[KYHeirloomer]

Made a lovely beet & orange salad last night, with a citrus vinaigrette. Served on a bed of arugala and sprinkled with crumbled Sago cheese. Delicious!

As I was enjoying it, however, I go to be thinking. I don't know what a salad is.

Well, of course I know what a salad is. Everybody does. A salad is, uh, uhm......holy lettuce, Batman. I really don't know.

Well, as the poet said, google is your friend. Not much help there. Looked at about a half dozen definitions, and they weren't much help. They were either too restrictive or too broad to be meaningful.

So, my friends, I'm tossing the ball into your court. Does anybody know what a salad is?

[simona]

HI,
I personally am satisfied with the Wikipedia definition of "salad", including the origins of the word. I presume that as it's coming from "salt" , it was originally a salted vegetable, probably served at the beginning of the meal or as a side dish.
Have a nice salad day,

No more war, salad is healthier!!!

[KYHeirloomer]

Simona, have you never heard of a hot salad? That wouldn't fit the Wikipedia definition.

By the same token, a bowl of ice cream, topped with some chopped fruit, would.

[David]

Oh my--you've got my head spinning here KYHeirloomer. I was thinking streams like, raw--or vegetables--or dressed and yet of course salads don't have to be raw, they don't always include only vegetables---but all salads do (I think---otherwise they are crudites and even they usually come with a dip) require a dressing be it sweet or savoury. Now I suppose one could argue that gravy is a dressing which would make a roast beef dinner a salad---but I think you can see where I'm going with this.

Really interesting question though---wouldn't have thought to ask it, and now it is going to occupy my tiny little brain for hours .
_________________
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[simona]

Well, I wouldn't call a hot dish a salad. If it's completely hot, then it's cooked, so it's not a salad anymore. I would still call it a salad if one of the ingredients is hot ( chevre chaud, sauteed foie gras, sauteed chicken breast etc)' but some, or even most of the ingredients should be uncooked ( fresh). . Even a fruit salald - if the fruits are cooked - it's a compote de fruits, not a fruit salad. Therefore, no, ice cream with chopped fruit is not a salald , in my opinion. I'm kind of traditional ( too old to change) and I still believe that a salad, is a salad, is a salad or- like in David's example- a raostbeef with gravy , is a roastbeef with gravy is...and not a hot salad of one piece of prime rib beef medium roasted with hot gravy . But of course, it's a free world ...

No more war, don't fight over THE salad, Eat it ( with a fresh baguette and a glass of wine)!!

[dory]

I agree. For me salads have to be mostly vegetables and mostly cold. If more than half of the ingredients are hot, and most are not vegetables, it goes out of the salad realm for me. I realize that some people make hot potato salad and call it salad because they put vinegar into the dressing, but don't really consider that any kind of orthodox salad.


Dory

[David]

So I think that brings it back to a dish, mostly vegetables, which has been dressed, probably with something acidic as a base. (I've made dressings without oil but never without a citrus juice or vinegar base)
_________________
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[KYHeirloomer]

Simona said: then it's cooked, so it's not a salad anymore. Dory agreed.

Yet, we find that Escoffier divides salads into only two types: simple and compound. Among other things he notes,

"compound salads, which generally consist of cooked vegetables....."

To be sure, Escoffier never actually defines salads. He describes them, and talks about how they are plated and presented, and, with typical Gallic arrogance pontificates as to why anybody elses approach is wrong. But he doesn't define them.

The mythical man from Mars, reading Escoffier, would still not know what a salad actually is---even with the limitations Escoffier puts on them.

[simona]

Cooked ( and/or grilled) vegetables - yes , of course , like salads including potatoes, beans etc. But not hot. Sometimes a hot sauce is poured over a salad ( like in salad with foie gras - you can base the salad sauce on the cooking juices of the liver or sauces with fried bacon ).
Still, different cuisines ( many of which I'm not aquited with) might define salad differently. Salad , like other things in life, is also a question of geography....( hummous and tahini or eggplant puree are considered salads in this part of the world).

Have a nice salad weekend,

No more war, vive la frisee aux lardons ( my favorite salad!!!)

[madameshawshank]

KYHeirloomer, I love socalled silly questions. This morning I was having a chat with someone who was trying to explain 'living water' to me. Imagine you're speaking to someone who really doesn't understand it all..Sometimes those in the know forget that they, too, have silly questions

ok now..to things saladish..

thanks to Shakespeare for this: “my salad days,/When I was green in judgment, cold in blood”

'n KYHeirloomer I thought you might enjoy this history of salad:

http://www.cheftalk.com/content/display.cfm?articleid=78

I'm tending nowadays to toss all sorts of nuts into a salad...am enjoying the differing textures..
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[Barbara]

[madameshawshank]

Well my oh my!!!
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[swan]

Simona!! THAT-'S-NOT-KOSHER

[KYHeirloomer]

>I think that is who KyHeirloomer writes for. <

Among many others. I'm the Reviews Editer over there, and both write cookbook reviews and supervise a staff of other reviewers.

But I've written for more than 100 magazines, numerous newspapers, a fair number of web sites, and have written two books and been anthologized in others.

It's a living.

[KYHeirloomer]

>with someone who was trying to explain 'living water' to me. <

Could you explain it to me, Madame? I have no idea what living water is.