Vinaigrettes, Citronettes, and Mojos
…the second subsection in the Modern Mother Sauces. As with all these subsections a Master Recipe is given. A recipes that come in handy when developing your own creations. Some come in the form of a ratios, 1 part this to 2 parts that so you can make your own quantity or variation. Most are easily memorized giving you a technique for you to store away safe in your mind to rely on regularly.
À la Minute Vinaigrette is the master recipe for this section.
Unless a dressing has a special technique like curing the shallots or garlic to eliminate the harshness both on the palate and in the tummy, or those that need a blender to buzz it smooth or those with four or more ingredients I tend to always dress the salad by sight and taste at the last very last minute.
À la Minute Vinaigrette
The forever key to keep in mind is that the vinegar always goes on first, this action lets the flavor of the acid penetrate the items. Oil coats, blocks and acts as a barrier from receiving flavor, it also makes lettuces and other delicate vegetable wilt with its heaviness. You can ideally hold your lettuces and vegetables with just vinegar or lemon juice for a fairly long period of time. Right before serving, drizzle the oil in a light stream. And lastly, season with salt, pepper or chili powder and any other dry spices and herbs you’d like, they now have something to stick onto opposed to a sprinkling of them in the beginning where they’d just glide off and settle onto the plate. Walk your beautiful plate to the table and right before eating toss it gently.
One dangerous technique, freeze your lettuce and its serving plate…
Please beware, danger zone, proceed with caution, risk level ten, chance of irreversible loss, if you forget and accidentally freeze your lettuces ice crystals will form within the cell walls of the lettuce, lettuce is mostly made up of water, once frozen the cells rupture and you’ll have frozen solid lettuce, defrosting will get you soggy, slimy and translucent goop, your only option at that point would be to throw it out. But, if you do it right the benefits are glorious. If you’re into risk and adventure for the big prize then set a timer, you’ll have lettuces that are perfectly chilled, with a crispness and crunch that turns your salad into a full food experience, you need this. Place washed and dried lettuces on its serving platter in the freezer, set your timer for 5 minutes, remove. Check, sometimes it can use an extra boost, set timer for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, this all depends on the temperature of the salad and plate going in as well on how your freezer runs. A refrigerator chilled lettuce is less dangerous and perfectly fine. Just please don’t serve lettuce at room temperature or warm, eek. Not a fan of grilled lettuces. DON’T DRESS YOUR CHILLED CRISPY LETTUCES WITH WARM DRESSING. CHILL DRESSING SEPARATELY, DO NOT DRESS AND CHILL.
RECAP
Vinaigrettes have vinegar as it’s acid, citronettes use citrus and mojos generally have punchy notes of garlic and use little to no oil, its pure pucker and flavor for the purpose of penetrating the items with character. Mojos pronounced mo-hos, are ideal for marinating but I love them especially with fried foods to cut through the fatty or for items with little flavor like cucumbers and melons, these dressings inject big flavor. Watermelon Salad with Turmeric-Ginger Relish, is one of my favorite salads from the book and uses Big Flavor Dressing, p. 49, a mojo.
It’s winter though, look for root vegetables, they are really sweet now, think carrots, white onion and turnips. Chicories. Citrus. Herbs. Here are other favorites…
Chicories and Seaweed p. 187
Or freestyle a CELERY SALAD, all sliced thin, think dates, pecans, Meyer lemon, parsley, pecorino and À la Minute Vinaigrette p. 44
And a shredded or mandolined CARROT SALAD with salty roasted peanuts, lots of cilantro and mint with the Big Flavor Dressing p. 49 and finish with the smallest dots of sesame oil, I’ll take this on Noodle Bowl p. 211 or simply with jasmine rice.
Homework
Cooking with your senses is a big part of Bright Cooking. Lets align and calibrate our senses by making a citronette using only sight and taste, no measurements. Cooking is the act of using all of your senses and this is a good exercise to start living that life.
Citronette With Your Senses
Start by juicing a lemon or two depending on your yield needs. Its citrus season so treat yourself to a Pink or Meyer lemon variety, but a basic lemon works just fine. Add the juice into a small bowl, now slowly add in a small amount natural sugar (cane, maple, honey or agave) whisking until sugar has dissolved into the juice. Taste and keep adding small increments of sugar while whisking until it tastes like sweet lemonade. Now whisk in a neutral oil like avocado, sunflower, safflower, etc., this dressing is very delicate in flavor and a strong oil like olive or sesame will overpower. While whisking steadily drizzle in the oil until it has body, it will go from liquid to an opaque and a dressing-like thick consistency. Season with salt to taste and the smallest dot of chile powder to give it character. I heard a chef once say chile wakes the taste buds. I agree. Plus, I enjoy how it sits on the palate and lingers there past the time you’ve finished eating, that savory delicate umami that signals you just ate really well.
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