You can buy a decent salad dressing these days with an ingredient list that is not too terrifying. There is an obvious convenience factor to buying a bottle of dressing I guess. I mean, there you are at the store buying your bag of salad greens, you might as well stop by the condiment isle and pick up a bottle of your favorite salad dressing to go with it, right?. And if you choose your bottle of dressing carefully, reading the label, rejecting those with questionable ingredients, why not? Why would you want to make your own?

I can think of several reasons : First, it is so easy to do, it really is. It does not require any culinary skill whatsoever, just a little knowledge which I will give you here. Second, you, the cook, get to determine what is in the dressing. You get to choose what’s not in it, like “natural flavors”, gums and other extraneous ‘stuff’. Third, you get to make only the quantity you need for the immediate salad, tailoring the ingredients to compliment the greens you are using. With your bottle of dressing you are stuck with the same flavor profile until the bottle is empty, regardless of your salad greens. And forth, there is the satisfaction of creating your own delicious dressing from some very simple pantry staples.

So, what about those ingredients. Pretty much all salad dressings have an oil and an acid. In commercial dressings the oil is often a vegetable oil and/or safflower oil. The acid is usually one or more vinegars including wine, balsamic or plain white vinegar. Surprisingly, water is a common ingredient in commercial dressings; sometimes the primary ingredient. Other ingredients may include onion, herbs, garlic, salt, stabilizing gums, etc., depending on the dressing.

Home made dressings by their nature tend to be simpler in construction; typically oil, vinegar or citrus juice, salt and pepper. Often times an emulsifier is included to hold the oil and vinegar in a semi stable emulsion. Garlic, herbs, honey and onion are some common additions to home made dressing. The two essential ingredients in a dressing though are oil and an acidic component; most commonly some kind of vinegar or citrus juice.

The Oil

Since it is a major player the oil should be a good quality extra virgin olive oil (abbreviated to EVO). You can use a lesser quality olive oil (often sold as ‘pure’ olive oil) or even a vegetable oil but good EVO is preferable by far.

And beware, not all EVOs are created equal with some having questionable provenance. You should check the label to see where and when it was produced and, ideally what olive varieties were used. The quality of the oil depends on a number of factors including the age of the oil and how it is bottled and stored. Olive oil is highly susceptible to heat, light and oxygen, all three of which will cause the oil to turn rancid much sooner than it would otherwise. It should be in an opaque container or a dark green bottle to protect it from UV rays and it should be stored in a cool place, away from direct sunlight or heat from the stove. When you are shopping for EVO avoid the ones in clear glass or plastic bottles. It might be OK for cooking but it won’t make a good salad dressing!

The Acid

The most common acid in home made dressing is vinegar and may include red wine, white wine, cider, sherry and balsamic because they are the ones you are most likely to have on hand. Fruit based vinegars such as raspberry, pomegranate, etc, can make interesting dressings too. (There is a shop in San Francisco called Olive This Olive That which sells a huge variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, many of which are flavored with herbs, citrus, chili peppers and more. The permutations of oil and vinegar combinations are almost limitless.) But really, any vinegar will work except white distilled vinegar which has no flavor of its own that would contribute to a dressing so it’s best to avoid it. Just be aware of the vinegar you are using as it relates to your salad greens and other salad components.

The other acid option is citrus juice. Lemon and lime are popular choices. Oranges are generally sweeter than lemons and while they can be used (especially if it is a sour orange) you are probably better off sticking with the lemon/lime option. If you are using citrus don’t forget the rind. Citrus zests have different flavor molecules than the juices and they add another flavor dimension to a dressing. Before juicing the fruit grate a teaspoon or so of the zest using a rasp style grater to add to the bowl of dressing ingredients.

Other flavorings

Whatever else you add to your dressing is a matter of personal taste and is limited only by your imagination. Don’t get too carried away though; less is often times more. If you go overboard with add-ins you can muddy the flavors to where you can’t identify any of them.

Chopped fresh herbs are always nice. If you do add herbs, use the so called fine herbs. That is, herbs with soft leaves like thyme, savory, tarragon, etc. Coarser herbs like rosemary are not really suitable in a dressing for what may be pretty obvious reasons. OK, if you haven’t guessed why, because the leaves are too tough. A light hand is needed here too; some herbs like tarragon can overpower the dressing.

Same with garlic. If you are using it, 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic is enough to flavor the dressing without having an aggressive, in your face garlic flavor. The exception to that being Caesar Salad dressing which is assertively garlicky.

You can finely chop a teaspoon or so of shallot or red onion or green onion tops or chives. A nice addition but by no means essential. If you don’t have any suitable onion on hand or you simply don’t want to chop it, by all means leave it out. Indeed, that’s true for any add-ins; don’t have it? don’t like it? don’t want it? don’t use it!

Oil to Acid Ratio

As a general rule the ratio of oil to acid is about 3:1; that is, 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. However, this is just a guideline. The actual ratio for any given dressing will vary depending on the kind of acid (an astringent red wine vinegar, a sweet balsamic or a mild lemon juice, for example), what salad greens you are dressing (peppery arugula, sweet spinach, bitter endive) and any add-ins you may want (honey, mustard, herbs, etc.). The best way to know if the dressing is properly balanced is to take a leaf of your salad greens and dip it in the dressing and taste it. You can easily tell if it needs more oil or acid or salt and pepper.

Emulsifiers

I mentioned emulsifiers earlier. That sounds a bit ominous, like one of those mystery ingredients in commercial dressings. Fear not, I wouldn’t do that to you.

So, what happens when you mix oil and vinegar? You put it in a bowl and whisk it to combine the two or you put it in a jar, shake it vigorously to mix it and then what? As soon as you stop shaking it begins to separate out with the vinegar on the bottom of the bowl and the oil floating on top. If you pour this on your lettuce and eat it, you will get a mouthful of either oil or vinegar. Actually, most of the vinegar will have drained on to the plate because there is nothing to make it cling to the salad greens. What we need here is an emulsifier; something to hold the oil and vinegar together. Mustard with its emulsifying superpower will convince the oil and vinegar to bind together, at least temporarily.

Any kind of mustard will do. If you use just a little, say 1/4 tsp of dry mustard it will hold the emulsion but you won’t get much mustard taste. If you like a mustard dressing, use a generous amount of prepared mustard like Dijon, say about generous teaspoon. Or for a different taste/texture, how about whole grain mustard.

Another good emulsifier is lecithin. “Who’s got lecithin lying about in the kitchen?”, you want to know? You’d be surprised. Lecithin is a combination of fatty acids found in egg yolks among other foods. (In fact, up until WW2 most of the lecithin used was extracted from egg yolks. Today it is mostly plant based, extracted from soy beans.) Although you could use an egg yolk in the dressing (think Caesar salad) there is a ready made convenient alternative. Mayonnaise! If you check the ingredient list on the jar of mayo in the fridge you will see it is made with egg yolks (if you bought the good stuff). A dollop of mayo in the dressing will hold the emulsion (better than mustard, actually) and give you a nice creamy dressing if that’s what you like.

Seasoning

Like any food you prepare you will want to season it. You want to season your dressing with a pinch of salt and a spritz of fresh ground pepper. Do this before you add the oil. Salt will not dissolve in oil so if you add salt later it will just sit suspended in the oil.

In a Nutshell

• Home made dressing is very easy to make from pantry staples in most kitchens. You shouldn’t have to go to the store for ingredients to make a dressing.
• You get to choose what goes in it – no mystery ingredients.
• Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
• Your choice of acid; wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice or whatever you have on hand.
• Start with an oil to acid ratio of 3:1 (3 parts oil to 1 part acid) and adjust to suit your greens and any add-ins.
• Season your dressing with salt and pepper before adding the oil. Salt does not dissolve well in oil.
• You can absolutely go with a straight up oil and vinegar dressing but if you want an emulsified dressing, add a little mustard. For a creamy dressing use mayonnaise to emulsify it instead of mustard.
• Don’t go crazy with add-ins; less is more!

The Recipe

What follows is a basic recipe for you to build upon. If you haven’t made salad dressing before, I suggest you start here and get comfortable with the process before getting more adventurous.