Serving Salads

One of the nicest familial rituals is to toss the salad at the dining table. Always use a bowl at least twice as large as needed for the greens so there is plenty of room to toss. Serve the salad on plates, which leaves excess vinaigrette in the bottom of the bowl, instead of on the salad. Restaurants in the United States have the odd habit of serving salads in individual bowls, with the idea that the diner should eat the salad directly out of the bowl. A better system, used in Europe, is to serve a plate and the bowl of salad on the side, so the diner can lift the salad out of the bowl, leaving extra vinaigrette behind. Whatever you do, don’t toss the salad with any acidic ingredients—vinegar, citrus juices—until just before serving. Such acids cause green leaves to wilt and green vegetables, such as green beans, to turn gray