Sauces for salads. From history to cooking

Refueling, or sauces, for salads have existed since ancient times. For example, in ancient China it was soy sauce, in no less ancient Babylon refined salads from greens and vegetables with a mixture of vinegar and sunflower oil. In ancient Egypt - similarly, only spices were added. Millennia passed, and since the mid-nineteenth century, the most popular is the sauce of Lucien Olivier - mayonnaise. In principle, since ancient times, one of the permanent ingredients, included in sauces for salads, and remained vinegar and vegetable oil. For salads of meat ingredients, fish and boiled "winter" vegetables, sauces are prepared with the addition of cream or sour cream. They are more caloric, and for daily use will not do.

And sauces for vegetable salads practically do not depart from an eternal classics - a mix of vinegar or lemon juice with vegetable oil with addition, already to taste, greens and spices. Just prepare this sauce right before serving, because the vinegar and oil have a "habit" of stratifying. Longer this mixture "lives" if it is whipped in a blender.

Typically, sauces for vegetable salads are prepared using sunflower or olive oil, and gourmets prefer also walnut. Vinegar is also chosen according to taste preferences. Important and this detail - the more acidic the vinegar, the more oil is required. Because of the smell and excessive acidity it is worth to refrain from table vinegar. Preferred white wine vinegar because of its tenderness, and yet it is very well combined with sunflower oil. Much nicer and more delicious apple cider vinegar. It fits perfectly with vegetable oils and is suitable for all salads.

Herbal vinegars insist on herbs with wine or apple cider vinegar and in combination with olive oil is a great salad dressing with boiled meat or tongue. Sausage vinegar with incomparable aroma (and yet it is quite rare for our country) is perfectly combined with nut oils. They are seasoned with meat salads and salads with bitter herbs, which, in principle, is also a rarity for the cuisine of our country.

Balsamic vinegar is the rarest and, therefore, expensive because of prolonged, sometimes up to 25 years, aging. When used, but you only need a couple of drops because of a strong flavor, it is mixed with apple or white wine vinegar.

Thick sauces for salads are, first of all, mayonnaise and derivatives based on it. Here comes a fairly long list, ranging from sour and yoghurt sauce to cheese and cream sauces. The best is classic mayonnaise, which can be done by any hostess, especially since mayonnaise producers sin by adding preservatives and additives that are undesirable to those who care for their health.

From the recipe series "Sauces for salads", we recommend here such a simple recipe for cooking mayonnaise, which is realistic at home: 2 raw eggs, 180 milliliters of sunflower oil, a little salt, a teaspoon of Russian mustard and art. A spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice. Beat in a mixer with a good number of turns.

For the last decades in the Russian cuisine, sauces for fondue have become customary. Translated from French, this word means "melt" and is a national dish of the inhabitants of Switzerland. In a heat-resistant dish, a white wine is heated on a spirit lamp and cheese is added there, at the rate of two parts for one part of the wine. In the melted mass dipped pieces of bread. It turns out very tasty!

From the word fondue went variations, and now fondue sauces can be found in a variety of interpretations, for example, in addition to the cheese fondue, there is a Chinese fondue when broths, chocolate "Tobleron" or oil "Burgundy" boil in the tank. It remains only to cook all this and eat something refined.