The Cliff House BlogHouse Vinaigrette Dressing - The Savage Kitchen

01 Aug, 2014

Whipping up a batch of vinaigrette is kind of like throwing a party and inviting a bunch of people you know don't really get along. Things are fine for the first hour or so with everybody milling around chit-chatting and wrecking your carpet but then they slowly start to separate into their cliques and groups. Thankfully parties don't have to last very long and it's usually at this point you start ushering everyone out the door before they find those extra bottles of wine you stashed away.

Vinaigrettes are of course emulsions (or colloids if you want to be really technical) and they are considered 'oil-in-water emulsions since the particles of oil are suspended within water in our case vinegar. The main thing you need to know about emulsions is that they really don't want to be that way they'd much rather separate out into their own parts. As mentioned in the show honey and mustard are both great additions to the herb vinaigrette not just because of the flavors they add but also because both honey and mustard are what's known as surfactants or emulsifiers because they help stabilize the vinaigrette. They're kind of like party games they keep all those guests who want to separate together at least for a little while.

That's all well and good if you want to make a vinaigrette that contains some kind of emulsifier say egg yolk for your caesar dressing or hollandaise but what if you want just a plain ol garden vinaigrette without the mustard tang or sweetness of honey? You may wonder how that Italian dressing you get from the store stays so nice and even well they're using commercial grade emulsifiers of course stuff not really available to the average consumer.

So what to do? Well don't sweat it that's what you do! Given the amount of time it takes to whip up a batch of vinaigrette (minutes really) and how simple the recipe is (3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar + herbs or what-have-you) just make however much you need for that salad you want. This allows much greater customization for each salad you make and you won't have bottles and jars of various specialty vinaigrettes in your fridge. If you've got a nice shake-able vinaigrette bottle go ahead and make enough for a day or two all you've got to do to bring that party back is shake it up a bit. So go experiment bust out that immersion blender and get to mixing!

FRESH HERB VINAGERETTE

2.5 ozDIJON
5 ozCHAMPAGNE VINAGER
5 ozRED WINE VINAGER
2.5 ozHONEY
2 ozSHALLOTS (fine dice)
1 CCHERVIL (fine chop)
1CCHIVES (fine chop)
1C PARSLY (fine chop)
½ tTARRAGON(fine chop)
32 ozBLENDED OIL
½ OZTRUFFLE OIL


PROCEDURE

In small mixer combine all ingredients except oils
Mix until incorporated
On high speed Slowly add Oil to Emulsify
Salt Pepper to Taste
If using a hand blender place all ingredients except oils in a 1 gallon container and mix till incorporated and then slowly add oil.