The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 958

and a pool of vinegar at the bottom of the salad bowl.An
emulsifiedvinaigrette,ontheotherhand,usesthepowerof
surfactantstohelpboththeoilandthevinegarclingtightly
totheleaves,givingyoubalancedflavorineverymouthful.

OBSESSIVE-EMULSIVE

W

hat about the ratio of oil to vinegar? I tried

various ratios, everywhere from 1:4 to 4:1 oil to
vinegar. In the end, the classic French recipe of
three parts oil to one part vinegar proved to form
the strongest, most stable emulsion with a nice,
viscous, leaf-coating consistency. In some cases, I


found the amount of vinegar a little too aggressive.
Butyoucaneasilyreplacesomeofthevinegarwith
watertotoneitdown—or,ifyouwanttobringabit
of a meaty bite to your salad (I often do), replace
partofitwithsoysauce.
As for the best emulsifier for the job, mustard is
themostcommonsurfactant,anditworksbestwhen
you have at least 1 teaspoon per tablespoon of
vinegar (you can add more if you’d like).
Mayonnaise works even better, easily forming a
creamy sauce, though it lacks the pleasant tang of
mustard. For a sweeter dressing (say, on a beet
saladoranasparagussalad),honeyalsoworksvery

well.Tryaddinghoneyandtoastedcrushednutstoa
basicvinaigrette.Itrocksinmorewaysthanone.
As for mixing, some advocate slowly whisking in
the oil. Others shake it up in a jam jar. Still others
insistontheblender.Well,aftertesting,Ifoundthat,
not surprisingly, a blender will give you the tightest
emulsion, though it can cause your olive oil to turn
extremelybitter(see“TheBitterBlend,” here)while
the shake-it-in-a-jar version will be the weakest,
lastingforonly30minutesorso.Butthetruthofthe
matter is, your vinaigrette only needs to stay stable
forthelengthoftimeittakesyoutoeatasalad.
I put the ingredients for my vinaigrette into a 1pintsqueezebottleinthefridgeandshakeitupright
beforeIuseit.Or,asismoreoftenthecase,Itakeit
out of the fridge and realize that, once again, my
wifehasfinishedoffallbutthelastdrop,forcingme