In my quest for universal salad unsuckiness, I wanted to make this book really easy. And it is: you can flip to any recipe and just make it. Go ahead, ignore this section and eat something!
But, if a little advice on how to prepare your salad with grace and style, like a salad samurai, sounds good, then read on.
FIRST OFF: HOW TO USE A RECIPE
It’s tempting to rip into a great-looking recipe! It’s just cooking, so go for it, right? But to avoid any unexpected roadblocks, the following approach will have you flawlessly mastering any recipe:
1 Read the entire recipe.
2 Read it again, carefully this time. Make notes (mental, paper, smartphone) on what ingredients you think you need. Those ingredients that you’re not 100 percent sure you have right now at home.
3 Check and see if you have all those things. Shop for what you don’t.
4 Make the salad. Pay attention to anything that can save you time (chop veggies while soba noodles are cooking, etc.).
THE SPIN
Occasionally you’ll see a sidebar titled “The Spin.” Here you’ll find helpful hints about preparing or shopping for uncommon ingredients, serving tips, or other random salad tidbits.
SAMURAI STYLINGS
Notice those swords throughout the book? These “Samurai Stylings” are suggestions on fun variations or ways to shake up the main salad recipe.
RECIPE ICONS
You’ll notice two icons near each recipe title, highlighting a few points of interest:
GLUTEN-FREE: Some of these recipes contain no wheat or ingredients containing gluten. But most often, you’ll see that easy gluten-free substitutions are possible (e.g., swap gluten-free soba for regular soba).
RAW READY: Recipe includes additional tips or steps to make the entire salad raw.
Salads don’t require many tools, but a few high-quality basics will make your salad days all the more pleasurable.
Salad Spinner
Bulky and noisy, a salad spinner isn’t the sexiest gadget in the kitchen, but it’s drop-dead gorgeous for washing and drying leafy greens, herbs, and even berries, green beans, or other small veggies. Opt for the largest salad spinner that will fit in your refrigerator and one with a lid that snaps shut to store washed salad greens.
A TONG SONG
Visit Manhattan’s Midtown on a weekday during lunch and listen closely: you’ll hear the clang of custom entrée salads made to order in the countless soup-and-salad chains that flourish in the ecosystem of the weekday office lunch scene. Walk in and watch a salad chef in action, and you’ll see that the secret to a blazing-fast salad is using long-handled metal tongs in one hand and holding on to a big mixing bowl with the other.
Forget about those clumsy wooden salad spoons, or tossing a salad with a fork in each hand. Grab yourself a pair of thrifty, long-handled metal tongs and toss and serve salad like a boss.
High-Powered Blender
Blendtec, Vitamix, or even a less expensive but powerful knock-off blender will make fast work of nuts and veggies, whipping them into creamy dressings in seconds. Sure, they’re pricey, but these blenders end up paying for themselves in the long run if you’re a smoothie addict like me. Old-style blenders (the kind you need to screw off the base to clean) rarely create the smooth, creamy textures these high-powered devices offer, and most food processors can’t even come close.
Big Serving Bowls
In the bad old days of salad, little plates did the job of serving forgettable piles of leaves. The salads in this book are a new breed of real meals: these are bold entrées that require big bowls. Seek out shallow, dinner-size “pasta” bowls that can comfortably cradle at least 3 cups of real salad.
Chop, Shred, and Grate
If it takes you more than a minute to dice an average-size carrot, it may be time to reevaluate your knife and even your knife skills. A classic chef’s knife (or a Japanese santoku knife) with a reasonably sharp edge will plow through vegetables faster than any food processor or the old hand-me-down kitchen knife your roommate left behind from your last move. A great knife doesn’t have to cost you more than a movie and popcorn for two, and it will reward you with prepping countless fast and healthy meals. Spend a little and get a lot in return. One of my current favorite knives, a sturdy santoku knife with a solid plastic handle and a fantastic blade that destroys root veggies and tomatoes with ease, is still sharp even a year after I bought it on Amazon for less than $10.
Regarding grating and shredding, the basic box grater still wins. If I need only one or two carrots or beets grated for a salad, why lug out a big heavy food processor with multiple parts to clean? Within minutes a simple handheld grater can destroy vegetables. Drop this gadget into the dishwasher and you’re done!
My other go-to shredder is a Y-shaped julienne peeler. Unlike the box grater, a Y-shaped peeler produces long, lovely noodle-like shreds of vegetables. While I opt for the box grater if I need shredded vegetables for an ingredient (such as the beet balls or carrot falafel), a Y-shaped peeler is my go-to weapon for stunning salad-worthy shreds, especially for Thai-style papaya salads.
For serious cabbage-slaying, nothing compares to a mandoline. Resembling a small, old-fashioned washer board but outfitted with an ultra-sharp blade, nothing turns cabbage (or beets, carrots, or any firm veg) into perfect paper-thin shreds like it. If you love safety or your fingertips, seek out models that come with added safety features.