Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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The colors, flavors, and textures of salad ingredients should be balanced. Salad underliners
of lettuce, endive, or other greens can complement and enhance the appearance of almost
any salad. Garnishes and dressings accent salad flavors and add color and eye appeal. There
are several basic types of salads, such as mixed-green and combination salads, main-dish salads,
and molded salads, but almost endless variables are possible.
Salads are made up of the following four parts:
• Salad base. The salad base or undergarnish is usually lettuce or some form of greens.
The base helps to shape or hold the salad together; it is the frame for the salad. The salad base
should never flow “off” the salad plate. The base must be thoroughly cleaned and chilled.
• Salad body. The body is the main ingredient of the salad, such as meat, vegetables, or
fruit. Ingredients in the body of the salad should never by overchopped. The body needs to be
thoroughly chilled.
• Salad dressing. Dressing may be added to greens just before serving time, or as an
accompaniment on the side of the salad, and should be served chilled, except for oil and vinegar
or hot bacon dressing.
• Garnish. All garnishes must be edible and should accent or complement color, flavor,
shape, and lettuce of the body.
Combination Salads
The simplest salad is lettuce torn, not chopped, into bite-size pieces tossed with a savory dressing;
a combination of greens can be used for variety in color, texture, and flavor. Salad recipes
that specify weights of ingredients are useful when substituting one green for another as availability
or cost changes. The wide variety of salad greens available allows plenty of latitude for
varying basic combination salads. Iceberg lettuce, leaf lettuce, bibb lettuce, Boston lettuce,
endive (chicory), escarole, romaine, spinach, watercress, and Chinese cabbage can be used in
various combinations. Other ingredients such as radishes, tomatoes, cauliflower, red cabbage,
fresh mushrooms, green onions, red onion rings, cucumber, broccoli, croutons, and hard-cooked
eggs can be added with appealing results. Shapes should be varied. Color should be contrasting,
and flavor should combine mild and strong flavors and salty with bland, tart, or sweet.
All salad ingredients should be clean, crisp, and mixed lightly to avoid breaking or crushing.
To keep the greens from wilting, dressings should be added just before service, or the customer
can add them. Whenever possible, a choice of dressings, either prepared on the premises
or selected from a wide variety of commercial dressings, should be offered.
Main-Dish Salads
A salad served as the main course of a meal should contain some protein-rich food, such as
chicken, seafood, eggs, cheese, ham, turkey, or other meat, usually combined with raw or
cooked vegetables. For added flavor, meat and vegetable pieces may be marinated in a tart
French dressing or vinaigrette, drained, and combined with mayonnaise or a cooked dressing
before serving. Such mixtures can be used to stuff tomatoes or served with tomato wedges as
garnish. Care in handling the meat or other protein food is essential to maintain safety.
Marination in the acid salad dressing provides some protection from bacterial growth, but
clean utensils and refrigeration are still required.
Julienne strips of poultry, meat, and sliced cheese or cottage cheese can be used to top combination
green salads for main-dish entrees. Salad plates offering a salad mixture accompanied
by cold cuts, cheese slices, and fresh fruits are attractive and appealing year-round. In cold seasons,
a cup of hot soup or consommé provides a good accompaniment.
In arranging main-dish salads, different shapes should be used to make an interesting pattern.
The food shapes can be varied for contrast and accented with contrasting and complementary
colors. Visual appeal is just as important as substantial character and a pleasing blend
of flavors and textures. Salads should be kept thoroughly chilled at all times.