Egg and caper dressing
Grate 2 yolks from hard-boiled eggs. Add half a tablespoon of dry mustard, 2 teaspoons of finely chopped onions, dill and capers. Salt, pepper, pour half a cup of 3% vinegar and ¾ cup vegetable oil.
Mix all components well and beat.
Dressing from different types of oil and vinegar
Take 3 tbsp. tablespoons of olive and refined sunflower oil. Add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of wine (red or white) and berry (cherry or raspberry) vinegar. Pour a pinch of salt and black pepper.
Mix the ingredients, place in a jar and shake well.
The sauce is suitable not only for vinaigrette, but also for other vegetable salads.
When mayonnaise is appropriate in a vinaigrette
How to season vinaigrette for people who prefer mayonnaise and sour cream in salads? Well, let the vinaigrette traditionally season with oil, but nobody canceled the experiments. And the recipe for the salad itself does not always correspond to the canons.
The most common ingredients include beets, potatoes, sauerkraut, pickles and onions. But there are many ways to make a salad more satisfying. For example, add meat and boiled eggs to the specified set of components. And such a salad can be seasoned with mayonnaise.
Also, this sauce is indispensable if beans and salted mushrooms are added to the vinaigrette. However, in this case, it is better to add mustard and lemon juice to mayonnaise to emphasize the taste of the salad.
Is it possible to season vinaigrette with sour cream
As in the case of mayonnaise, it is more appropriate to ask, not how to season the vinaigrette, but from what to cook it.
Make vinaigrette from boiled beets, fresh cucumbers, canned green peas, corn and red chili peppers. The result is a "Mexican vinaigrette." Mix sour cream with herbs and season the resulting dish.
The famous film director Eldar Ryazanov even came up with his own recipe, in which he mixed mayonnaise and sour cream. Once he didn’t like the vinaigrette served at the hotel. Then the artist mixed sour cream, lemon juice, mayonnaise, mustard, sugar and pepper. Cheese, walnuts and apples were added to the salad. The resulting dish cannot be called a classic vinaigrette, but Eldar Aleksandrovich was very pleased.
Is it possible to season vinaigrette with yogurt
And again the answer is yes. Add 1 tbsp of yogurt to 150 ml. tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 1 minced clove of garlic, salt, pepper. Beat everything thoroughly.
The sauce is suitable for the classic vinaigrette recipe. But since we are thinking how to season vinaigrette to get a non-standard taste, why not go even further? For example, there is a recipe for vinaigrette, which involves the use of yogurt as a sauce. But the familiar set of products has been changed.
Boil beets, parsnips and carrots. Dice. Put on a dish pre-coated with lettuce leaves. Pour yogurt dressing and sprinkle with walnuts.
Diet dressings
Vinaigrette can be used as a diet dish. But variations on low-calorie salad recipes are limited. Only beets, potatoes, carrots, boiled beans, onions and sauerkraut. It is even recommended to exclude potatoes or use in small quantities. But green peas are allowed.
Vegetables are boiled and finely chopped. The salad is seasoned with olive oil, low-fat kefir, low-fat cottage cheese or natural yogurt.
If in doubt
If people with so different taste preferences gather at the table that you can’t imagine how you can season the vinaigrette to please all eaters, then just give the guests a choice.
Put several types of sauces on the table, not forgetting the usual mayonnaise and vegetable oil without additives. Dressing the salad right in your plate, each guest can not only choose the sauce to taste, but also try several options for the same dish.
What else you need to know about vinaigrette dressings
The taste of vinaigrette can be improved by adding sugar and milk to it - literally one spoonful. First enter sugar and mix well the salad so that the crystals dissolve in the vegetable juice. This manipulation will make the vegetables more juicy, so do not overdo it.
Then add milk. Stir everything again and place the dish in the refrigerator. After a while, the components are saturated, and the taste of the salad will become more saturated.
If you choose a sauce with boiled egg yolk, it is not necessary to throw out protein. Chop it finely and add to the finished dressing.
The amount of dressing should be sufficient so that the vegetables are well saturated. But if the sauce is collected at the bottom of the salad bowl, then it has been added more than necessary.
Vinaigrette during the feasts leaves quickly and in large quantities, but still do not cook it too much. When stored in the refrigerator, it will quickly lose its taste. In addition, it is not recommended to store salads seasoned with oil-based sauces for a long time. If olive oil is used, it quickly thickens in the refrigerator.
If you do not want all the ingredients to be colored with beetroot juice, then use a little trick. After cutting the beets, fill it with vegetable oil and only then mix with the rest of the vegetables. Then each component will retain its color, and the salad will turn out multi-colored.
Well, now you know how to season vinaigrette, except for oil, and how to replace the unloved components of sauces. Bon appetit and successful culinary experiments!