Salads are probably one of the freshest and most balanced dishes that we can include in our weekly menus. They are also very versatile, since we can add all our favorite ingredients. But the difference that makes the success of a salad lies, more than in the ingredients, in the way we season the preparation.
The basics to learn how to dress any salad can be divided into three ingredients: oil, salt and vinegar. This dressing goes well with almost any salad, as it adds smoothness, enhances the flavor of food, and also adds acidity. However, this list of ingredients seems to have a logical order beyond adding them freely to our salad. This is what chef Karlos Arguiñano establishes, who shares his recommendation on dressings in his book Las recetas de toda la vida.
The strict steps that Arguiñano establishes to dress a salad have underlying reasons, especially in terms of texture and flavor of the ingredients. And it is that these can vary substantially depending on the amount of dressing that we use and the order in which we add it to our recipes. For example, the Gipuzkoan suggests that for a tomato and tuna salad the amount of salt should be measured, be generous with the oil and not abuse the vinegar.
But, what difference is there in the proportions of dressing that we use? Clearly this will depend on the type of ingredients that our salad has and the taste of each person. Beyond this, Arguiñano points out that it is essential to pay attention to the order in which we add the dressings, since this can make a huge difference between a good salad and a regular preparation.
In order to dress a salad correctly, Arguiñano suggests adding the salt first, then the vinegar and finally the oil. It may seem like a mathematical formula, but each step has its logic. The main reason that justifies this order of ingredients is based on being able to enhance the flavor of the salad, since if we add the salt and vinegar first, they may come into direct contact with the ingredients. If we were to add the oil first, it will coat the entire dish, causing the salt and vinegar to end up slipping off and not fulfilling their main functions, which would result in a less flavorful salad.
