After all ingredients are individually prepared, a salad is either tossed or composed. In
a tossed salad, the ingredients are simply mixed, or tossed, together prior to plating. For a composed salad, the
ingredients are arranged on the base separately to create the desired taste experience and achieve a high level
of visual appeal.
A fl avorful mixture that accompanies certain food items and is meant to complement or enhance a food’s
fl avor. Depending on their ingredients and purpose, dips can be served hot or cold, and many cold dips can be
thinned for use as salad dressings.
A mixture of ingredients that permanently stays together, unlike a suspension, which eventually
separates.
Usually a layer of salad greens that lines the plate or bowl in which a salad will be served.
This type of dressing is typically creamy, such as Russian, Thousand Island, and
blue cheese dressing, and is often thicker than an emulsified vinaigrette (but not always).
Salads large enough to serve as a full meal that also contain protein ingredients, such
as meat, poultry, seafood, egg, beans, or cheese, and that provide a well-balanced meal, both visually and
nutritionally. The main-course salad is a menu staple for many restaurants, and such salads range from the very
traditional chef’s salad, containing mixed greens, raw vegetables, strips of meat, and cheese, to very popular
Caesar salads with grilled chicken or shrimp.
Part of a salad that consists of the main ingredients, which can be a mixture of vegetables, such as lettuce,
tomatoes, carrots, etc.; meats, such as turkey breast or ham; or cheeses and various fruits, such as mandarin
oranges or apples.
This light salad is intended to be a palate cleanser after a rich dinner and before dessert. Often
served in classic French meals, the intermezzo salad refreshes or stimulates a person’s appetite for the dessert or
next course.
Served as an appetizer to the main meal, a starter salad is smaller in portion and consists of light,
fresh, crisp ingredients to stimulate the appetite.
An ingredient that can permanently bind dissimilar ingredients, such as oil and vinegar, together
on a molecular level. Egg yolks contain lecithin (an effective emulsifi er) and can bind oil and vinegar together
permanently, so these three ingredients make up the base of many emulsified vinaigrettes.