Salad....

                                            SALADS

Because the number and variety of salad combinations is nearly endless its helpful to divide salads into categories in order to understand how they are produced. For the pantry chef, the most useful way to classify salads is by ingredients: green salads, vegetable salads, fruits salads, and so on. This is because production techniques are slightly different for each kind. We will use this kind of classification when we discuss.

          But before the pantry chef can produce the salads, first it has to be decided exactly what salads should be made. Therefore, you should know what kinds of salads are best for different purposes. For this reason salads are also classified according to their function in the meal keep in mind that there are no exact dividing lines between the types of salads discussed below. For example a salad that is suitable as the first course of a dinner may also be an excellent main course of a dinner may also be an excellent main course on a luncheon menu.

TYPES OF SALADS

An Appetizer Salad

Many establishments serve salads as a first course, often as a substitute for a more elaborate first course. Not only does this ease the pressure on the kitchen during service, but it gives the customers a satisfying food to eat while their dinners are being prepared.

     In addition, ore elaborate composed salads are popular as appetizers (and also as main courses at lunch) in many elegant restaurants. These often consist of poultry, meat, or fish item, plus a variety of other vegetables and garnishes, attractively arranged on a bed o greens.

1. Appetizer salads should stimulate the appetite. This means they must have fresh, crisp ingredients; a tangy, flavorful dressing; and an attractive, appetizing appearance.
2. Pre-portioned salads should not be so large as to be filling, but they should be substantial enough to serve as a complete course in themselves. (Self-service salad bars, of course, avoid this problem.) Tossed green salads are especially popular for this reason, because they are bulky without being filling.
3. The combination of ingredients should be interesting, not dull or trite. Flavorful foods like cheese, ham, salami, shrimp, and crabmeat, even in small of poorly drained iceberg lettuce with a bland dressing is hardly the most exciting way to start a meal.
4. Attractive arrangement and garnish are important, because visual appeal stimulates appetites. A satisfying, interesting starter puts the customer in a good frame of mind for the rest of the meal.

B. Accompaniment Salads

Salads can also be served with the main course. They serve the same function as other side dishes (vegetables and starches).

1. Accompaniment salads must balance and harmonize with the rest of the meal, like any other side dish. For example, don’t serve potato salad at the same meal at which you are serving French fries or another starch. Sweet fruit salads are rarely appropriate as accompaniments, expect with such items as ham or pork.
2. Side-dish salads should be light and flavorful, not too rich. Vegetable salads, such as macaroni or high-protein (meat, seafood, cheese, etc.,) salads should not be served unless the main course is light. Combination salads with a variety of elements are appropriate accompaniments to sandwiches.

C. Main-course Salads

Cold salad plates have become very popular on luncheon menus, especially among nutrition-and diet conscious diners. The appeal of these salads is in variety and freshness of ingredients.

1. Main-course salads should be large enough to serve as a full meal and should contain a substantial portion of protein. Meat, poultry, and seafood salads, as well as egg salad and cheese, are popular choices.
2. Main-course salads should offer enough variety on the plate to be a balanced meal, both nutritionally and in flavors and textures. In addition to the protein, salad platter should offer a variety of vegetables, greens, and/or fruits. Examples are chef’s salad (mixed greens, raw vegetables, and strips of meat and cheese), shrimp or crab-meat salad with tomato wedges and slices of avocado on a on a bed of greens, and cottage cheese with an assortment of fresh fruit.
3. The portion size and variety of ingredients give the chef an excellent opportunity to use imagination and creativity and good color balance are important.

D. Separate-course Salads

Many finer restaurants serve a refreshing, light salad after the main course. The purpose is to “cleanse the plate” after a rich diner and to refresh the appetite and provide a pleasant break before dessert.

     Salads served after the main course was the rule rather than the exception many years ago, and the practice deserves to be more widespread. A dinner who may be satiated after a heavy meal is often refreshed and ready for dessert after a light, piquant salad.

     Separate-course salads must be very light and in no way filling. Rich, heavy dressings, such as these made with sour cream and mayonnaise should be avoided. Perhaps the ideal choice is a few delicate greens, such as Bibb lettuce or Belgian endive, lightly dressed with vinaigrette. Fruit salads are also popular choices.

E. Desserts Salads  

Dessert salads are usually sweet and may contain items such as fruits, sweetened gelatin, nuts, and cream. They are often too sweet to be served as appetizers or accompaniments and are best served as dessert or as part of a buffet or party menu.

      INGREDIENTS FOR SALADS

       Freshness and variety of ingredients are essential for quality salads. Lettuce, of course, is the first choice for most people, but there are many other foods that can make up a salad.

       The following tables list, by category, most of the ingredients used in popular American salads. You will be able to think of others. Add them to the lists as they occur to you or as they are suggested to you by your instructors. The lists will be useful to you when you are creating your own salad ideas.

             Following these lists are detailed descriptions of two groups of foods and belong especially in the pantry; salad greens and fresh fruits.

Salad greens, vegetables, raw vegetables, cooked, pickled, and canned.

       Iceberg lettuce romaine lettuce Boston lettuce Bibb or limestone lettuce loose-leaf lettuce escarole Chinese cabbage or celery cabbage spinach dandelion greens watercress arugula radicchio.

      Bean sprouts broccoli cabbage, white, green, and red carrots cauliflower celery celeriac (celery root) cucumbers Jerusalem artichokes kohlrabi mushrooms onions and scallions peppers, red, green and yellow radishes tomatoes.

      Artichoke hearts asparagus beans (all kinds) beets carrots cauliflower corn cucumber pickles (dill, sweet, etc) hearts of palm leeks olives peas peppers, roasted and picked pimientos potatoes water chestnuts.

D. STARCHES

    Dried Beans (Cooked or Canned)

Potatoes

Macaroni products

Rice

Bread (croutons)

E. Fruit, Fresh, Cooked, Canned, or Frozen

 Apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, berries, cherries, coconut, dates, figs, grapefruit & grapes, kiwi fruit, mandarin oranges and tangerines mangos, melons oranges, papayas, peaches and nectarines pears, persimmons, pineapple, plums, prunes, pomegranates, raisins.

F. Protein Foods   

    Meats (beef, ham)

    Poultry (chicken, turkey)

    Fish and shellfish (tuna, crab, shrimp, lobster, salmon, sardines, anchovies herrings, any fresh cooked fish)

   Salami, luncheon meats, etc bacon eggs, hard-cooked cheese, cottage cheese, aged or cured types.

G. Miscellaneous 

     Gelatin (plain or flavored)

     Nuts

     Lettuce and other Salad Greens

1. Iceberg Lettuce

The most popular salad ingredient. Firm, compact hand with crisp, mild tasting pale green leaves. Valuable for its texture, because it stays crisp longer than other lettuces. Can be used alone, but best mixed with more flavorful greens as romaine because it lacks flavor itself, keeps well.

2. Romaine or Cos Lettuce

Elongated, loosely packed head with dark green, main coarse leave, crisp texture, with full, sweet flavor, keeps well and is easy to handle. Essential for Caesar salad. For elegant service, the centre rib is often removed.

3. Boston Lettuce

Small, round heads with soft, fragile leaves, deep green outside, shading to nearly white inside. The leaves have a rich, mild flavor and delicate, buttery texture. Bruises easily and does not keep well. Cup shaped leaves excellent for salad bases.

      

4. Bibb or Limestone Lettuce

Similar to Boston lettuce but smaller and more delicate. A whole head may be only a few inches across. Color ranges from dark greens outside to creamy yellow at the core. Its tenderness, delicate flavor, and high price make it a luxury in some markets. The small, whole leaves are often served by themselves, with a light vinaigrette dressing, as an after-dinner salad. 

5. Loose-leaf Lettuce

Forms bunch rather than heads. Soft, fragile leaves with curly edges. May be all green or with shades of red. Wilts easily and does not keep well, but is inexpensive and gives flavor, variety, and interest to mixed greens salads.

6. Escarole or Broad-leaf Endive

Board, thick leaves in bunches rather than heads. Texture is coarse and slightly tough, and flavor is somewhat bitter. Mix with sweeter greens to vary flavor and texture, but do not use alone, because of bitterness. Escarole is frequently braised with olive oil and garlic and served as a vegetable in Italian cuisine.

7. Chicory or Curly Endive

Narrow, curly, twisted leaves with firm texture and bitter flavor. Out side leaves are dark green; core is yellow or white. Attractive when mixed with other greens or used as a base or garnish, but may be too bitter to be used alone.

8. Belgian Endive or Witloof Chicory

Narrow, lightly packed, and pointed heads resembling spearheads, 4 to 6 inches (0 to 15 cm) long. Pale yellow-green to white in color. Leaves are crisp, with a waxy texture and pleasantly bitter flavor. Usually expensive. Often served alone, spilt in half or into wedges, or separated onto leaves, accompanied by a mustard vinaigrette dressing.

9. Chinese Cabbage

Elongated, light green heads with broad, white centre ribs. Available in two forms; narrow, elongated head, often called celery cabbage, and thicker, blunt head, called Napa cabbage. Tender but crisp, with mild cabbage flavor. Adds excellent flavor to mixed green salads. Also used extensively in Chinese cooking.

10. Spinach

Small, tender spinach leaves are excellent salad greens, either alone or mixed with other greens. A popular salad is spinach leaves garnished with sliced, raw mushrooms and crisp, crumbled bacon. Spinach must be washed very thoroughly and the coarse stems must be removed.

11. Watercress

Most commonly used as garnish, watercress is also excellent in salads. Small, dark green, oval leaves with a pungent, peppery flavor. Remove thick stems before adding to salads.

12. Arugula

Also known as rugula or rocket, these pungent, distinctively flavored greens are related to mustard and to watercress. They are tender and perishable, and they often are very sandy, so they must be washed carefully arugula was once found almost exclusively on Italian restaurants, but it has since become more widely available and is increasingly popular.

13. Radicchio

This red-leafed, Italian variety of chicory (whose name is pronounced ra-dik-ee-oh) has creamy white ribs or veins and generally comes in small, round heads. It has a crunchy texture and a slightly bitter flavor. Radicchio is expensive, but only a leaf or two are needed to add color and flavor to a salad.

Dandelion Greens

   The familiar lawn ornament is also cultivated for use in the kitchen. Only young tender leaves must be used. Older leaves are coarse and bitter, though cultivated varieties are milder than wild dandelion. Best in spring.

      Pre-cleaned, precut salad greens are sold in large, operations, but they are more perishable than unprocessed greens. Keep refrigerator and to not open until ready to use. Unopened bags will keep 2 or 3 days. Taste therefore serving to make sure the greens does not have too much antioxidant on them making them bitter.

 ARRANGEMENT AND PRESENTATION OF SALADS

The structure of a salad

There are four basic parts of a salad: base, body, garnish and dressing. Salads may not have all four parts.

1.      BASE OR UNDER LINER.

Leafy greens usually form the base of a salad. They add greatly to the appearance of many salads, which would look naked on a bare plate.

Cup-shaped leaves of iceberg or Boston lettuce make attractive bases. They give height to salads and help to confine loose pieces of food.

      A layer of loose, flat leaves (such as romaine, loose-leaf, or chicory) or of shredded lettuce may be used as base. This kind of base devolves less labor and food cost, since it is not necessary to separate whole cup-shaped leaves from a head.

     Tossed green salads or salads served in a bowl rather than on a plate usually have no base or under liner.

2.      BODY.

This is the main part of the salad and.

3.      GARNISH.

The purpose of garnish is to give eye appeal to the salad, though it often adds to the flavor as well. It should not be elaborate or dominate the salad. Remember this basic rule of garnishing: keep it simple.

      Garnish should harmonize with the rest of the salad ingredients and, of course, be edible. It may be mixed with the other salad ingredients (for example, shreds of red cabbage mixed into a tossed green salad), or it may be added at the end.

       Often the main ingredients of a salad form an attractive pattern in themselves, and no garnish is necessary.

      Nearly any of the vegetables, fruits, and protein foods cut into simple appropriate shapes, may be used as garnish.

4.      DRESSING.

Dressing is a seasoned liquid or semi liquid that is added to the body of the salad to give it added flavor, tartness, spiciness, and moistness.

      The dressing should harmonize with the salad ingredient. In general, use tart dressings for green salads and vegetables salads, and use slightly sweetened dressings for fruit salads, soft, delicate greens like Boston or Bibb lettuce require a light dressing. A thick, heavy one will turn to mush.

      Dressing may be added at service time (as for green salads), served separately for the customer to add, or mixed with the ingredients ahead of time (as in potato salad, tuna salad, egg salad, and so on). Salad mixed with a heavy dressing, like mayonnaise, to hold it together is called a bound salad.

   Remember: dressing is a seasoning for the main ingredients. It should enhance their flavor, not overpower or drown them.

ARRANGING THE SALAD

Perhaps even more than with most other foods. The appearance and arranging arrangement of a salad is essential to its quality. The colorful variety of salad ingredients gives the creative chef an opportunity to create miniature works o art on the salad plate.

     Unfortunately, it is nearly as difficult to give rules for arranging salads as it is for painting pictures, because the principles of composition, balance, and asymmetry are the same for both arts. It is something you have to develop an eye for, by experience and by studying good examples.

UNDERLINES FOR ARRANGING SALADS

1.      Keep the salad off the rim of the plate

Thrall of the rim as a picture frame, and arrange the salad within this frame. Select the right plate for the portion size, not too large or too small.

2.      Strive for a good balance of colors.

Plain iceberg lettuce looks pretty pale and sickly all by itself, but it can be lined up by mixing in some darker greens and perhaps a few shreds of carrot red cabbage, or other colored vegetable. On the other hand, don’t go overboard. Three colors are usually enough and sometimes just as few different shades of green will create a beautiful effect. Too many colors may look messy.

3.      Height helps make a salad attractive.

Ingredients mounded on the plate are more interesting than if they are spread flat. Lettuce cups as bases add height. Often just a little height is enough. Arrange ingredients like fruit wedges or tomato slices so that they overlap or lean against each other rather than lay them flat of the plate.

4.      Cut ingredients neatly.

Ragger or sloppy cutting makes the whole salad look sloppy and haphazard.

5.      Make every ingredient identifiable.

Cut every ingredient into large enough pieces so that the customer can recognize them immediately. Don’t pulverize everything in the buffalo chopper or VCM. Bite size pieces are the general rule, unless the ingredient can be cut easily with the fork such as tomato slices. Seasoning ingredients, like onion, may be chopped fine.

6.      Keep it simple.

A simple, natural arrangement is pleasing. An elaborate design, a gimmicky or contrived arrangement, or a cluttered plate is not pleasing. Besides, elaborate designs take too long to make.

 RECIPES AND TECHNIQUES FOR MAKING SALADS

 Thorough pre-preparation is extremely important in salad making. There is little cooking involved, but a great deal of time-consuming handwork. Salads can be made quickly and efficiently only if the station is set up properly.

Basic Procedures

    Most salads are made in quantity, so an assembly-line production system is most efficient.

1.      Prepare all ingredients. Wash and cut greens. Prepare cooked vegetables. Cut all fruits, vegetables, and garnish. Mix bound and marinated salads (egg salad, potato salad, three bean salad, etc.). have all ingredients chilled.

2.      Arrange salad plates on work tables. Line them up on trays for easy transferring to refrigerator.

3.      Place bases or under liners on all plates.

4.      Arrange body of salad on all plates.

5.      Garnish all salads.

6.      Refrigerate until service. Do not hold more than a few hours or salads will wilt. Holding boxes should have high humidity.

7.      Do not add dressing to green salads until service or they will wilt.

GREEN SALADS  

Principles

      Salad greens must be fresh, clean, crisp, cold, and well drained, or the salad will lack quality. Good greens depend on proper preparation.

Moisture and air are necessary to keep greens crisp:

1.      Leaves wilt because they lose moisture. Washing and refrigerating can restore crispness. The moisture those clings to the leaves after thorough draining is usually enough too much water drown them and dissolve out flavor and nutrients.

2.      Air circulation is essential for the greens to “breathe”. Do not seal washed greens too tightly or pack too firmly. Refrigerate in colanders covered with clean, damp towels, or in specially designed perforated plastic bins. These protect from drying while still allowing air circulation.

Browning or “rusting” occurs when cut greens are held too long. This can be partially avoided by rinsing them in a very mild antioxidant and by using stainless steel knives. Better yet, plan purchasing and production so that you don’t need to hold them too long.

Basic Procedure for Green Salads

1.      Wash greens thoroughly.

2.      Drain greens well.

3.      Crisp the greens.

4.      Cut or tear into bite-size pieces.

5.      Mix the greens.

6.      Plate the salads including under liners, if used.

7.      Garnish

8.      Refrigerate.

9.      Add dressing immediately before service, or serve it on the side.

VEGETABLE SALADS

Principles

    Vegetables salads are salads whose main ingredients are vegetables other than lettuce of other leafy greens. Some vegetables are used raw, such as celery, cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, and green peppers. Some are cooked and chilled before including in the salad, such as artichokes, green beans beets and asparagus.

Guidelines for Making Salads

1.      Neat, accurate cutting of ingredients is important, because the shapes of the vegetables add to eye appeal. The design or arrangement of a vegetable salad is often based on different shapes, such as long, salad asparagus and green beans, wedges of tomato, slices of cucumber, strips or rings of green pepper, and radish flowers.

2.      Cut vegetables as close as possible to serving times or else they may dry or shrivel at the edges.

3.      Cooked vegetables should have a firm, crisp texture and good color. Mushy, overcooked vegetables are unattractive in a salad.

4.      After cooking, vegetables must be thoroughly drained and well chilled before being included in the salad.

5.      Vegetables are sometimes marinated, or soaked in a seasoned liquid, before being made into salads, as for three-bean salad and for mushrooms a la grecque. The marinade is usually some form of oil and vinegar dressing, and also serves as the dressing for the salad. Do not plate marinated salads too for ahead of time; for the lettuce base will wilt. Use crisp, sturdy greens (such as iceberg, romaine, or chicory) as bases, since they do not wilt quickly.

COOKED SALADS     

Principles

       Cooked salads are those whose ingredients are cooked foods, usually meat, poultry fish eggs, or starch products, and occasionally some vegetables. They are different from combination salads and from vegetable salads using cooked vegetables in that the cooked product is usually mixed with ka thick dressing, generally mayonnaise, during preparation.

      A salad that is mixed with a thick dressing to bind it together is also called a bound salad. Some bound salads, such as tuna, egg, or chicken salad, can also be used as sandwich fillings.

Guidelines for Making Cooked Salads

1.      Cooked ingredients must be thoroughly cooked before mixed with mayonnaise, and the completed salad mixture must be kept chilled at all times. Mayonnaise type salads are ideal breeding grounds for bacteria that cause food poisoning.

2.      Cooked salads are good ways to use leftovers such as chicken, meat, or fish, but the ingredient must have been handled according to the rules of good sanitation and food handling. The product will not be cooked again to destroy any bacteria they might grow in the salad and cause illness.

3.      Potatoes for salads should be cooked whole, then peeled and cut, in order to preserve nutrients.

4.      Don’t cut ingredients too small, for the final product will be like much or paste, with no textual interest.

5.      Crisp vegetables are usually added for texture. Celery is the most popular, but other choices might be green peppers, carrots, chopped pickles, onions, water chestnuts, or apples. Be sure that the flavors go together, however.

6.      Blend main ingredients, such as potatoes or some seafood’s, may be marinated in a seasoned liquid such as vinaigrette before being mixed with the mayonnaise and other ingredients. Any marinade not absorbed should be drained first to avoid thinning out the mayonnaise.

7.      Fold in thick dressings gently to avoid crushing or breaking the main ingredients.

8.      Bound salads are usually portioned with a scoop. This has two advantages: (a) it provides portion control. (B) it gives height and shape to the salad.

9.      Choose attractive, colorful garnishes. A scoop of potato or chicken salad looks pretty pale and uninteresting without a garnish.

FRUIT SALADS

Principles

    As their name indicates, fruit salads have fruits as their main ingredients. They are popular as appetizer salads, as desserts salads, and as part of combination luncheon plates, often with a scoop of cottage choose or other mild-tasting protein food.

Guidelines for making fruit salads.

1.      Fruit salads are often arranged rather than mixed or tossed, because most fruits are delicate and easily broken. An exception is the Waldorf salad, made of firm apples mixed with nuts, celery, and mayonnaise-based dressing.

2.      Broken or less attractive pieces of fruit should be placed on the bottom of the salad, with the more attractive pieces arranged on top.

3.      Some fruits discolor when cut and should be dipped into an acid such as tart fruit juice.

4.      Fruits do not hold as well as vegetables after being cut. If you are preparing both vegetables and fruit salads for a particular meal service, the vegetables salads should usually be prepared first.

5.      Drain canned fruits well before including them in the salad; for the salad will be watery and sloppy. The liquid from the canned fruit may be reserved for using in fruit salad dressings for other preparation.

6.      Dressing for fruit salads are usually slightly sweet, but a little tanginess is usually desirable as well. Fruit juices are often used in dressings for fruit salad.

COMBINATION SALADS

Principles

      Combination salads get their name because they are combinations of different kinds of ingredients. They may even consist of two or more different salads in an attractive arrangement, for example, chicken salad and sliced cucumber and tomato salad arranged on a bed of greens. Probably the most popular combination salad is the chef’s salad, mixed greens with strips of turkey, ham, and cheese, and usually several raw vegetables such as tomato and green pepper.

      Because they are more elaborate and can usually be quite substantial kin size, combination salads are often served as main courses. Because combination salads are often made up of other kinds of salads, there are really only two guidelines for their production.

1.      Observe the guidelines for preparing the different components, such as greens, vegetables, cooked salads, and fruit salads.

2.      Observe the guidelines for attractive salad arrangement.

  

GELATIN SALADS

Principles

          Gelatin salads have a distinguished history. Their ancestors are aspics, the highly ornamented appetizers and elaborate buffet pieces made with meat and fish stocks rich in natural gelatin extracted from bones and connective tissue. Aspics are part of the glory of classical cuisine and still an important part of modern buffet work.

       It’s no longer necessary to extract gelatin from bones in you kitchen, since purified, granular gelatin and gelatin sheets have long been, available for use in the pantry. Many excellent gelatin-based salads can be made with little labor using these products. However, most gelatin products today are made with sweetened prepared mixes, whose high sugar content and heavy reliance on artificial color and flavor make their appropriateness as salads somewhat questionable. Often in a cafeteria line you will see in the salads section little squares of gelatin with a lettuce leaf underneath and a dap of mayonnaise on top; and in the dessert section the identical product, without the lettuce leaf and with a dab of whipped cream in place of the mayo.

      Nevertheless, as professional cooks you need to know how to prepare these products, because your customers will expect them. You should also know how to prepare salads using unflavored gelatin, relying on fruit juices and other ingredients for flavor-unflavored gelatin with a highly sweetened dessert gelatin.

SEASONINGS AND FLAVORINGS   

Nearly any herb or spice can be used in salad dressings. Other ingredients added for flavoring include mustard, catsup, Worcestershire sauce, and various kinds of cheeses.

EMULSIONS IN SALAD DRESSINGS

Salad dressings, however, must be evenly mixed for proper service, even though they are made primarily of oil and vinegar. A uniform mixture of two immiscible liquids is called an emulsion.

Temporary Emulsions 

A simple oil and vinegar dressings is called a temporary emulsion, because the two liquids always separate after being shaken up.

    The disadvantage of oil and vinegar dressings is that they must be shaken or stirred before each use.

Permanent Emulsions

Mayonnaise is also a mixture of oil and vinegar, but the two liquids do not separate.

OIL AND VINEGAR DRESSINGS

The thickened, sweet, tomato-based dressing often served, as “French dressings” is unknown kin France. The ratio of oil to vinegar in basic French dressings is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.

VINAIGRETTE

  3 Parts of olive oil + 1 part of vinegar salad and pepper to taste.

Lemon Dressing: 3 parts of olive oil + half of lemon juice + salt and pepper.

English Mustard Dressings: Vinaigrette dressing + half a teaspoon of English mustard per pint, reduce vinegar in proportion.

Fine herbs Dressing: Vinaigrette dressing + half a teaspoon of fine herbs.

Swiss Dressing: Mix three parts of rendered fat bacon, cut into dice with one part of heated vinegar salt, sugar and pepper from the mill, to taste.

Roquefort dressing: Vinaigrette with a heavy garnish of chopped chives, tarragon, parsley and capers.

Sauce gribiche: Mayonnaise dressing with a garnish of chopped gherkins, capers, chervil, tarragon, parsley and strips of hard white of eggs.

Thousand islands: Mayonnaise dressing with a little whiully sauce and chopped red pimento, chives and green pepper.

Escoffier dressing: Mayonnaise with lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, chill sauce, paprika and chopped chives, to taste.

Scandinavian Dressing: Mix 3 parts of castor sugar with 2 parts of wine or white vinegar dissolve overnight, use with all green salads, various herbs can be added.