Vinaigrettes & Dressings

Vinaigrette is a mixture of oil and something acidic, used as a salad dressing or a marinade. The oil is often olive oil but can be any kind. The acidic ingredient is usually a citrus juice (often lemon) or a vinegar (hence the name): balsamic, rice, wine, apple cider, white, red, and more. The mixture dresses the salad greens or other cold vegetable, meat or fish dishes.

In its simplest form, your recipe should be three parts oil to one part vinegar, plus some salt and pepper to taste. If you want to make it more complicated, i.e.: tasty, elaborate on that foundation with various combinations of spices, herbs, mustard, shallots, and onions.

Dressing is more general, more all-encompassing. It’s a sauce — usually cold — used to coat or top salads and some cold vegetable, fish, and meat dishes. It could be based in mayonnaise, buttermilk, oil and vinegar, avocado, yogurt, or whatever else that makes it creamy enough to coat your vegetables.