Vinaigrette Vinaigrette

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A lot of people talk about the importance of oil in a vinaigrette, which I'll get to in a minute, but to me, just as much attention should be paid to the vinegar. All vinegars are not alike, and it wasn't until I had a job making hundreds of salads almost every night for two years, that I learned a lot about making a good vinaigrette. The word vinaigre is a mash-up of two words; wine (vin) and sour (aigre), which is what naturally happens to wine that's left to stand uncorked. Like wine, vinegar varies in quality, and I use either red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar for almost every vinaigrette I make. Despite its popularity, I avoid commercial balsamic vinegar because I find it to be too sweet in salads. Sherry vinegar is my preferred choice when I want a mellower flavor, and red wine vinegar is what I use when I want the dressing to have a bit more pizzazz. I used to always choose extra-virgin olive oil to make dressing for green salads, but since moving to France, I've tasted salads with neutral-tasting salad oil in the vinaigrette and realized that olive oil can be a little overly assertive in a dressing. So I sometimes use a cold-pressed oil, such as sunflower, safflower, or colza (rapeseed or canola) oil, which I get from local producers. Do try it the next time you make a vinaigrette; you might be as surprised as I was! I almost always add shallots to vinaigrette, which impart a wonderful, slight oniony sweetness to a simple salade verte, or green salad. Other ways to elevate a simple green salad are to add chervil, an underused herb in America, or cut some razor-thin slices of fresh fennel from a trimmed bulb, or red radishes, and toss them with the salad greens. Like the French, I don't make dressing in advance in large batches, but mix the dressing in a large salad bowl and pile the leaves and other ingredients on top of it, then cover it with a clean linen towel. When it's time to fatiguer the salad, as the French say, I toss the ingredients in the dressing-along with freshly ground black pepper, a few flakes of sea salt, and perhaps some just-chopped herbs-and serve. This amount makes enough to dress 6 cups (100g) of torn lettuce leaves, enough for two to three servings of salad. It can be increased to serve more. If using more delicate greens, like mache, arugula, or mesclun (baby salad mix), add it to taste, as they may require less dressing than sturdier leaves like romaine or butter lettuce.