1,593 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 77 videos

Toss the salad

When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss.
It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix.

Is it easy? Not so easy...

14 K 5/5 (2 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Tips Tricks Salad Dressing Mixing Cutlery Hands

Last modified on: March 8^th 2024

For this post Comments Lasts posts Follow

For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend

Imagine, your salad bowl is well filled, almost full, with the delicious salad you've just prepared, and you're about to sit down to dinner, so you need to add the dressing, and above all mix it well so that all the dressing is evenly distributed over the salad.

So what's the problem? you might be thinking, just pour in the dressing and toss.

tourner une salade avec des couverts

In principle, of course, there's nothing revolutionary about it, but in practice, it's not so easy, especially if you have large pieces in your salad, for example a green salad with its leaves whole, not cut into chiffonade.

Pouring the dressing over it is no problem, but mixing it is not so easy. Naturally, you use your (salad) cutlery and try to do the best you can to mix it.
There's no secret about it, though: there's a big risk of getting a lot of sauce on the side (especially if the salad bowl is quite full), and it's very easy to get a few drops of sauce on your clothes.
When we were kids, my grandmother used to let us toss the salad, and we loved it. When we succeeded, she'd take one look at the contents of the salad bowl and say "You're ready for your wedding!" Maybe yours is too?

But let's face it, this cutlery method isn't very efficient, nor very quick, so how can we do it any other way?

Let's take a look at what's done in restaurants: they make all kinds of salads, and how do they turn them?

tourner salade à la main

It's both simple and ultra-efficient: they pour the dressing over the salad, often in a high-sided container, and then a cook stirs the whole thing with his or her hands, often gloved, which takes a few seconds for a perfectly turned salad, which is then arranged on the serving plates.

It's as simple as I said, you just don't have to be afraid of getting your hands "sauced".

To sum up: to turn a salad quickly and efficiently, it's best to go at it with both hands.

Lasts posts

With vinegar?

When you buy a jar of pickles labeled “in vinegar,” you’re looking for their tangy, crunchy flavor to go with cold cuts, sandwiches, or salads. You expect to find small gherkins preserved in vinegar, with salt and herbs, but is that really the case?
July 15^th 20261,3374.8

Congratulate the chef

You've just finished a meal that you really enjoyed. The server approaches with the usual question: “How was it?” And then, as a natural reflex, you simply reply, “Yes, it was very good.” However, when the meal was truly outstanding, this brief exchange deserves a little more. .
July 7^th 2026917 25

Cut twice as fast

When you need to cut something long into small pieces, for example chopped chives or the stem of a spring onion, there's a simple gesture that doubles your cutting speed. Let's see how.
May 21^th 20262,2535

The other use for bowl scraper

Your kitchen or bakery utensils may include a horn (left) or a pastry cutter (right). These practical utensils are normally used to scoop the contents of a bowl or salad bowl - the horn - or to cut dough - the pastry cutter. But they also have another, very practical use - let's see what it is.
May 9^th 20262,0513

The strange foam of potatoes in milk

As you may have already noticed, when you cook potatoes in milk, especially in small pieces (slices or cubes) for a gratin for example, a surprisingly abundant white foam forms on the surface. Where does it come from?
April 26^th 20262,3995

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

The so-called "nervous" meats

You've probably heard this before, we're talking about "nervous" meat, or meat with nerves, to describe what is indicated by the blue arrow on the left. This is a piece of beef, and what we call a nerve is not a nerve, it is in fact collagen (chemists sometimes call it a "collagen sink"), a...
April 16^th 202141 K4.5

Soup vs. potage

It's true that we're finally coming out of winter as I write these lines, and that we'll all be making, no doubt, a little less soup and potages, but even if it's out of season, it really is a simple and delicious dish, which is one of the always easy answers to "What's for dinner this (Sunday)...
April 9^th 202213 K

The importance of sieving

In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?
September 3^rd 202511 K3

What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?

This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
February 7^th 2017137 K 14.2

Coarsely chopped herbs

Although we are in the middle of winter as I write these lines, you should not hesitate to make salads at this time, it is actually quite simple, rather fast, and so pleasant. A while ago, I already told you that a salad is a salad, but a salad with herbs is immediately something much better:...
January 9^th 202116 K4.9