What's your go to salad dressing?

I went to grad school in Philadelphia, and back in the day there were 2 restaurants opened by Steven Poses that were part of Philly’s restaurant renaissance . They were The Frog and The Commissary. Oh my did they have great food when this poor med student could afford to go out to dinner. They published a cookbook, and in it was a mustard soy vinaigrette recipe that I have used now for almost 40 years. I like other dressings, but this is our house dressing.

• 1⁄3cup cider vinegar
• 1 1⁄2tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3⁄4teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1-2 teaspoon honey
• 1 cup corn oil, can use canola, avocado or sunflower oil

I riff on it and use either sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, and adjust the sweetness with the honey.

I made a batch tonight before dinner, so I had the recipe out.

What’s your go to salad dressing?

Greek olive oil and white balsamic, with a pinch of sugar.

Mustard, vinegar, a little balsamic, olive oil. Simple and easy.

I love a creamy blue cheese with big ol’ hunks of cheese in it.

I’ve had a blue cheese vinaigrette I’ve liked (some pretty straightforward riff on a traditional vinaigrette.

Most Caesar dressing usually ranges from acceptable to very tasty. That applies to anything from the very traditional to the more modern super creamy versions.

Ranch will do if there’s nothing else around.

Sesame, honey, soy, and miso in varying combos and in varying proportions nto a vinaigrette or other basic dressing formula usually works well.

I am also not above taking your basic slaw mix (shredded green and red cabbage and carrot ), squirting some Kewpie mayo and top with a bunch of furikake and calling it a good.

Put a large salad bowl on the scale, tare it out, then add:

20g. Walnut oil
10g. Sherry vinegar
5g. Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss about a half a small tub of salad greens and tomato (I slice about 28g per person) in it and garnish with toasted walnuts.

Russian dressing…Mayo, ketchup, relish, Worcestershire, lemon juice, S&P
use it on burgers, roast beef, and for coleslaw

We have a local company that makes a lemon vinaigrette that is very good, nice and tart.
Like Panera’s Green Goddess dressing and the Newman’s Southwest dressing McDonald’s served on
their SW salad when those were on the menu.

If I’m making it, some version of vinaigrette.

If premade, any in thr genre of poppyseed, Vidalia onion, or old fashioned Colonial

Either of two:

A standard 3:1 vinaigrette. If I’m feeling fancy, I might whisk in a bit of raspberry jam.

Or

or Julia Turshen’s Caesar dressing.

Of late it has been either olive oil, usually Arbequina or Picual, and Banyuls red or Champagne, about four or five to one, shaken with a little Roland Dijon and a pinch of sel de Guerande. I recently got some Siciluan Castelvetrano olive oil. It was so mild and buttery it required a higher level of vinegar. Making vinaigrette is like mixing martinis, endless experimenting.

my salad dressing is 1:1 oil : vinegar. LOL.

On this end almost the same yet so different: Spanish olive oil and white balsamic…pinch of salt!

I have several - Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette

In a medium-sized jar combine the following:

4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 clove garlic finely minced
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 to 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Tighten the lid and shake it all together until blended. It thickens slightly in the fridge and needs to be re-shook up if it sits more than an hour or so.

The above is my adaption of a recipe I had from the Boston Globe’s Food section from 2/28/01. "

And the other is a combination of Penzeys Buttermilk Ranch dressing mix with their Creamy Peppercorn dressing mix blended with buttermilk and mayo.

Additionally, if I want a honey-mustard dressing, Target makes a decent one (although I haven’t shopped there in awhile), tarted up with a bit of lemon juice.

Rice Wine Vinegar, straight.

I have so many, but these are the ones I probably use most:

walnut vinaigrette with walnut oil, walnut mustard, sherry vinegar, minced garlic & shallot, s&p

creamy herb dressing: neutral oil like avocado or safflower, lemon juice or vinegar or a mix, minced garlic & shallot, fresh herbs like parsley, dill, chives, sour cream or crème fraîche

ranch: Duke’s, WWV, s&p, minced garlic & shallot, fresh herbs like parsley, dill, chives

Greek salad dressing: olive oil, s&p, oregano

olive oil, soy sauce & balsamic vinegar for avocado, celery, tomato, mozzarella salad

Caesar: raw egg, lemon, TPSTOG, mustard, olive oil, parm, s&p

You might also find these previous threads inspiring:

This sounds good. And now that I have all of those dried chives from my overabundant deck chive plants…

Big fan of Penzeys’ Buttermilk Ranch dressing, although I rarely put it on salad. I make it mostly made as a dip for hot wings.

In the serving bowl: Pinch of salt and a splash of wine vinegar with a tiny splash of water adjusting sourness to taste . Add lettuce, pour over olive oil to whatever you feel like that day. Mix.

Goma dressing. (Mayo, ground sesame seeds or paste, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, maybe a touch of maple syrup). Extremely versatile.

I also do a cheater’s Caesar dressing. In a large salad bowl add:

• the zest of a whole lemon
• the juice of half that lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, grated
• a pinch of coarse kosher salt
  Stir that together and let the garlic cure in the salt and lemon for about 30 minutes (if you are impatient, just go ahead with the rest of this).

Add also the following:

• 1 T. mayonnaise
• 2 T. olive oil (or a mix of a very neutral oil and olive oil, depending on the sharpness of your olive oil)
• 3-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t. anchovy paste (or 2-3 whole anchovies that you’ve chopped finely - if you are serving whole anchovies on top of your salad, you may skip this).
• 1 t. dry mustard
• 20 coarse grinds of black pepper (plus more at serving)
• 2-3 T. finely grated Parmesan (plus more at serving)
  Whisk all this together and add however much romaine and croutons you like (or add by tablespoons to the lettuce and croutons until they are as dressed as you like).

Leftover dressing makes a good marinade for fish, especially if you are roasting at high heat or running a piece under the broiler.

That’s pretty involved for a ‘cheater’ dressing. Sounds like a legit Caesar dressing to me