How to Make Vinaigrette

Featured Pro: Curtis Stone
Category: Cooking
Time: 2:47


CURTIS STONE: Hey, I’m Curtis Stone. Now, before I get started with my GMC Trade Secret, I just thought I’d read you a couple of the ingredients from this honey mustard dressing: High-fructose corn syrup, potato starch, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, mustard flour, mustard seed, potassium sorbate. I mean, I can’t even read half of this stuff.

It doesn’t have to be that complicated. A dressing only takes four things: A bowl, a whisk, some acid and some fat. Now, the acid and fat can be vinegar or maybe lemon juice, and the fat can be oil – olive oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil; it doesn’t matter.

So what I’m going to do is here I’ve got a bowl and a whisk. Okay, so we’re halfway there. Now, a really simple dressing and a good way to sort of start is use a white wine vinegar, and you’re probably looking for maybe three or four tablespoons, okay. And then what you do is you emulsify the olive oil, or whatever oil you’re using, into that dressing.

Okay, so we’ve got some extra virgin olive oil, and I’m just going to slowly drizzle that in. And you’re whisking all the time, so that’s what you’re doing. You’re bringing those two components, the acid and the fat, together. Okay, so give it a good whisk. Okay, lovely.

So that is the simplest vinaigrette you’re ever going to have to make. Okay, now, have a little taste. Good. Now, you’re tasting for the balance of the acidity and the oiliness. So that’s pretty good. I’ve got a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper. Now, that’s a really simple dressing that’ll work on a salad. But if you want to add in other flavors, go for it.

I want to add some honey and some mustard, because I want to make a honey and mustard dressing; so a big dollop of the honey, and the same with a little bit of Dijon, the mustard. Then you give that a good whisk. And see how it goes nice and creamy? That’s when you know the emulsion’s well under way and it’s all working well.

I want to throw in some fresh herbs, so here I’ve got just a few little chives. So I’m just going to chop a couple of those up. You can use any sort of herbs you like – parsley, chervil, chives, tarragon. All that good stuff works. So the chives go in. Give it another little whisk. And it’s that simple – dressing, honey and mustard, over your salad; lovely, ready to serve.

And here I’ve just got a few shrimp and a bowl of the honey and mustard dressing. And I’m just going to dunk my shrimp straight in, just like that. Delicious. Yum, yum, yum.

So I’m Curtis Stone. That’s my GMC Trade Secret. It’s super-easy, super-simple. But if you love putting great ingredients together, log on to GMC.com, because you can go and custom-build your own Yukon hybrid. Incredible.