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Bottled salad dressing


Athena1963

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In a perfect world, I would make fresh salad dressing every time I have salad. Well, I ain't perfect. I only eat salad once a week or so at home so it's not worth making fresh dressing every time, hence, store-bought. Unfortunately most bottled dressings are too vinegary for me. How can I cut some of that vinegar? I have tried stirring some plain Hellman's mayo but it isn't a real fix, just a little blander but still with that sharp tang. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

I eat both creamy and vinaigrettes.

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You dont need to make a salad dressing every time - a basic vinaigrette will keep very well in the fridge. Make it with your preferred proportions of vinegar (any flavour or type ) and oil, plus the salt, pepper, sugar, mustard as you wish - just dont add the "fresh" stuff like garlic and herbs if you want to keep it a very long time.

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I don't find the bottled dressings to be vinegary at all. Mainly they are just really really salty. I don't use them at all. Mostly, I just drizzle on some olive oil and a little lemon juice. Pinch of salt, a pinch of dried herbs, and toss.

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Is it really that much trouble to make a basic vinagrette? I've found the easiest thing is to use a clean glass jar. Just pour the respective ratios in, put on the lid and shake for 10 seconds. It literally takes less than a minute to make.

Ditto. And if you make more than you need and keep it in the fridge, then you have your own bottled ready-to-go vinagrette made exactly to your liking. You can have several if you want, with different proportions, made using different oils/vinegars etc. As The Old Foodie says, just avoid adding fresh stuff such as garlic or whatever if you want to keep it more than a few days.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

Virginia Woolf

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Suffice it to say I don't find bottled dressings vinegary either. I actually wish they had a bit more of a tang to them.

Which is why I too make my own. If you use dried herbs as opposed to fresh, you can add those when you make the batch.

Blue cheese dressing is the one exception to this rule. I've yet to figure out how to do a homemade one that is creamy like the bottled varieties. I suspect that egg yolks enter the picture somewhere.

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to answer your question I would ditto the addition of sugar to cut the vinegar if you find them too tart. I would also echo the suggestion of making your own. Glass jars are the way to go. So easy and it takes so little time to make good dressing. I find bottled dressings have "that taste". I don't know what it is but many have a certain taste in the background that may be preservatives or additives. Don't know what it is but don't like them. for creamy dressings a mixture of mayo and sour cream works well when loaded with blue cheese.

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