What Is the Perfect Salad Dressing?

A good dressing needs acid such as vinegar or citrus fruits, sweetness such as honey or maple syrup, salt, and a savory part. We will also tell you how to make the vinegar yourself. Pepper is the classic choice for this, but chili or ginger also adds a great touch. This is the base. Then you can experiment with extras and create your favorite taste. My motto: Have courage!

With little tricks, you can add variety to your favorite dressing. For example, you can work great with not-from-concentrate juices: apple or orange juice give a new fruit note. Tomato juice is also exciting! If you like it even milder, you can change it up with yogurt or fresh herbs. The latter variants go well with mild salads: they do not trump the inherent taste, but emphasize it. Also great is a sauce with mustard, this is my personal favorite:

I dice 1-2 shallots and mix them with 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 75 ml veal stock, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, a pinch of cane sugar, and 4 tbsp vegetable oil. I would make such a dressing with lamb’s lettuce.

Sweeter and fruity dressings that are based on vinegar and oil go well with tart types of salad. They set a great contrast to light bitter substances.

My tip for a particularly fine summer dressing: add some lime zest or mint leaves to the dressing, both of which give a delicate and very refreshing note. If you want an extra highlight on particularly hot days: crushed ice! Simply mix it with the dressing – it really gives a super kick of freshness. However, the salad should then be eaten quickly so that it does not become watered down.