Like oil and water
Like oil and water -- that's how I get along with French cooking. Not that I don't respect the French. But many of their best dishes require exacting technique, and I'm usually too lazy or too klutzy for anything that precise. So while my good friend Brian can whip up a lovely vinaigrette the proper traditional way, I was all too happy to discover a cheat.
Most French sauces that blend oily things and watery things have the benefit of egg yolk to hold them together -- hollandaise, bearnaise, mayonnaise. The lecithin in the egg acts as an emulsifier to allow one of the liquids to "dissolve" in the other, much like soap allows cooking grease to "dissolve" in dish water. Vinaigrettes are not so lucky -- they have oil, vinegar, and maybe little mustard. (The mustard helps a little, but not nearly as much as egg yolk.) So getting a smooth, relatively stable vinaigrette requires adding the oil very slowly and whisking quickly, so that it's so finely broken up it takes at least a few minutes to separate out again. Too much work.
The folks at Cook's Illustrated discovered, however, that a little dab of mayonnaise from the jar in your fridge will make the vinaigrette emulsify quickly and remain stable for more than an hour. You can be fairly sloppy about your whisking, or even dump everything in a jar and shake, and it still comes out nice. That's science I can use.
The basic proportions go like this. If you're diligent with the whisk, the vinaigrette will be smoother, and thus taste less tart -- you can get away with the lesser amount of oil. If you're lazy like me, I'd recommend 4 T oil. The "acid" could be wine vinegar, balsamic, lemon juice, etc.
- 1 T wine vinegar (or other acid)
- 1/2 t mayonnaise (regular or light)
- 1/2 t Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
- 3 - 4 T extra-virgin olive oil (or other oil)
Combine everything but the oil thoroughly, then whisk in the oil. Although I haven't tried it, I bet you can get away with dumping it all in a jar and shaking thoroughly too. You don't have to measure the mayo either -- a little dab should be about right.
Cook's offers a half-dozen variations on this theme: some shallot, some garlic, some herbs, some citrus zest. But once you know the proportions above, you can really make the rest up as you go along.
Incidentally, contrary to vinaigrette's reputation, this isn't a very "light" dressing -- it's mostly oil. It should have about 180 fat calories per 2 T serving. On the other hand, I made homemade Ranch the other night, and between the lite mayo and the 1% buttermilk, I figure it had quite a lot less fat in it than most of the commercial dressings in my fridge -- somewhere south of 30 fat calories per serving. (And it tasted good, unlike "lite" Ranch.) But that's the subject of another post...
