Dressings
Sauces for salads are often called "dressings". The concept of salad dressing varies across cultures.
In Western culture, there are three basic types of salad dressing:
- Vinaigrette
- Creamy dressings, usually mayonnaise-based, but which may also contain yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, milk, or crème fraîche
- Cooked dressings, which resemble creamy dressings, but are usually thickened by adding egg yolks and gently heating.
Vinaigrette /vɪnəˈɡrɛt/ is a mixture (emulsion) of salad oil and vinegar, often flavored with herbs, spices, salt, pepper, sugar, and other ingredients. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but also as a sauce or marinade.
In North America, mayonnaise-based Ranch dressing is most popular, with vinaigrettes and Caesar-style dressing following close behind. Traditional dressings in France are vinaigrettes, typically mustard-based, while mayonnaise is predominant in eastern European countries and Russia. In Denmark, dressings are often based on crème fraîche. In southern Europe, salad is generally dressed by the diner with oil and vinegar.
In Asia, it is common to add sesame oil, fish sauce, citrus juice, or soy sauce to salad dressings.
The following are examples of common salad dressings:
- Blue cheese dressing
- Caesar dressing
- Extra virgin olive oil
- French dressing
- Ginger dressing
- Honey Dijon
- Hummus
- Italian dressing
- Louis dressing
- Ranch dressing
- Russian dressing
- Tahini
- Thousand Island dressing
- Vinaigrette
- Wafu dressing
Read more about this topic: Salad Dressings