Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Salads & Salads Dressing

WHAT IS A SALAD?

Some of the definitions which best describe a SALAD are:

1. A dish of raw leafy green vegetables often tossed with pieces of other raw or
cooked vegetables, fruit, cheese, or other ingredients and served with a dressing.
2. A cold dish of chopped vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, or other food,
usually prepared with a dressing, such as mayonnaise.
3. Food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist
dressing; usually consisting of or including greens.
4. A salad is food served with dressing. The food can be a cold dish, or green
vegetables or a mixture of fruits, or a hot mixture of hot piquant food, or a
frozen mixture of bland fruits, or chopped food in hot aspic, coleslaw potato or
meat. (Theory of cookery)

In general, salads are cold preparations made from raw, cooked or blanched
vegetables, singly or in combination, and can include other items such as fresh
herbs, fruits, nuts and cooked eggs, pasta, rice, fish, meat and poultry.
Salads in different countries are known by a different name. Some of the
common names’ it is pronounced are:
Nederland: Salad, Sla, Mangles
French: Salad
German: Salat
Italian: Insalata
Portuguese: Salada
Spanish: Ensalada
Swedish: Salad, Grönsallad
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

A SALAD CAN BE SERVED IN VARIOUS DIFFERENT COURSES,

SUCH AS:
1. SALAD COURSE: In a very formal meal experience, salads are sometime
served after a main course. Such salads are light and refreshing in nature and
provide a change from the heavy main course. Well-dressed salad greens and
savoury vegetables are a popular choice.
2. MAIN COURSE: It is also substantial enough as a main dish. One of the
body building foods such as meat, fish, egg or cheese forms the base. The
volume and richness of these salads are adequate to satisfy a normal appetite.
3. ACCOMPANIMENTS: The salad is also served as accompaniment with the
main course.

A SALAD CAN BE OF TWO TYPES:

SIMPLE OR PLAIN SALAD
These salads can be further subdivided in green salad or salad in season, which
is served raw or cooked. Such salads normally use only a single kind of
vegetable as a base and only one or two ingredients in small quantity as
decoration or garnish.
Some examples of such salads with appropriate dressing are: 3:1 ratio
Name Ingredients Dressings
Cabbage Cabbage Julienne Vinaigrette / Mustard
Cream
Cucumber Roundels Of Cucumber Vinaigrette
Lettuce Salad Leaves Vinaigrette
Tomato Slices Of Tomato With Vinaigrette
Chopped Parsley
Beetroot Roundels Or Diced Mustard Cream
Cooked Beetroot

COMPOUND SALAD
Compound salads are more elaborate salads which consist of more than one
ingredient. Such salads can be further subdivided in four major groups:
1. Fish based
2. Vegetable based
3. Poultry, game or meat based
4. Fruit based.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

A SALAD CAN BE SUBDIVIDED IN FOUR MAJOR PARTS:

Base:
The base may be made up of lettuce, cabbage or any other leafy vegetables. It
must cover the bottom part of the salad. The leaves must be clean and
thoroughly washed because they can contain a lot of soil and insects. Preferably
all the salads leaves must be washed with chlorine solution.

SOME OF THE SALAD LEAVES USED IN MAKING OF A SALAD

ARE:

Arugula: With its peppery and slightly bitter flavor, arugula is a terrific green
to be used in a salad. It can be gently braised, too.

Belgian Endive: These crunchy, slightly bitter leaves are often used to make
hors d’oeuvres, but they can also be chopped and added to salads, or braised to
make an exquisite salad.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Cress: This is a peppery green that’s great in salads, sandwiches, and soups. It’s
attractive enough to make a good garnish as well. There are several varieties,
including watercress, upland cress, curly cress, and land cress. Cress is
highly perishable, so try to use it as soon as possible after you buy it.

Curly Endive: This crisp, bitter green leave can be used in salads or cook it as
a side dish. The outer leaves are green and somewhat bitter; the pale inner
leaves are more tender and mild.

Iceberg: This is prized for its crispness and longevity in the refrigerator, but it’s
a bit short on flavor and nutrients. It’s one of the most readily available lettuces
in India and is mostly used by a number of hotels to prepare salads.

Lollo Rosso: This mild, tender lettuce has ruffled red edges.

Radicchio: With its beautiful colouring and slightly bitter flavor, radicchio is
wonderful when combined with other salad greens.

Romaine Lettuce: Romaine combines good flavor and crunch, plus it has a
decent shelf life in the refrigerator. It’s the preferred green for Caesar salad.
Green romaine is the most common variety, but you can sometimes find red
romaine, which is tender.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Red Sangria Lettuce

Thick rose blushed leaves over a blanched pale-yellow heart make for an
attractive lettuce.
Very good eating quality

Belgian Endive: These crunchy, slightly bitter leaves are often used to make
hors d’oeuvres, but they can also be chopped and added to salads, or braised to
make an exquisite (and expensive) side dish. Select heads with yellow tips;
those with green tips are more bitter. Their peak season is the late fall and
winter. Bibb lettuce this butter head lettuce has delicate, loose leaves and lots
of flavor. The only downside is that it’s usually expensive

Mizuna or Spider Mustard Mizuna has tender leaves and a pleasant, peppery
flavor.

Red Mustard: This has a pungent, peppery flavor that adds zip to salads
.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Dandelions: Dandelions have a somewhat bitter flavour, which Europeans

appreciate more than Americans. Older dandelion greens should be cooked;
younger ones can be cooked or served raw as a salad green. They’re available
year-round, but they’re best in the spring.

Body
The body comprises of the main ingredient of the salad. It must be proportional
to the base. The body must comprise of small bite size pieces of the ingredients.
The ingredients used should have a balance of flavors and taste.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Garnish
The main purpose of a garnish is to add an eye appeal to the finished product.
But a certain number of times it can also be added to improve the taste of the
salad. Can be either a part of the body also. It should be kept simple.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Dressings

A Dressing is served with all salads, it is used to flavour the salad provides food
value and improves palatability and appearance. Dressing may be in liquid or
semi liquid form. It can be made with a variety of ingredients ranging from oil-
vinegar, cream, yogurt, egg, and cheese.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Various oil used for making a dressing are:

Olive Oil
Walnut Oil
Salad Oil
Groundnut Oil
Sesame Oil
Grape seed Oil
Hazelnut Oil

Various vinegar used for making a dressing are:

Tarragon Vinegar
Balsamic Vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
White Wine Vinegar
Malt Vinegar
Sherry Vinegar
Raspberry Vinegar
Cider Vinegar
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

SOME COMMONLY USED DRESSINGS ARE:

Sauce Louis – Mayonnaise and heavy cream combined with chopped green
pepper and green onion seasoned with chilly sauce and Worcestershire sauce
and lemon juice.

Blue cheese dressing – Creamy dressing containing crumbled blue cheese.

Roquefort dressing – Vinaigrette containing crumbled Roquefort or blue

cheese.

French dressing- Three parts Oil and one part vinegar with mustard and garlic.

English dressing- one part of oil and two part vinegar, English mustard and
seasoning.

American vinaigrette- equal quantities of vinegar and oil, mustard and

seasoning
.
Lorenzo dressing – Vinaigrette with chili sauce and chopped watercress.

Anchovy dressing – Vinaigrette and mashed anchovies.

Italian dressing – Vinaigrette with garlic and herbs: oregano and basil and dill.

Half-and-half dressing – Half mayonnaise and half vinaigrette seasoned with

minced garlic and mashed anchovies and grated Parmesan cheese; especially
good for combination salads.

Mayonnaise – Egg yolks and oil and vinegar.

Russian dressing – Mayonnaise with horseradish grated onion and chilly sauce
or catsup; sometimes with caviar added.

Salad cream – A Creamy salad dressing resembling mayonnaise.

Thousand Island dressing – Mayonnaise with chilly sauce or tomato ketchup
and minced olives and peppers and hard-cooked egg.

Acidulated cream: Three part of thin cream to one part of lemon juice, salt and
pepper.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Few Classical Salads

Caesar Salad

Greek Salad
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Tomato Mozzarella/ Caprese Salad

Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Guidelines for Making Salads

1. Vegetables, Legumes, Grains and Pasta Salad
a. Neat, accurate cutting of ingredients is important because the shapes of the
vegetables add to eye appeal.
b. Cut vegetables as close as possible to serving time or they may dry or shrivel
at the edges.
c. Cooked vegetables to a firm, crisp texture and good color.
d. After cooking, vegetables must be thoroughly drained and chilled before using.
e. Starches, pastas and legumes should be cooked until completely tender but not
overcooked.
f. Vegetables are sometimes marinated or soaked in a seasoned liquid before
being made into salad.
g. The marinade is usually some form of oil and vinegar dressing that also serves
as the dressing for the salad.
h. Do not plate marinated salads too far ahead of time.
i. Grains and pastas may also be marinated for a short time. if marinated too long,
pasta absorb too much liquid and become very soft.
j. Legumes should not be allowed to stand longer in a marinade because the acid
toughen the proteins in the beans.

2. Bound Salads
1. Cooked ingredients must be thoroughly cooled before being mixed with
mayonnaise and the completed salad mixture must be kept chilled at all times.
2. Leftover such as chicken meat or fish which have been handled according to
the rules of good sanitation and food management can be used for making
bound salads.
3. Potatoes for salads should be cooked (hole before peeling and cut in order to
preserve nutrients.
4. Crisp vegetables like celery, green peppers, carrots, chopped pickles, onions
and water chestnuts are used.
5. Ingredients like potatoes and some foods maybe marinated in seasoned liquid
such as vinaigrette before being mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients.
6. Cold in thick dressings gently to avoid crushing or breaking the main
ingredients.
7. Bound salads are portioned using scoop to give height and shape to the salad.
8. For plated salads, serve on a base with greens and choose attractive, colourful
garnishes when appropriate.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

3. Fruit Salads
a. Fruit salads are often arranged, mixed or tossed of most fruits that are delicate
and easily broken.
b. An exception is the waldorf salad, made of firm apples mixed with nuts,
celery and mayonnaise based dressing.
c. Broken or less attractive pieces of fruit should be placed on the bottom of the
salad while more attractive pieces on top.
d. Some fruit discolour when cut and should be dipped into an acid such as tart
or fruit juice.
e. If both vegetables and fruits salads are being prepared, vegetables salad
should be prepared first.
f. Drained canned fruits well before mixing them in the salad.
g. Dressings for fruit salad are usually sweet, but fruit juices are used to
add tartness.

4. Composed Salads
a. Prepare and season each ingredients separately and evaluate the flavor
and quality.
b. Arrangements maybe plated ahead of time and add delicate ingredients just
before serving.
c. Flavors and textures of all ingredients should provide pleasing contrast,
observe general concepts of plating and presentations of output.

.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

5. Gelatine Salads
Observe the correct proportion of gelatine and liquid. Too much gelatine makes
a stiff, rubbery product while too little makes a soft product that will not form
the desired shape.

To dissolve unflavoured gelatine, stir it in cold liquid to avoid lumping and let it
stand for 5 minutes to absorb water. when heat it until dissolves, or add hot
liquid and stir until dissolved. to dissolve sweetened, flavoured gelatine, stir
it into boiling water. it will not lump because the gelatine granules are held
apart by sugar granules.

Or quick setting, dissolve the gelatine to half of the volume of liquid and the
other half is cold water to lower the temperature. or even faster setting, add
crushed ice in an equal volume of cold water, stir until the ice is melted.
Do not add raw pineapple and papaya to gelatine salads because these fruits
contain enzymes which dissolves gelatine
.
Canned fruits and other juicy items must be well drained before adding
because they will watered down the gelatine.

Do unmould gelatine if it is firm - Loosen it by dipping a small pointed knife

in warm water and running the tip of it around the top edge of the
moulded gelatine. - Dip the mould into hot water .

Procedure for quantity Salad Production

a. Prepare all ingredients.
b. Wash and cut greens, fruits, vegetables, and garnishes.
c. Prepare cooked vegetables and mix bound and marinated salads.
d. Have all ingredients chilled.
e. Arrange salad plates on worktables.
f. Line them up on trays for easy transfer to refrigerator.
g. place all on base plates.
h. Arrange body of salad on all plates.
i. Garnish all salads.
j. Refrigerate until serving.
k. Do not add dressing to green salads until serving.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2

Important Factors to consider in Salad Preparation

Quality
Salad is as good as the quality of its ingredients, so you have to use ingredients
that are fresh, ripe and in season.

Eye appeal. It should be attractive, appeti1ing,creatively presented.

Simplicity. Make it simple not overcrowded.

Neatness. Keep salad neatly placed in a plate.

Contrast and harmony of color. Contrast in color for your garnishing can
accentuate the appearance of the salad

Proper food combinations. Choose combination of ingredients

carefully. pineapples and coconut go well with chicken but not compatible with
tuna fish. foods should be recognizable.

Taste of the food that you are using as a base should be identifiable when you
taste the salad. the dressing should dominates the taste.

Temperature Keep foods properly chilled but not ice-cold.

Serve hot foods while hot and cold foods cold.

Keep it clean and crispy. this is done by washing greens in large quantity
of water and drain well and removing the green from the water to allow the dirt
to settle to the bottom of the container.

Flavourful, tempting and stimulating if prepared and presented properly.

Drain all the ingredients well. water or excess juices will weaken dressings
and will make your salad look messy.

Do not overcook food.

food and ingredients when overcooked eliminates the color and its vitamins and
minerals as well.
Food Production Year 1 Semester 2