Dressing Up Salad Dressings - Cooks Illustrated

Published May 1, 2005.

We threw away the rulebook on vinaigrettes and used a host of unexpected ingredients.

The Problem

While vinaigrettes are an easy solution to adorn a handful of lettuce leaves, sometimes they can seem a bit boring.

The Goal

We wanted to think outside the bottle and give our dressings - and our salads - new life.

The Solution

We built our recipes around ingredients not regularly used in dressings, including apples, raisins, carrot juice, and ruby port. We balanced these ingredients with fats such as cream, buttermilk, mayonnaise, nut oils, and yogurt and punctuated the dressings with condiments such as chili paste and orange marmalade. For more depth and intensity of flavor, we turned to the stovetop to reduce wine and juices and toast spices and sesame seeds.

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