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Six Tips For Prepping Salad Greens

Although prepping a salad is seemingly a simple culinary task, there are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind when selecting your greens and then later turning them into a delicious course.
 

  1. When at all possible, try to use young, fresh greens. Young salad greens have a more tender and delicate flavor, where as older, “over-grown,” salad greens tend to be more fibrous, giving off a somewhat rubbery texture.

  2. Slice your greens, don’t tear. There is a common misconception that for some reason tearing your salad greens is better than slicing them with a sharp knife. However, tearing salad leaves force you to grip them firmly, potentially crushing cell walls, which will ultimately cause bruising and wilting. Instead, use a sharp chefs knife to cut your leaves down to size if you feel they are too big.

  3. Don’t wash lettuce leaves directly under running water. The pressurized water coming from the faucet has enough force to crush the lettuce green’s cell walls, causing bruising and browning. Instead, place the lettuce greens in a sink filled with cold water and agitate gently with your hands. Switch out the water when it becomes dirty and repeat until the salad greens are nice and clean.

  4. Soak your greens for a couple of minutes in ice water, especially if they aren’t quite as crisp as you would like them to be or they’re showing signs of wilting due to age. Soaking them for a few minutes in ice water will replace any water-loss from their cell walls, bringing back their nice, crispy texture.

  5. Use a salad spinner to dry greens. The centrifugal force of a salad spinner will make sure that salad greens are thoroughly dried. Patting dry with a towel is inefficient and could cause bruising. Also, salad greens that have too much excess moisture on the surface of their leaves will repel a vinaigrette, making it hard to actually dress the salad properly.

  6. Store in a clean container, with damp paper towels. Wet some paper towels and then ring out the excess moisture until they are just slightly damp. Line the bottom of your storage container with damp paper towels, and then cover the top of the greens with more damp towels. Do not store in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap. Salad greens need to breath.

Three Classic Salads: Caesar, Louis & Cobb

In the SCS 15| Classic Salads & Creamy Dressings, we discussed three classical salads that are commonly found in U.S. restaurants. These salads are the Caesar, Louis and Cobb. Here is a quick break down on each salad’s components and their corresponding salad dressings.

Caesar Salad Components

  • Romaine Lettuce, usually just the hearts. The romaine can be chopped, but was traditionally left whole and eaten with the fingers instead of utensils.

  • Garlic Croutons: Don’t over think this one. Croutons are nothing more than toasted bread, in this case tossed with crushed garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper after being toasted. My favorite way to toast croutons is to fry them in oil, but you can also bake, pan fry or toast in a toaster oven.

  • Anchovy Fillets (Optional): Not a part of the traditional Caesar salad but is now a common component in modern versions. I like to personally use whole, white anchovy fillets called Boquerones.

  • Grated Parmesan Cheese: This can really be any hard, aged cheese that you desire. Parmigiano-Reggiano, aged Asiago, and Pecorino Romano are all good choices.

Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe and Technique

To better understand the process of making Caesar Dressing, first review this post on Understanding Emulsions. To make Caesar Dressing you will need:

  • 2 Egg Yolks

  • 6 Anchovy Fillets (Optional)

  • 2 Cloves Raw Garlic

  • 2 Lemons Juiced

  • 2 Tbl Worcestershire  Sauce

  • 1 1/2 Cups Good Olive Oil

  • 2-3 Ozs Grated Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

  • Water to Thin

Process

  1. Combine egg yolks, anchovy fillets, garlic, lemon juice, and Worcestershire Sauce in a blender and blend until smooth (about 10-15 seconds).

  2. Add in grated Parmesan Cheese and blend until incorporated.

  3. Slowly start stream in olive oil to for an emulsion. If the dressing becomes too thick before all oil is emulsified, thin out with a little splash of cold water.

  4. Continue to emulsify olive oil until it is all incorporated. The final consistency should be that of a thin mayonnaise.

Louis Salad Components

The components of a Louis Salad will change from chef to chef. Really what makes it a Louis Salad is the dressing and the addition of either cooked crab or shrimp. Here’s I like to use in my Louis Salads.

  • Cooked Crab Meat (dungeness is the best)

  • Cherry Tomatoes, halved

  • Sliced Avacado

  • Thinly Sliced Red Onion

  • Iceberg or Romain Lettuce: It’s important to use a sturdy, crisp salad green that will stand up to the weight of the Louis dressing.

Louis Salad Dressing

  • Two Cups of Mayonnaise

  • 1/2 Cup Chilli Sauce

  • 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

  • 1 oz Minced Onion

  • 1 oz Finely Minced Green Onion

  • 1 oz Drained Pimento, Minced

  • 1 oz Celery, Finely Minced

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix together until are ingredients are evenly incorporated.

Tip: To make sure the salad isn’t overpowered by the dressing, place all salad ingredients in an appropriate sized bowl, add a little bit of the Louis dressing, and gently toss with your hands. Add more dressing until desired flavor is reached, and then season with salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Cobb Salad Components

  • Chopped Chicken or Slices of Turkey

  • Bacon, Cooked to Desired Doneness

  • Hard Boiled Eggs

  • Tomatoes

  • Avocado

  • Cheddar Cheese

  • Crumbled Bleu Cheese (Traditionally Roquefort)

  • Lettuce (Iceberg, Red Leaf or Butter Lettuce all work well)

Cobb Salad Dressing

  1. 1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar

  2. 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

  3. 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard

  4. 1 Clove Garlic, minced

  5. 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

  6. Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to Taste

  • Combine all ingredients 1-4 in an appropriate sized mixing bowl and whisk together.

  • Continue to whisk while streaming in olive oil.

  • Once olive oil is combined, season with salt and pepper to taste

Assembling Your Cobb Salad

Toss your salad greens of choice with the vinaigrette above. Place dressed greens in a salad bowl, and arrange ingredients from the component section in straight lines, side by side, across the top of the salad greens.

 


Further Information

The Five French Mother Sauces: The Mother Of All Resources

Since we covered so much ground in the French Mother Sauce Series, both on the blog and podcast, I figured it would be a good idea to place all the information in one, easy to find post. The mother of all mother sauce resources if you will.

So here it is; a list of the mother sauces with their corresponding podcast episodes, classic components, serving suggestions, and how to posts.

But first, a quick history lesson.

A Brief History of The Mother Sauces

The French mother sauces were originally four base sauces set forth by Antonin Careme in the 19th century. Careme’s four original mother sauces were Allemande, Bechamel, Veloute and Espagnole.

In the 20th century, Chef Auguste Escoffier demoted Allemande to a secondary sauce of Veloute, and added Sauce Tomat and Hollandaise. 

One Last Thing…

Some of the classic versions of these sauces use different thickening agents to bring the sauce to its proper consistency. If you’re unfamiliar with thickening agents such as roux, liasons, or emulsions, you can follow the corresponding links for more information.

Sauce Bechamel
 

Sauce Veloute
 

  • Base: White Stock (Classically Veal, but Chicken and Fish Stock can also be used)

  • Thickening Agent: Classically a Roux, but sometimes also a Liason is used.

  • Classical Flavorings: None, used specifically as a base

  • Common Secondary Sauces: Sauce Vin Blanc (White Wine Sauce), Sauce Supreme, Sauce Allemande, Sauce Poulette, Sauce Bercy, Sauce Normandy

  • Classically Served With: Eggs, Fish, Steamed Poultry, Steamed Vegetables, Pastas, Veal

  • Technique and Recipe: How To Make Sauce Veloute and its Derivatives

  • Corresponding Podcast Episode: SCS 10| Sauce Veloute

Sauce Tomat (AKA Tomato Sauce)

  • Base: Tomatoes (Raw, Tomato Paste, Tomato Puree, Stewed Tomatoes)

  • Thickening Agent: Classically a Roux, modern versions commonly use a reduction or purees

  • Classical Flavorings: Salt Pork, Mirepoix, Garlic, White Veal Stock, Salt & Pepper, Sugar (Just enough to balance acidity, not enough to make the sweetness perceptible).

  • Common Secondary Sauces: Modern variations concentrate more on seasonings giving rise to sauces such as Creole, Portuguese and Spanish Sauce Tomat.

  • Classically Served With: Pasta, Fish, Vegetables (Especially Grilled), Polenta, Veal, Poultry (Especially Chicken), Breads and Dumplings such as Gnocchi.

  • Technique and Recipe: How to Make Tomato Sauce and Its Modern Variations

  • Corresponding Podcast Episode: SCS Episode 12| Sauce Tomat

Sauce Espagnole (AKA Sauce Brune or Brown Sauce)
 

Hollandaise Sauce
 

Watch the Video Lecture: The Five French Mother Sauces | An Introduction

Understanding The Five French Mother Sauces - Video Lecture

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