Home › Recipes › French Dressing (Tablespoons oil tablespoons)
French Dressing (Tablespoons oil tablespoons)
1 1/2 tablespoons oil 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt The ingredients of this dressing may vary. More oil than lemon juice may be used, or more lemon juice than oil. Have the oil and lemon juice, also the bowl in which the dressing is to be made, very cold. With a fork stir the salt into the oil, then beat the lemon juice drop by drop into the oil. The oil will turn white, thicken, and become creamy. Pour at once over the salad, and serve. If the dressing is allowed to stand long before using, it will separate. Use only as much of the dressing as the salad will take up, not enough so that any will drain out of the salad into the bottom of the bowl or onto the plate on which the salad is served.
A minimal vinaigrette, made by hand with a fork rather than shaken in a jar. The whole technique rests on temperature and patience.
- Cold is the pointChilling the oil, the lemon juice and the bowl is what lets this thicken at all. Cold oil is more viscous and holds the dispersed droplets of juice longer, which is why the mixture turns pale and creamy.
- Add the acid drop by dropPouring the lemon juice in at once will simply give you oil floating on juice. Add it a few drops at a time, beating between additions, until the whole mass looks opaque.
- An unusually sharp ratioEqual oil and lemon juice is far more acidic than the modern standard of three parts oil to one part acid. Expect a bracing dressing; the recipe itself invites you to shift the proportions to taste.
- YieldAbout 3 tablespoons in total, which will dress only a small salad. It scales directly, but make only what you will use.
- No emulsifier, so no keepingWith no mustard, egg yolk or honey to stabilise it, the emulsion is temporary by design. Make it while the salad is being arranged and dress at the table.
- Oil to chooseThe recipe says only "oil." Olive oil is the likeliest intention, though bland cottonseed "salad oil" was also sold for the purpose in this period. A fruity extra-virgin olive oil works, though a milder oil keeps the lemon forward.
- Season further if you likeOnly salt is called for. A grind of black pepper, or a quarter teaspoon of Dijon, is entirely consistent with the style, though the mustard will make the emulsion hold longer than the author intended.
- Dress lightlyThe closing instruction is the practical one: use only as much as the leaves absorb. Pooled dressing at the bottom of the bowl means the salad was overdressed.