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Salad Dressings: French Vinaigrette
This is one of three easy
salad dressings I’m posting in the next few days that are, in my view, fresher,
tastier, and certainly cheaper, than commercial bottled dressings. They are
quickly made at home and are useful for simple salads of greens and maybe some
tomato and a little julienned onion. (See the index in this blog for a number
of other salad dressings and specialty salads.)
Vinaigrette, as salad
dressing is termed in culinary French, is the diminutive of “vinaigre,” the
French word for vinegar. “Vinaigre,” in turn, means soured wine, “vin” for wine
and “aigre” for sour. Vinegar was traditionally produced by letting wine go the
next step of fermentation, oxidizing its ethyl alcohol into acetic acid, which
gives vinegar its sharpness. Virtually anything containing sugar that can be
fermented into alcohol can be further fermented into vinegar: apple juice into
cider vinegar, malted barley into malt vinegar, pineapple, rice, and sugar cane
into their various international vinegars. Vinegar of any source, though
particularly that from fermented grain, can be distilled to make purer, if less
tasty, white vinegar.
Classically, a vinaigrette
contains vinegar plus olive or other oil, salt and seasonings. But alternative
acidic liquids, like lemon juice in the Mediterranean and lime juice in
Thailand and Vietnam, can replace the vinegar in salad dressing and still,
arguably, be called a “vinaigrette.” The traditional French proportion of oil
to vinegar in vinaigrette is as much as 3 to 1. However, for lightness I
generally use less oil than vinegar, and dilute the vinegar with water.
In France, salad – which
traditionally comes after the main course and before the cheese and the dessert
courses – is generally not accompanied by wine. The theory is that vinegar’s
acidity spoils the taste of the wine, making it seem sour. But don’t feel sorry
for deprived French diners. They’ve already had wine or wines with their
starter and main courses and will have another wine with the cheese and often a
dessert wine with the final sweet.
This is a typical dressing in
restaurants in eastern France and nearby French-speaking Switzerland, where
it’s used to dress simple green salads that accompany a dinner. Mustard,
particularly Dijon mustard, is a standard ingredient in salad dressings there,
as it is in making mayonnaise.
The recipe make enough
dressing for six or more servings of salad. Extra stays reasonably fresh for a
few days in the refrigerator.
1 clove fresh garlic
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or white distilled vinegar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1-1/2 teaspoons Dijon or brown mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt or table salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Peel and crush the garlic clove with the side of the
knife. Using the back of a spoon or
fork, rub the mixing bowl thoroughly with the garlic to leave its flavor in the
bowl. Add the vinegar and let the garlic flavor it for a few minutes, then
discard the garlic solids. Add the remaining ingredients except the oil to the
bowl and mix until smooth with a fork or small whisk. Taste for salt (it should
be a little salty to spread out on the salad vegetables). Add a little if
needed. Using the fork or small whisk, thoroughly mix in the oil.
The vinaigrette can be used now or in the next few
hours. If holding for longer, refrigerate it.
