# Salad



## Nemo (Sep 23, 2017)

I love eating salad.

For some reason, I always have trouble working out what ingredients make a great salad.

I guess you need a combiation of crunchy and bulky ingredients, maybe with a bit of protein. A balance of fat, acid and salt probably helps too.

How do you plan a salad? Are there any good salad resources or recipè books out there?


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## Keith Sinclair (Sep 23, 2017)

We eat a lot of salads. You can prep. stuff ahead of time. I steam Okinawan sweet potato keep in frig. for snacks & salads. Having vine ripe tomatoes helps. Often you can use up diff. leftover veg. & protein.

Here is one: Salmon oil & vinegar salad
In a bowl mix 1 can of wild caught pink salmon, dice sweet onion, celery, ground pepper & garlic salt. Fresh lime juice. Small amount of mayonnaise.

In another bowl cut Broccoli, Okinawan sweet potato, vine ripe tomatoes, thin slice red cabbage, Tangerine, avocado, and slice Kalamata olives. Either mix your own or a good store bought O&V dressing over the vegetables.

Arugula & Red Leaf lettuce wash & put on plate. Top the lettuce with you veg. mix and scoop some salmon salad in the center. Finish with some Feta cheese & fresh ground pepper from a mill.


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## Mucho Bocho (Sep 23, 2017)

Sounds delicious Keith. 

Nemo, a good salad is a balance of dressing leaf texture and flavor and toppings. Keep it simple. 

I like strait arugula and chicory for leaves.


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## Nemo (Sep 23, 2017)

Sounds great Keith. Gotta try that, thanks.

Mucho, just to paraphrase, I've gotta balance the texture and flavour of the leaves with the texture and flavour of the toppings with the flavour of the dressing? Thanks, that does break it down into simpler steps, which is kinda what I need.


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## Mucho Bocho (Sep 23, 2017)

Nemo, Exactly, but don't over think it.

Dressing:
A good dressing needs to complement the ingredients. So for me I prefer vinegarets. Usually Safflower/acid (vinegar, lemon, picked juice...) salt, pepper and a dash of something sweet (sugar, honey, palm sugar....). Thats really all thats necessary, an oh, don't put it in a freaking blender. Just add everything in a jar and shake. 

Then once you get your base dressing to your liking, experiment with it by adding one ingredient at a a time. Maybe herbs, maybe dijon, maybe fish sauce, maybe MSG.... Viscosity make a huge impact on flavor. if your looking of something a little more sticky, consider adding a dollop of yogurt or mayo or sour cream, xanthum gum...

Salad leaves: Is very much a personal preference and I don't discriminate necessarily. I like strong tasting leaves like chicory, arugula, endive, freeze... as my base.

I usually have shredded cabbage in the frig. so i'll through some of that in there. 

Toppings: go easy but be adventurous. sunny side up eggs, nuts and my favorite: fruit:green apples, grapes, strawberries, mango...

I will share with you the biggest secret of making a salad, that even most experienced chefs neglect. Toss leaves in salt pepper dash sugar before dressing. 

If you do nothing else (and I challenge you to try) leaves in bowl, salt/pepper/dash sugar on, squeeze lemon (citrus) little oil, serve. It will be better than any other salad that wasn't prepped properly.


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## K813zra (Sep 23, 2017)

I love salads of all kinds. In the Mediterranean they were a staple with meals. Over there it was common to have a salad with mixed greens normally including endive and arugula. Then carrots, sweet corn, onions, boiled egg, white asparagus and tuna with salt, pepper, olive oil and cream of balsamic vinegar. Yet in the US I grew up eating chicken and steak salad topped with bacon and fries and a huge scoop of ranch dressing. I still like both and everything between.


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## chinacats (Sep 23, 2017)

Salad is awesome...don't forget avocado...and I personally enjoy a small amount of fresh garlic in my vinaigrette.


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## Nemo (Sep 23, 2017)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Nemo, Exactly, but don't over think it.
> 
> Dressing:
> A good dressing needs to complement the ingredients. So for me I prefer vinegarets. Usually Safflower/acid (vinegar, lemon, picked juice...) salt, pepper and a dash of something sweet (sugar, honey, palm sugar....). Thats really all thats necessary, an oh, don't put it in a freaking blender. Just add everything in a jar and shake.
> ...


Thanks Mucho.

Lots to try there.


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## txtrqdrt (Sep 26, 2017)

Nice thread - I want to try some of these!

I eat quite a bit of salad, composed primarily of greens (garden salads, etc.). 

A combination I quite like is: 

1 granny smith apple - thinly sliced
1/2 carrot - fine julienne 
Decent handful of a mix of baby spinach and rocket - chiffonade 
Freshly roasted pumpkin seeds (20 mins @ 170ish deg C) - small handful

Through this I mix a vinaigrette of white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. 

The slightly tart sweetness of the green apple seems to go really well with the lemony vinaigrette and nuttiness of the pumpkin seeds.


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## malexthekid (Sep 26, 2017)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Nemo, Exactly, but don't over think it.
> 
> Dressing:
> A good dressing needs to complement the ingredients. So for me I prefer vinegarets. Usually Safflower/acid (vinegar, lemon, picked juice...) salt, pepper and a dash of something sweet (sugar, honey, palm sugar....). Thats really all thats necessary, an oh, don't put it in a freaking blender. Just add everything in a jar and shake.
> ...


Thanks for the dressing basics Mucho. My dressing game is really lacking which hurts my salads.


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## Badgertooth (Sep 26, 2017)

Tomato, onion, cucumber, olives, feta, white wine vinegar, olive oil.


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## Mucho Bocho (Sep 26, 2017)

red pickled beets, fresh strawberry's, sliced red onion, goat cheese, pickled beet juice + olive oil SPS (salt pepper sugar)


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## Badgertooth (Sep 30, 2017)

Julienne of carrot
Cabbage
Tiny dice of cucumber 
Chopped spring onion
Avocado
Bitter leaves/mesclun
Seasoned sushi rice
Teriyaki chicken
Soy sauce
Sushi vinegar
Sesame oil
Sriracha
Chilli flakes


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## Mucho Bocho (Sep 30, 2017)

Looks poppin B. Gorgeous color


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## Nemo (Sep 30, 2017)

Yum.


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## K813zra (Sep 30, 2017)

chinacats said:


> Salad is awesome...don't forget avocado...and I personally enjoy a small amount of fresh garlic in my vinaigrette.



Yum, yum! I love avocado on about everything.


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## Keith Sinclair (Oct 2, 2017)

Looks good Bager. Avocado's we have big buttery ones. You need a picker with a long pole to get in the forest. I use bamboo. Timing has to be right most of the trees I know about others do too. Like to let them get big before picking. Some don't wait that long.


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## K813zra (Oct 2, 2017)

keithsaltydog said:


> Looks good Bager. Avocado's we have big buttery ones. You need a picker with a long pole to get in the forest. I use bamboo. Timing has to be right most of the trees I know about others do too. Like to let them get big before picking. Some don't wait that long.



Sounds like any kind of wild berries around here. We have some state and private land where we are allowed to forage around here but everyone in a 50 mile radius seems to know about the good spots. So do the bears so the competition is cutthroat. Mushrooms, nuts and berries are fairly abundant but foraging seems to be getting more and more popular with city folk who come out here, lol. Fortunately I have a few acres here at home and have some nice wild berries along with my fruit trees.


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## sachem allison (Oct 4, 2017)

Lots of pickled stuff and nuts


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 12, 2017)

Have you tried using some asian classics, like Yum Woon Sen or Japchae, as a base recipe?


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## DamageInc (Oct 12, 2017)

Nemo said:


> I love eating salad.
> 
> For some reason, I always have trouble working out what ingredients make a great salad.
> 
> ...



I pretty much always put thinly slice rinsed shallots in my salads. And my favorite leafy green for a salad is frisée.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 12, 2017)

Does the rinsing make much of a difference with regards to elimating "spicyness bombs"?


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## DamageInc (Oct 12, 2017)

Yes that is exactly why. Rinsing in ice water gets rid of most of the kick but you keep the crunch and slight onion-y flavor.


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## Badgertooth (Oct 12, 2017)

Bitter leaves
Thinly sliced onion soaked in hot water
Tomato concasse
Rough chopped green olive
Avocado
Parmesan shavings
Rump steak cut into strips

Dressing
Hot English mustard 
Aged sherry vinegar 
Muscavado sugar
Olive oil
Crushed garlic
S&P


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## orangehero (Oct 14, 2017)

I know nuts were mentioned, but seeds are slightly different and what I prefer. Love toasted hemp seed on salad!


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## Keith Sinclair (Oct 14, 2017)

Alright keep making those salads, possibilities are endless good way to clean out your frig. too. My friend is going to New Zealand next week with a Hawaii tour group.


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## K813zra (Oct 22, 2017)

Badgertooth said:


> Bitter leaves
> Thinly sliced onion soaked in hot water
> Tomato concasse
> Rough chopped green olive
> ...



You salad looks too pretty to eat! I bet it is yummy though!


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## crockerculinary (Oct 24, 2017)

gotta eat your veggies. when i have the time, i try to set us up for easy big salad meals through the week. 
1) cook and shred up a whole chicken
2) do a big batch of lightly marinated or pickled raw veggies after hitting up the farmers market on sunday- last time it was a basic italian style red wine vinegar marinade with carrots, sweet peppers, red onion, celery, radishes, etc. 
3) a mix of toasted seeds and nuts -cashew, sunflowers, almonds, pistachio
4) big batch of clean greens kept in a storage box. 

then it is easy to just grab a handful of salad greens, add a big scoop of the veg, dressing the salad in the process, and throw on some cooked chicken, some nuts and sunflower seeds, and you got dinner in just a few seconds. easy for taking to work too, just keep your veggies in a separate container until eating. you can of course vary the spicing/ flavoring on the chicken/ veggies/ nuts any way to suit. for me this works every time, and mixing up the ingredients with whats seasonal keeps thing varied enough to keep things from getting boring.


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## Danzo (Oct 28, 2017)

honey sherry vinaigrette
Beets
Pickled red onion
Toasted pepita 
Bitter greens
Goat cheese


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## Boynutman (Oct 30, 2017)

For salads one thing I am starting to find out is that it is worth spending some money on decent vinegar(s). The stuff I can get in the mainstream supermarket here tends to be thin watery vicious stuff, regardless of what type they call it. 
The stuff in organic shops tends to be much better already.

I already knew it made sense for olive oil. But for vinegars too, apparently!


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## Badgertooth (Oct 30, 2017)

Boynutman said:


> For salads one thing I am starting to find out is that it is worth spending some money on decent vinegar(s). The stuff I can get in the mainstream supermarket here tends to be thin watery vicious stuff, regardless of what type they call it.
> The stuff in organic shops tends to be much better already.
> 
> I already knew it made sense for olive oil. But for vinegars too, apparently!



Totally agreed. Vinegar is probably the most populous single item in my pantry. From the top of my head:

White spirit vinegar
Cloudy organic apple cider vinegar
White wine vinegar
Chinkiang black vinegar
Seasoned mizkan sushi vinegar 
Aged balsamic vinegar
Aged sherry vinegar
Pedro Ximenez sherry vinegar
Datu puti vinegar


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 31, 2017)

@Badgertooth love to see the two extremes, Chinkiang and spirit vinegar, on that list.

Datu Puti, isn't that the stuff sold with green peppers floating in the bottle?


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## Badgertooth (Oct 31, 2017)

Haha, to be honest the white spirit sees duty as a laundry rinse, counter cleaner, stain remover, scale remover etc. And yes, there is a datu putti with a pepper in it but this one is the plain version.


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