TIPS ON PREPARATION OF SALADS

Importance of vegetables in our diet:

Vegetables play an important role in the human diet. Properly chosen and eaten, either cooked or raw, they make an invaluable contribution towards the supply of vitamins and minerals.

Parts of Salad:

Salads are made up of dishes of meat, poultry game, fish, shellfish, eggs, vegetables, fruits and milk products normally served cold but can be served hot or frozen. They can be made out of a single ingredient or a combination of ingredients. Salads are normally served as an accompaniment to a dish, but could also be a course by itself, an appetiser or a sweet course.   There should be a special stress on hygiene as most of the ingredients are served raw. The ingredients used and the colour, flavour, texture and presentation may vary according to the purpose. There are four basic parts in a salad:

THE UNDER LINER:

These are generally greens either shredded or in large pieces. Tear the greens instead of cutting with a knife. The greens must be crisp and chilled. To keep the greens crisp, it is necessary to store them in a manner that retains the moisture. This could be achieved by refrigerating it in a covered container or wrapping it in a moist cloth.

THE BODY OR TEHE HEART OF THE SALAD:

 This will form the major component and can be made of one ingredient or a combination of ingredients. They should look sparkling fresh and each individual piece intact. Fruits are particularly fragile and should be handled as little as possible.

DRESSINGS:

These make the salad more appetising although diet conscious people today eat their salads without a dressing. Dressing must be carefully selected. Depending upon a salad, the dressing could be either basic French or an emulsion. Pleasing flavours can be added to and variations made in the dressings by means of additional ingredients like cayenne pepper, tabasco sauce, diced hard boiled eggs, assorted herbs, variety of chesses, chutneys etc. Dressings should enhance the salad and not obscure it.

THOUSAND ISLAND FRENCH DRESSING

150 ml can be used for 5-8 portions.

INGREDIENTS	QUANTITY
Olive Oil	150 ml
Orange	½
Lemon or Lime	½ or ¼
Salt	1 tsp
Paprika	¼ tsp
Parsley	1 bunch
Stuffed Olives	8
Worcester Sauce	1 tsp
Dry Mustard	¼ tsp
Onion	10 gm

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients thoroughly, chill, shake well before use.

GARNISH:

The garnish should be the focal point and should be carefully selected for its simplicity and to enhance eye appeal and flavour. Edible garnish is more appropriate than inedible ones. Sometimes the dressing is also used as garnish by piping it in a decorative form on the salad.

Special stress should be given to the quality of ingredients, eye appeal, simplicity, neatness and contrast or harmony in colour and texture. All edibles should be clean, fresh and free from defects such as bruises, rotten spots, insects, dirt, sand and insecticide. Raw fruits and vegetables should be at their optimum stage of maturity. All inedible portions should be removed. No excess moisture should be there in the ingredients as it thins the dressing, making it less effective.

The aesthetic qualities are determined by the form and shape of the food as well as by the colour. Skilfulness and artistic cutting and arranging of salad ingredients can create an appealing effect. Try for an un cluttered appearance and always prepare salads close to serving time.

CELERY SALAD:

Use only hearts of celery. Wash well. Arrange in a glass tumbler filled with iced water. Serve.

CONTAMINATION AND CARE:

Though salads & salad dressings are prepared with at most care and cleanliness, food products when compounded from combination of the different groups of foods also would combine their microbial contents, and the new product may furnish a good culture medium for microorganisms that previously had little chance to grow.

Yeasts, sugar, water, spices and other condiments added to foods may be important sources of microorganisms. Starting with fruits &vegetables, they are succumbed to contamination during harvesting itself as soon as they are gathered into boxes, baskets or trucks. Pre cooling of the product and refrigeration during transportation will slow such growth.

Washing the fruits &vegetables may involve a preliminary soaking. Re circulated or reused water is likely to add organisms were as chlorinated water can be used for effective washing .Sorting spoiled fruits & vegetables or trimming spoiled parts removes microorganisms.  Part of the mould growth on strawberries for ex Can be removed by washing with a non-ionic detergent solutions.

Fitness of foods for consumption is judged partly on the basis of their maturity. If the desired stage of maturity is greatly exceeded, the food may be considered inedible or even spoiled. An ex. Is an over ripe banana, with its black skin and brown, mushy interior. Brown heart of apples and pears, black heat of potatoes, black leaf speck of cabbage, and red heart of cabbage are the examples of non- pathogenic diseases of fruits &vegetables. When the food is soft &juicy, the rot is apt to be soft and mushy and some leakage may result.

Handling of fruits & vegetables needs at most care and supervision so as to detect & discard it at the early stage of contamination. Food consumed raw, of course, are possible sources of pathogens. Foods may be contaminated with disease organisms from food handlers& food utensils. Especially likely to be important are cooks &helpers in the kitchen; waiters in the eating place; prepares or sales persons of unwrapped foods. Food handlers should not be permitted to work while they are ill or recovering.

                                             

Salad dressings contain oil, which may become oxidized or hydrolysed and enough moisture to permit microbial growth. The three types of spoilage of mayonnaise and similar dressings are:

1.       Separation of the oil or water from emulsion,

2.       Oxidation and hydrolysis of the oils by chemical or biological action and

3.       Growth of microorganisms to produce gas, off flavours or other defects.

4.       Darkening often takes place.

The decomposition of salad dressings and related products can be caused by bacteria, yeasts or moulds. With the acidity, coupled with sugar content and water phase of mayonnaise, is most favourable for yeasts. Bacteria have spoiled mayonnaise, salad dressings and French dressing. Moulds can grow on salad dressings if air is available and are favoured by the addition of starch or pectin to the dressing.