Food & Recipes, Kitchen Hacks, Tabletop
How to dress your salad AND make sure it doesn’t wilt
A little “insider” trick that keeps your salad from wilting.
The fact is, a slightly wilted salad isn’t bad for you. But, it looks terrible on the table and it certainly isn’t very appealing either. There’s nothing worse than a soggy salad to ruin a beautiful meal. When you have guests over, not only do you want your food to be appetizing and tasty, but you also want your guests to be eager and happy to try every dish you serve – including the salad.
It should be no surprise that as a restauranteur for more than twenty years, I had the same goals. I was always on the lookout for tricks and ideas that made our food taste great and look the very best. Some of the “tricks” I picked up from my chefs (they always had the best ideas). Others were simply things that are passed along from one kitchen to another. In business terminology you’d call it “best practices.”
Well, here’s a “best practice” for serving salad to your guests. You’ll dress your salad before your party, and it won’t wilt before they’re ready to eat.
First, plan your meal well. When having guests over for dinner, I very often serve my favorite simple salad. The only exception is if the salad IS the center of the meal. Otherwise, keep it simple so that it doesn’t upstage the main course. Simplicity also helps solve the issue of wilting, which we’ll get to in a bit.
Second, think strategically. The biggest problem is timing: having the salad ready to serve but keeping the greens crisp and not EVER letting them wilt. There’s nothing worse than making a fresh salad too early so the greens are soggy and wilted by the time your guests are reaching for the salad bowl.
Once you take care of those steps, you’ll want to follow this guideline to make sure your salad tastes as good as it looks. Here’s how to do it in five easy steps.
- Remember your “plan.” Keep the salad simple so it won’t fight with the rest of the beautiful meal you’ve prepared. The best simple salad I’ve found is just fresh Butter Lettuce and my champagne vinaigrette. Here’s the recipe and here’s a video that shows how easy it is to make.
- I recommend ‘living’ Butter Lettuce. Butter Lettuce has a very delicate flavor and is the perfect vehicle for a great vinaigrette. Living Butter Lettuce is the freshest I’ve ever found, and most people love it. Remove the leaves from the stem (it’s attached to a root ball – which is very interesting and why it stays fresh for an incredibly long time in your refrigerator).
- Rinse the leaves gently (Butter Lettuce is delicate) and shake them lightly to get most of the moisture off the leaves. Then lay them in a single layer on paper towels to dry. Once they’re reasonably dry, tear the leaves into the size of pieces that you like.
- Pour your champagne vinaigrette in the BOTTOM of your salad bowl and gently lay the lettuce on top of the dressing BUT DO NOT TOSS.
- Now comes the strategy. When you’re ready to serve dinner, and your guests are seated, that’s when you toss the salad. Tossing the salad bruises the leaves a bit and makes them wilt faster. This goes for just about any large green, not just Butter Lettuce. So, toss it when you’re ready to serve, but definitely not earlier. That way it won’t be soggy from the dressing either!
Your salad will never be wilted again, it’ll taste good and look great. Need more? Take a look at this week’s video on salads.
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