The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 957

your salad from turning soggy, you need to figure out a way to protect the leaves from the oil An oil-in-water emulsion, where the oil is completely surrounded by vinegar molecules, should provide just that kind of protection I dressed another batch of salad greens with a shaken mixture of oil and vinegar and took an up-close-andpersonal look at the results Here’s what I saw: That’s right Drops of vinegar suspended above the surface of the leaves by larger drops of oil, like little blobs sitting in beanbag chairs Lifting these leaves caused a cascade of vinegar to fall off the leaves, and examining the bottom of the bowl confirmed my fears: the oil stuck to the leaves and caused them to wilt, while the vinegar all sank to the bottom Clearly, I needed a surfactant to keep my oil and vinegar emulsified I set up one last experiment, this time dressing two 1ounce portions of salad greens side by side The first was dressed with a homogenized mixture of tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard The second was dressed with just the oil and vinegar After tossing the greens, I immediately placed each batch inside a funnel set over a small glass to catch any drippings Draining salad greens in a funnel allows us to see the difference between a properly emulsified vinaigrette and a poor one Almost immediately, the nonmustardy batch started dripping a steady trickle of vinegar into the glass, while the well-emulsified dressing stayed firmly in place After only 10 minutes, the oil-and-vinegar glass had nearly a full teaspoon of vinegar in the bottom—almost the entire amount that I had put on the greens in the first place—and was starting to drip a few drops of oil as well The other glass had shed at most a dozen drops The results were irrefutable: if you don’t emulsify your vinaigrette, you end up with a pile of leaves wilting in oil ... place After only 10 minutes, the oil-and-vinegar glass had nearly a full teaspoon of vinegar in the bottom—almost the entire amount that I had put on the greens in the first place—and was starting... Draining salad greens in a funnel allows us to see the difference between a properly emulsified vinaigrette and a poor one Almost immediately, the nonmustardy batch started dripping a steady trickle of vinegar into the glass, while the well-emulsified... The first was dressed with a homogenized mixture of tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard The second was dressed with just the oil and vinegar After tossing the greens, I immediately placed each batch inside a