Salad Dressing 101: Dressing for All Occasions

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Do you love salad but get tired of the same old supermarket dressing
choices? This handy little book contains recipes for more than 100
dressings from some of the top food writers, restaurateurs, and chefs in
Canada. Edited by chef Nathan Hyam, a specialist in Thai cuisine, the
recipes span the full range from traditional dressings like Italian and
Caesar to exotic concoctions like Creamy Maple Yogurt and Cranberry
Tamari.

The book begins with an explanation of what makes a great salad
dressing. Why certain dressings taste better on certain types of
vegetables than others and ingredient choices are discussed. The
dressings are grouped into five chapters: “Vinaigrettes,” “Creamy
Dressings,” “Caesar,” “Low-Fat,” and “Noodle/Potato
Salads.” Recipes include Pickled Ginger Vinaigrette, Warm Mushroom and
Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette, Two Citrus Vanilla Vinaigrette, Green
Goddess Dressing, Creamy Green Curry Dressing, Thai Creamy Caesar
Dressing, Buttermilk Herb Dressing, Caramelized Apple Vinaigrette, Thai
Noodle Dressing, and Moroccan Spicy Potato Salad Dressing. If
instructions are followed carefully, most of the recipes can be easily
prepared by even novice cooks.

The one irksome aspect of this book is that instead of just telling the
reader which dressing goes with what kind of salad, someone decided to
use a numerical rating system on each page (1 indicates that the
dressing is best suited for a leafy green salad, 2 indicates that it’s
best for robust veggies, and 3 means it’s best for starches like pasta
and potatoes). This is great, until the reader forgets what the number
means and has to go thumbing through the introduction looking for the
legend. That one flaw aside, this is a treasure house of dressing
recipes for every taste and occasion.