Flavourful Salad Dressing

Salad dressings and sauces that are flavourful can bring healthy eating to a whole new level. They make vegetables, lean meats, whole grain pastas and other foods taste better. Since products bought at the store can be loaded with fat, calories and sodium, learning to make your own sauce and salad dressing is important for healthy cooking.

Cutting down on oil while making a salad dressing is the first step. A homemade salad dressing should contain more vinegar, lemon juice or orange juice than oil to keep calories in check. One needs to adapt standard recipes, which usually require less oil. Opting for flavour over fat is the second step to making a salad dressing more appealing. When making Salad Dressing Recipes, a person should vary the vinegars and oils to keep the taste buds satisfied without adding a lot of extra fat. To do this one can try using balsamic, sherry or apple cider vinegar and experiment with olive, walnut, flax and sesame oils. With both dressings and sauces, fresh and finely chopped herbs can be added to give a huge flavour boost as well as provide healthy antioxidants.

When using ingredients like sour cream, mayonnaise or yogurt in salad dressings and Sauces, one must choose low-fat or non-fat versions to lessen the calories. Puree roasted vegetables, such as roasted red peppers with a splash of broth to make quick sauces. Skim off the fat when making a meat-based sauce. Cool it in the refrigerator before using it to separate the fat. The fat can then be skimmed from the top of the sauce (where it will often harden) to dramatically reduce the fat content.

Instead of using a butter-based roux to thicken a sauce, cut back on the fat by thickening it with a small amount of corn-starch or flour. For creamy dressings and sauces, silken tofu or pureed cashews and water can be used as the base.

Always have containers of the homemade salad dressings and sauces available when it is needed. A supply can be kept in the fridge for up to a week and many sauces can be frozen. Don’t overuse the Salad Dressings or sauces. Just simply use them to add moisture and flavour to fresh vegetables and cooked dishes. 

Do Fat-Free Foods Help in Weight Loss?

Many people are still under the impression that eating as little fat as possible is the key to shedding fat, so they buy as many fat free products as they can. Fat contains more calories than protein and carbohydrates, which is why high-fat foods contain a greater amount of calories. There are nine calories in a gram of fat compared to only four calories in a gram of protein and carbohydrate. You can find a fat free version of most foods. In most cases, the fat is replaced by sodium, sugar or carbohydrates.

In order for Fat Free food to maintain its taste, the fat has to be replaced with something else that will give it a similar flavour and texture. Pringles fat free chips contain olestra, which is a synthesized fat substitute that can't be metabolized by the enzymes and bacteria in the stomach, so it can't be absorbed or digested. Because of this all products containing olestra must put a warning on their label that says that olestra might cause abdominal cramping and loose stools. Fat free dairy products are made when all of the milk fat is removed from the whole milk. They don't have any added ingredients, and are actually better than full-fat or low-fat dairy products as they contain fewer calories and fat. Although they may not taste as good, fat free dairy products may actually help a person to lose weight. The body actually needs a certain amount of fat in order to feel satisfied.

When foods that don't contain fat are eaten, the body may not feel satisfied, which could cause the person to eat more. It's best to avoid processed foods altogether but if a person is going to eat them it's better to choose the full-fat versions and limit the amount that is eaten. By doing this, a person can avoid eating the added sugars and chemicals that come in fat free foods. In order to prevent weight gain or lose weight, it's the total calories that are consumed and not the fat that matters. Higher fat Foods will contain more calories, but if a person wants to lose weight, they should consume Healthy food with plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fat-free products and whole grains. Most of these foods are naturally lower in fat. It's best to eat healthy food such as olive oil, coconut oil, peanut butter and avocado. If hungry between meals then healthy snacks should be eaten.

Sauces and Its Uses in Various Cuisines

In cooking, a sauce is liquid, cream, or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsa, meaning salted. Possibly the oldest sauce recorded is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Greeks. Marinara marinara Sauces need a liquid component, but some sauces may contain more solid components than liquid. Sauces are an essential element in cuisines all over the world.

Sauces may be used for savoury dishes or for desserts. They can be prepared and served cold, like mayonnaise, prepared cold but served lukewarm like pesto, or can be cooked like béchamel and served warm or again cooked and served cold like apple sauce. Some sauces are industrial inventions like Worcestershire sauce, bbq sauce, or nowadays mostly bought ready-made like soy sauce or ketchup, others still are freshly prepared by the cook. Sauces for salad are called salad dressing. Sauces made by deglazing a pan are called pan sauces.

A cook who specializes in making sauces is called a saucier. Sauces used in traditional Japanese cuisine are usually based on shōyu (soy sauce), miso or dashi. Ponzu, citrus-flavoured soy sauce, and yakitori no tare, sweetened rich soy sauce, are examples of shoyu-based sauces. Miso-based sauces include gomamiso, miso with ground sesame, and amamiso, sweetened miso. Tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba sauces are based on this sauce. Japanese horseradish or wasabi sauce is used on sushi and sashimi or mixed with soy sauce to make wasabi-joyu. Some sauces in Chinese cuisine are soy sauce, doubanjiang, hoisin sauce, sweet bean sauce, chili sauces,Honey Mustard Dressing, and sweet and sour sauce.

Korean cuisine uses sauces such as doenjang, gochujang, samjang, and soy sauce. Southeast Asian cuisines, such as Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, often use fish sauce, made from fermented fish. Indian cuisines use sauces such as tomato-based curry sauces, tamarind sauce, coconut milk-paste-based sauces, and chutneys. There are substantial regional variations in Indian cuisine, but many sauces use a seasoned mix of onion, ginger and garlic paste as the base of various gravies and sauces. Various cooking oils, ghee and cream are also regular ingredients in Indian sauces. Indonesian cuisine uses typical sauces such as kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), bumbu kacang (peanut sauce) and tauco, while popular hot and spicy sauces are sambal, dabu-dabu and rica-rica.

Test Salad dressings

A salad is a food dish which consists of small pieces of food which can be mixed with a sauce or salad dressing. Salads can consist of a wide variety of foods like vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs and grains. Garden salads use a base of leafy green vegetables. Other types of salads include bean salad, tuna salad, fattoush, Greek salad and somen salad. The sauce used to a flavour a salad is called a salad dressing. Types of salad dressings include ranch dressing, Thousand Island Dressing and vinaigrette. Most salads are served cold. Some salads, such as the south German potato salad, are served warm. Sometimes the warmth of a dish is considered a factor which excludes it from being called a salad. 

It is therefore called a casserole, a sandwich topping or named after the ingredients which are present in it. Sauces for salads are often called ‘dressings’. The concept of a salad dressing varies across different cultures. In Western culture, there are two basic types of salad dressing. These are Vinaigrette Dressing and creamy dressings. Creamy dressings are based on mayonnaise or fermented milk products such as yogurt, sour cream and buttermilk. Vinaigrette is a mixture of salad oil and vinegar. It is mostly flavoured with herbs, spices, salt, pepper, sugar and other ingredients. It is also used as a sauce or marinade. In North America, a ranch dressing containing mayonnaise is more popular. It is followed close behind by vinaigrettes and Caesar-styled Dressings. 

In France, traditional dressings are vinaigrettes which are based on mustard. Sour cream and mayonnaise are predominant in eastern European countries and Russia. In Denmark, dressings are based on creme franchise. In southern Europe, a salad is generally dressed with oil and vinegar. In Asia, it is common to add sesame oil, fish sauce, citrus juice or soy sauce to salad dressings. Blue cheese dressing is a popular salad dressing and dip which is served with salad in western countries. It consists of a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt, blue cheese, milk, vinegar, onion powder and garlic powder. There is a blue cheese vinaigrette that consists of salad oil, blue cheese and vinegar. There is also a mid-western type that consists of blue cheese crumbles in a California style French dressing. Most restaurants and Salad Dressing producers in western countries produce a variant of blue cheese dressing. It is commonly served as a dip with Buffalo wings or raw vegetables.