Salad is a dish that is very often prepared both for some holidays and on ordinary days. In the world there are a huge number of variations of this work of culinary art. So, which of them are the most popular and unusual?
general information
As a rule, all salads are quite simple to prepare and are a mixture of different ingredients in certain proportions. All of them are seasoned with some kind of sauce that you can cook yourself or use the usual dressings for many, such as mayonnaise or vegetable oil.
Salad is a dish that is often prepared during diets. This is due to the fact that as such a culinary creation, you can serve a combination of low-calorie foods and fasten them with a light dressing. An example of this is a simple salad of fresh vegetables, which is especially often prepared in the summer season, when it is quite simple to get components for it with a high content of vitamins and low calories.
Commonly Used Products
As mentioned above, a salad is a mixture of different products that are held together by a certain sauce. As practice shows, most often fresh or boiled vegetables (less often canned vegetables), meat and sausage products, fish, mushrooms, as well as peas, corn and other legumes are used for their preparation. Often, they include various kinds of seafood, which are famous for their high content of useful trace elements. Almost every dish includes dill, spring onion or parsley, because what is a salad without greens? It is this ingredient that often gives the finished product an exquisite freshness.
Common salad dressing options
To bind the crushed ingredients, you can create the sauce yourself. On the Internet and in old notes there are a considerable number of options for their preparation. However, despite this, most housewives use the simplest dressings, which can be purchased at almost any grocery store and used without any pre-treatment, in its purest form. Most often it is mayonnaise, vegetable oil (olive or sunflower), fresh lemon juice, sour cream or ready-made dressings, which are on many counters.
Most of the most cunning housewives, to give a brighter taste and exquisite aroma to the finished dish, add various spices to its dressing. This is usually ground black pepper, dry mustard, sugar, salt or a mixture of herbs
What do salads eat with?
It, that is, salad, can not only be used as an independent culinary work, but also be combined with other types of dishes. In particular, it is in perfect harmony with the side dishes and hot. What to serve ready salad directly depends on what it is prepared for. The principle of opposites works great here. In particular, a light salad should be created for fatty and heavy foods - this will give the main dish some freshness. As for vegetables and light side dishes, then everything is exactly the opposite.
Green salads
The appearance of such dishes has recently gained increasing popularity. All of them are recommended by nutritionists and include only low-calorie components. Green salad is a real dietary masterpiece, which is prepared, as a rule, from fresh herbs, and in some cases with the addition of vegetables, boiled chicken eggs, chicken, etc.
Many professional chefs recommend using one little trick: they do not recommend using more than three types of greens to create them. Vivid examples of green culinary creations are salads such as Nicoise and Cobb.
Fruit salads
Recently, fruit salads have become quite popular. Some chefs classify them as desserts, but most still tend to call a mixture of fruits with the original dressing a separate type of salad.
To prepare such a dish, you can take different berries, fruits, among which there can be either seasonal or exotic. Often they add citrus fruits to give greater juiciness. An important point in the preparation of such a salad is the choice of dressing. Often, fermented milk products, such as yogurt, are chosen as it.
To give the finished dish a brighter and sweeter taste, you can add sugar or powdered sugar, vanillin (for flavor), as well as a minimum amount of spicy spices. Very often, the composition of such a salad is supplemented with meat, usually a boiled chicken.
Often, fruit salad is prepared according to this recipe: tangerines, apples, kiwi and bananas are mixed in equal proportions, nuts are added to them. Such a mass should be well sprinkled with powdered sugar, seasoned with fruit fat yogurt and mix.
Mushroom
Mushroom salad is a mixture of the most nutritious ingredients. Any housewife should remember that mushrooms are such a product that very quickly causes a feeling of satiety. This is what should be taken into account when choosing a dish that will be served with a salad of them. An ideal option would be a side dish of potatoes, as well as light cereals.
Each dish has pre-cooked mushrooms before they are combined with other ingredients. As a rule, such processes consist in cooking or frying. Mushrooms are often used in pickled form. Beans, boiled meat, balyk, and also fresh vegetables are perfectly combined with them .
Seafood salads
Fans of fish, shellfish and other seafood will never remain indifferent to salads prepared from them. Everyone is well aware of the beneficial and almost healing properties of the meat of the inhabitants of the ocean and sea.
The most common salad products are shrimp, squid, crayfish, crabs, mussels, as well as fish of various species. Very often they are combined with aquatic vegetation, which also gives some piquancy to the finished dish. Cheese and vegetables can be great additions. Often in such a dish spices are added in the form of pepper or herbs. As a dressing for fish salads, vegetable oils, mayonnaise, sour cream are perfectly suitable, but the most original options will be hand-made sauces.
A great option for a salad with seafood - "Sea". It is prepared from 100 g of boiled squid, the same number of crab sticks, 60 g of grated cheese, a pair of hard-boiled eggs. All these ingredients need to be chopped, mixed well, seasoned with mayonnaise and lemon juice, pepper, and, sprinkled with herbs, the finished salad can be served.
Meat
In the list of recipes for popular salads, the most common are those that include meat and sausage products. The most striking examples of such can be: the traditional "Olivier", "Capital", "Forest Glade", "Caesar", "Tenderness". When serving, you should definitely remember that salads containing meat are quite nutritious and you need to select the appropriate side dishes that will be lighter.
Meat salads are most often seasoned with mayonnaise and sour cream, as well as sauces, less often vegetable oil and lemon juice. A good idea is to add spices and spices to them.
Many love the Inspiration salad with meat. In order to cook it, you need to mix in one dish 250 g chopped straw pork smoked pork (better to take a tenderloin), a couple of fresh tomatoes, 150 grams of grated cheese, as well as one crushed clove of garlic. All ingredients must be seasoned with mayonnaise, pepper, salt, add greens to them and mix well.
Vegetable
Many nutritionists often recommend eating vegetable salads during weight loss, which contain a large number of nutrients and trace elements. They are most often prepared on the basis of cucumbers, tomatoes and cabbage, and it is better if they are presented fresh. To give greater freshness to the finished dish, you can use greens. Mayonnaise is most often used as a dressing, however, it is worth remembering that it immediately adds several tens of calories to a dish. A more useful option would be vegetable oil or lemon juice.
To prepare the most common vegetable salad, you can cut into equal proportions fresh vegetables - tomatoes and cucumbers. To them should be added a little onion, as well as salt and pepper. Ready salad should be poured with sunflower oil and mix.
Tips to Know About Making Salads
1. In order for the vegetable salad to turn out to be the freshest in appearance and taste, it should be cut and seasoned right before serving. In this case, the vegetables will retain their original color and condition.
2. In the event that it is necessary to perform thermal treatment over vegetables, it is advisable to choose the most gentle option. In the best case, the ingredients should be stewed or lightly fried in a small amount of oil.
3. What is a salad? This is a harmonious combination of crushed products. In order for the taste to be original and correct, it is necessary to choose the perfect cut option in advance. In this matter, attention should be paid to the density of the product: the denser it is, the finer it should be sliced.
4. It is desirable to cook such a dish in glass, ceramic or enameled dishes - so the taste of the ingredients will be preserved best.
5. If the list of ingredients contains vegetables such as carrots, beets or potatoes, it is better to cook them in a peel - this way the largest number of trace elements is stored. They need to be cleaned immediately before cutting.
6. During the cooking process, hot and cold ingredients cannot be combined - it is advisable to bring them to a more uniform temperature before the process.
7. It is necessary to decorate any salad only with edible ingredients and preferably those that are in its composition.