Why do restaurant salads taste so much better than any salad I try to make at home, even if I use the restaurant’s dressing?
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We toss it. When I was garde manger I would layer salads, tossing each part in dressing or at least a little oil. Then always finish with more flaky salt and oil/vinegar. Always toss in a mixing bowl, don’t just pore dressing over dry leaves in the serving bowl.
Also, when you make dressing at home taste as you go, and add more salt usually and make sure you have a “binder” like mustard that will help emulsify.
Chill your lettuce. World of difference. And make your dressing fresh! Store bought will never be better.
Salad spinner. You should always wash and spin your lettuce. Also there are a few techniques depending on the type of greens you are using. For instance, Kale, you can brine to make it less fibrous. If you are doing something like Brussels sprout leaves you can blanch and chill them.
Can be a lot of things. Cut off the ends of the lettuce cuz it’s bitter and don’t chop into the core. We wash ours in lemon water too.
Fresh made dressings versus bottled ones. Probably farm to table produce, in higher end restaurants. Like vine ripened tomatoes versus not. The chef is likely very picky and knows how to pick the best produce, and other fresh ingredients. Careful selections of herbs and spices, usually fresh. Knowing the correct proportions of seasonings.
Probably a good salad spinner to get rid of excess water. Dressing doesn’t adhere well to wet greens.
Restaurant salads all have the little extra bits in them that most people forget… little bits of grated radish, pepperoncinis ála olive garden, really good croutons, real bacon bits in a caesar etc. Also get the lettuce dry by putting it in a fridge for an hour after you chop it.
Put a little more effort into your salad and chill your plate. I have a ton of recipes I took from a restaurant I once worked at and when I don’t have mint or cilantro for my thai chicken salad or use lime juice from a bottle it isn’t nearly as good.
Kraft makes a zesty lime salad dressing that is an awful dressing but an amazing marinade for chicken breasts. Marinate for 8 hours in a plastic bag, grill and chill then slice and put it on top of a salad.
As someone with ~15 years in the restaurant industry, I’m going to disagree with all of these answers. In most cases, our produce is *not* better than what you could find at a Whole Foods or even a regular grocery store, and the techniques we use to make salads are no different than what you would use at home. Using a fancy commercial gizmo to annihilate heads of iceberg lettuce does not make that lettuce taste better.
The best answer I’ve heard for this question that (in my opinion) seems reasonable is that our sense of smell ruins our homemade meals to a certain extent. Essentially, as we prepare a meal, we become familiar with and desensitized to the odors of the component items, and by extension, the final product. We just get used to it, and it removes some of the magic. When you drive by a barbecue place, the smell is amazing, right? It smells SO good – it might make you salivate. I promise you that someone who has been working at that same barbecue joint for awhile does not have the same reaction.
Huh, I’ve always experienced the opposite: Salads made at home are usually much better than your average restaurant salad.
It’s the environment. Just watched a show where they basically said the complete experience makes the food taste better in your mind. Down to the type of silverware.
Good dressing is fussy. Back when I was a cook I would take a good 15 minutes to make dressing. Start low and build the flavors. You have to compare it to what you are dressing. Each head of lettuce tastes a little different.
Sugar is the key, but you have to be careful. Add and taste. You’ll nail it. Also, a tiny amount of Dijon mustard. You need an emulsifier. Some people use stone ground, I prefer Dijon. Never powdered.
Make it a little saltier and a little sweeter than you think. Fresh Basil makes a difference. Roll the cut pieces in your hands and drop it in. Get those oils out. Screw oregano, but a little bit of fresh thyme is nice. Just a touch..
Vinaigrette is an art, not a science. It takes years of practice. Once you’ve got it, it’s no problem.
Sugar, sugar, sugar. That’s the big deal. You just have to nail it right and it’s really fussy. One pinch over and you ruined it. One pinch under, and it’s junk. Go short and build. The salt is easy. The sugar is what you’re missing. It’s not much. Just the right amount. You do it by taste always. You’ve got this.
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