Salad is Description, composition, types and best recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Salad is a dish that is very often prepared both for any holidays and on ordinary days. In the world there are a huge number of variations of this work of culinary art. So, which ones are the most popular and unusual?

General information

As a rule, all salads are quite simple to prepare and are a mixture of different ingredients in certain proportions. All of them are seasoned with some kind of sauce that you can cook yourself or use the usual dressings for many, such as mayonnaise or vegetable oil.

Salad is a dish that is often prepared during diets. This is due to the fact that as such a culinary creation, you can serve a combination of low-calorie foods and fasten them with a light dressing. An example of this is a simple fresh vegetable salad, which is especially common in the summer season, when it is quite easy to get ingredients for it with a high content of vitamins and low calories.

Frequently used products

As mentioned above, a salad is a mixture of different foods thatbonded together with some kind of sauce. As practice shows, most often fresh or boiled vegetables (less often canned), meat and sausage products, fish, mushrooms, as well as peas, corn and other legumes are used for their preparation. Often they include various kinds of seafood, which are famous for their high content of useful trace elements. Almost every such dish includes dill, green onions or parsley, because what is a salad without greens? It is this ingredient that often gives the finished product an exquisite freshness.

Common salad dressings

To hold the crushed ingredients together, you can create your own sauce. On the Internet and in old notes, there are a considerable number of options for their preparation. However, despite this, most housewives use the simplest dressings that can be purchased at almost any grocery store and used without any pre-treatment, in their pure form. Most often it is mayonnaise, vegetable oil (olive or sunflower), fresh lemon juice, sour cream or ready-made dressings, which are on many shelves.

Most of the most cunning housewives, to give a brighter taste and exquisite aroma to the finished dish, add various spices to its dressing. As a rule, it is ground black pepper, dry mustard, sugar, s alt or a mixture of herbs

What do salads eat with?

It, i.e. salad, can not only be used as an independent culinary product, but also combined with other types of dishes. In particular, he is greatharmonizes with side dishes and hot. What a salad is served with depends on what it is prepared for. This is where the principle of opposites comes into play. In particular, a light salad should be created for fatty and heavy foods - this will give the main dish some freshness. As for vegetables and light side dishes, everything is exactly the opposite.

Green salads

The type of such dishes has recently been gaining more and more popularity. All of them are recommended by nutritionists and include only low-calorie ingredients. A green salad is a real dietary masterpiece, which is usually prepared from fresh herbs, and in some cases with the addition of vegetables, boiled eggs, chicken, etc.

Many professional chefs recommend using one little trick: they do not advise using more than three types of greens to create them. Salads such as "Nicoise" and "Cobb" can serve as striking examples of "green" culinary creations.

Fruit salads

Recently, fruit salads have become quite popular. Some culinary specialists classify them as desserts, but most still tend to call a mixture of fruits with original dressing a separate type of salad.

To prepare such a dish, you can take different berries, fruits, among which there can be both seasonal and exotic ones. Often they add citrus fruits to give more juiciness. An important point inthe preparation of such a salad is the choice of dressing. Often fermented milk products, such as yogurt, are chosen as it.

To give the finished dish a brighter and sweeter taste, you can add sugar or powdered sugar, vanillin (for flavor), as well as a minimum amount of spicy spices. Very often, the composition of such a salad is supplemented with meat, usually boiled chicken.

Often a fruit salad is prepared according to this recipe: tangerines, apples, kiwi and bananas are mixed in equal proportions, nuts are added to them. Sprinkle such a mass well with powdered sugar, season with fruit fat yogurt and mix.

Mushroom

Mushroom salad is a mixture of the most satisfying ingredients. Any housewife should remember that mushrooms are a product that very quickly causes a feeling of satiety. This is what should be taken into account when choosing a dish that will be served with a salad of them. An ideal option would be a side dish of potatoes, as well as light cereals.

Mushrooms are pre-cooked in every dish before they are combined with other ingredients. As a rule, such processes consist in boiling or frying. Often mushrooms are used in pickled form. They go well with legumes, boiled meat, balyk, as well as fresh vegetables.

Seafood salads

Fans of fish, shellfish and other seafood will never remain indifferent to salads made from them. Everyone is well aware of the beneficial and almost healing properties of the meat of the inhabitantsocean and sea.

The most common seafood salad products are shrimp, squid, crayfish, crabs, mussels, and various types of fish. Very often they are combined with aquatic vegetation, which also gives a certain piquancy to the finished dish. Cheese and vegetables can be excellent additions. Often, spices in the form of pepper or herbs are added to such a dish. Vegetable oils, mayonnaise, sour cream are great as dressings for fish salads, but home-made sauces will be the most original options.

A great variant of salad with seafood - "Marine". It is prepared from 100 g of boiled squid, the same amount of crab sticks, 60 g of grated cheese, a pair of hard-boiled eggs. All these ingredients need to be chopped, mixed well, seasoned with mayonnaise and lemon juice, pepper, and sprinkled with herbs, the finished salad can be served.

Meat

In the list of recipes for popular salads, most often there are those that include meat and sausage products. The most striking examples of these can be: the traditional "Olivier", "Capital", "Forest Glade", "Caesar", "Tenderness". When serving, you should definitely remember that salads containing meat are quite nutritious and you need to select appropriate side dishes for them, which will be lighter.

Meat salads are most often dressed with mayonnaise and sour cream, as well as sauces, less often vegetable oil and lemon juice. not a bad ideamay be adding spices and spices to them.

Many people love the "Inspiration" meat salad. In order to cook it, you need to mix in one bowl 250 g of smoked pork cut into strips (it is better to take a tenderloin), a couple of fresh tomatoes, 150 grams of grated cheese, and one crushed garlic clove. All ingredients must be seasoned with mayonnaise, pepper, s alt, add herbs to them and mix well.

Vegetables

Many nutritionists often recommend eating vegetable salads during weight loss, which contain a large amount of nutrients and trace elements. They are most often prepared on the basis of cucumbers, tomatoes and cabbage, and it is better if they are presented fresh. To give more freshness to the finished dish, you can use greens. Mayonnaise is most often used as a dressing, but it is worth remembering that it immediately adds several tens of calories to the dish. A more he althy option would be vegetable oil or lemon juice.

To prepare the most common vegetable salad, you can cut into cubes in equal proportions fresh vegetables - tomatoes and cucumbers. To them should be added a little onion, as well as s alt and pepper. Pour the finished salad with sunflower oil and mix.

Tricks you need to know about making salads

1. In order for the vegetable salad to turn out to be the freshest in appearance and taste, it should be cut and seasoned right before serving. In this case, the vegetables will retain their original color andcondition.

2. In the event that it is necessary to perform thermal treatment over vegetables, it is advisable to choose the most sparing option for it. At best, the ingredients should be stewed or lightly fried in a little oil.

3. What is a salad? This is a harmonious combination of crushed products. In order for the taste to be original and correct, it is necessary to choose the ideal slicing option in advance. In this matter, you should pay attention to the density of the product: the denser it is, the smaller its cut should be.

4. It is advisable to cook such a dish in glass, ceramic or enameled dishes - this way the taste of the ingredients will be preserved best.

5. If the list of ingredients contains vegetables such as carrots, beets or potatoes, it is better to cook them in their skins - this way the greatest amount of trace elements is preserved. They need to be cleaned immediately before cutting.

6. In the process of cooking, do not combine hot and cold ingredients - before the process, it is desirable to bring them to a more uniform temperature.

7. It is necessary to decorate any salad only with edible ingredients and preferably those that are included in its composition.