The Escoffier Series, Chapter 11, Cold Preparations concludes
Salads and salad dressings are the topics today.
Of course salads can be almost anything. Escoffier has some ideas about what to do with some ingredients, so we cover that. Dressings are a bit more restrained. Lots of variety but only a few main, base sources. Of course, the vinaigrette is discussed.
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I’ve mentioned on some previous Escoffier series episodes that Classical French cooking is thought of as almost unapproachable. Cooking for the elite by the elite, so to speak. In a way who does the cooking is not wrong. How it is right is the skill and attention to craft necessary to do a job well. If you played basketball in high school, it is rare indeed that you’ll pick up with the pros and be equal. RIP Kobe.
Classical French cooking is part of a culture not much longer around, but people who enjoy a thing done well and can pay for it are as many as those who can and want to do that thing well.
The last point I want to make before we get into salads and dressings is from Escoffier’s forward to the first edition. He writes, “I have no pretentions that this guide is exhaustive; even if it were today, it would no longer be so tomorrow, because progress marches on and each day brings forth new recipes and new methods.” Indeed.
In 122 years the amount of new foods to cook and eat is staggering. The dressings he mentions can be altered, and he would probably be the first to encourage that and approve.
There are two main types of salad: simple salads and composed salads. Simple salads include the mixed greens salads you get when you dine out. They include more and I’ll get to that.
Composed salads are what the name suggests. Items are placed in a fashion on the plate, dressed, and garnished.
In some cases, a leaf lettuce salad is a composed salad. The infamous Chef’s Salad, the Cobb Salad, and the Nicoise Salad are three.
Already we have forks in the road. Simple salads and composed. In the composed category, Escoffier adds Mayonnaise salads. Macaroni salad and pasta salad and egg salad and tuna salad all are composed, even if they aren’t pretty, and suitable for dinner or at least a substantial portion with the main course. We might be able to sneak cole slaw into the composed salad category.
In both cases, simple and composed, the dressings can serve either one. There aren’t dressings only for composed salads.
Perhaps the most famous dressing ever, and probably perfected by the French is the vinaigrette. It has only 4 ingredients, is never emulsified, and is wonderful. Vinegar, oil, salt, pepper.
Variety comes to that dressing by the choice of vinegar and oil and, in some small effect, the salt and pepper. The traditional ratio of a vinaigrette is 3:1, three parts oil to one part vinegar. A lot of vinegars these days are very harsh. Too harsh, too acidic. I’ve found many times, 4:1 is necessary to tame the acid enough to enjoy eating the salad. Salt change mostly is in smoked or not smoked. Various small-batch salts have distinct flavors. I have not tasted enough to know if the small amount used will give a nice sea aroma to the dressing. Pepper is chiefly black or white. Aside from preferring the aesthetic of white pepper in a white salad, say Hearts of Palm, the flavor is different between them.
Cream dressing is interesting and I’ve never made it. I’ll fix that. Cream dressing is made with cream. Three parts heavy cream to one part vinegar, or better yet, lemon juice. Acid is well known to curdle milk when it reaches about 180 degrees. No worries when it’s kept cold. Escoffier mentions this is a good dressing for cabbage or young lettuces.
There are two more I’ll mention of the 6 he lists. The first is mustard and cream dressing. He lists to make the cream dressing with mustard. We can easily use already-made cream dressing and add whole-grain mustard. Of course, you can use Dijon or any mustard you prefer. I like the flavor and appearance of coarse-grain mustard. Escoffier identifies beetroot or celeriac, also called celery root, are two good vegetables for this dressing.
The other is mayonnaise. Classic mayonnaise is made with egg yolks, oil, a bit of vinegar or lemon juice, and salt. I’ve found mustard is a useful additional ingredient to help the emulsification and add flavor. This kind of mayonnaise is made in a mixer and the oil is drizzled in very slowly. You can find YouTube videos about this. What is also possible is a whole egg mayonnaise made with an immersion blender and those are quick and yummy.
A few points about simple salads. Less dressing is generally better than more, regardless of the type. Most vegetables make excellent additions to simple salads, or by themselves as simple salads. Beets are better baked than boiled then, when cool enough to hold, peeled and cut into julienne. While the beet is still warm add to it a dressing so as the beet cools, it draws in the flavor of the dressing. Cauliflower and pearl onions and celery hearts and potatoes and sliced carrots and mushrooms on and on. Vegetables cooked to slightly underdone, don’t shock in cold water, and added to the dressing make an amazing salad or component to a salad.
Some vegetables can be marinated in dressing for a few hours. Cole Slaw is maybe the most well-known. I’m a big fan of Cole Slaw with homemade dressing. The store stuff, in nearly every case, has far more sugar than I want.
One salad I want to mention particularly is a celeriac salad. Thin slices of celeriac marinated in the mustard cream dressing is simply amazing. Celeriac is in most produce sections. It is also pretty difficult to cut, so care must be taken to cut it and not you.
One last quick procedure. If you grow your cukes in the summer, leave the skin on, if you want, slice them thin, and salt them to draw some water out. Drain the water and add a vinaigrette with a bit of chervil or tarragon. I’ve also made this with a bit of sour cream and chives. Serve very cold.
Composed salads have nearly as many possibilities as simple salads. One addition Escoffier mentions is the use of cold rice bound with vinaigrette, pressed into a mold, and tipped out onto a platter. Arrange around that the various marinated vegetables.
A composed salad doesn’t need to be complicated or ornate. A platter of perfectly ripe tomatoes dressed with a light vinaigrette is a composed salad.
I want to discuss vinegar for a moment. I mentioned that most of them are harsh. Rice wine vinegar is less harsh. It’s a very good choice of acid since it has little of its own flavor which means it won’t mask what’s added to it. The smallest and most reasonable amount of vinaigrette to make is a quarter of a cup. 1 Tablespoon vinegar to 3 tablespoons of oil. If the vinegar is too harsh, add a dribble of water. It is water in essence and will help cut that acid.
A note about oils. Making a vinaigrette without the popular seed, or so-called vegetable oils, seems pretty challenging. Some seed oils are worse than others. Nut oils are good for flavor. They also go rancid quickly and are spendy. Avocado oil isn’t terrible. Canola oil is terrible. If you can eat it, peanut oil is a good oil for dressings.
Flavor contrast and compatibility come into play in salads. Potatoes make great salads. They are a pretty good canvas for flavors and potato salads can vary widely. They also tend to support mustards and high acid vinegars and tender herbs, which seems ironic. Beets, too, can take bold flavors and delicate herbs like chervil or tarragon.
There is also a technique we used to do at the Governors’ Club. Blanch the vegetables, we did both cauliflower and pearl onions, and add the just nearly done vegetable to pickle juice. As it cools, the vegetable absorbs the pickle juice and the flavor permeates every bite. Saffron or turmeric, a similar color with very different flavors, adds a very nice visual element to cauliflower.
This is just the beginning of what’s possible with dressings and salads. With planting season coming, maybe plan your garden around the kinds of salads you want to make. If you make pickled cauliflower or pearl onions, or the Mid Atlantic classic Chow-Chow, you can do that for year-round use.