I made salad dressing 2 days ago...olive oil, vinegar, herbs, and a bit of dijon mustard. Today it had turned into a weird seperated solid (I refrigerated it). I couldn't even mix it. What happened and what can I do to prevent that from happening again?
2007-07-13 11:53:28 · 9 answers · asked by berrel 5 in Food & Drink ➔ Cooking & Recipes
Let your dressing sit out to melt the fat in the oil. When it comes to room temperature, shake it well to mix the flavors and serve immediately. Your dressing, being homemade and without perservatives, did what all oil based dressings do: its chemical composition shifted due to the cold temperature!
2007-07-13 12:07:23 · answer #1 · answered by JennyP 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mine does the same thing. For some reason when I make a vinaigrette with olive oil it hardens in the fridge. I just let it set out for a bit, and if it's taking too long to turn back to a liquid I set the container into a dish of lukewarm water. When it's back liquid just shake it really well and it'll be fine!!
Just make sure you don't thaw it in hot water, it won't emulsify again for some reason. I'm sure there is some complicated chemical reaction going on, but I have no idea what it is!!
BTW this doesn't happen when I use canola or vegetable oil. Only olive oil.
2007-07-13 12:07:22 · answer #2 · answered by shannon ! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most oil based salad dressings seperate upon standing but I cannot figure out why you couldn't get it back together again. Did you shake it well? Maybe the oil was bad?? I have never heard of such a thing. It would need to be shaken really well, not just stirred.
2007-07-13 12:01:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I make salad dressings as a job so i should be able to help you here. The secret is you MUST mix it thoroughly during the whole process...then after all ingredients are mixed it would definitely be worth using a hand blender for a few minutes!! This way the dressing never separates or solidifies.
So there you go..just mix and blend your mixture more and the problem is solved! (Also..we use hemp oil in our dressings..give it a try!)
Xxxxx
2007-07-13 12:06:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
All you have to do to mix it is let it warm up. Generally oil based dressings have a tendency to seperate, and chilling it just got the oil to the point that it condensed to a semi solid. Once it warms back closer to room temp it will mix fine.
2007-07-13 12:18:18 · answer #5 · answered by kanman1958 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've had this happen when I made a salad dressing with olive oil, particularly First press extra Virgin olive oil. If you let it warm up you'll be able to re-emulsify it. I just stopped making a large quantity of it.
2007-07-13 12:07:12 · answer #6 · answered by Duncan M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Olive oil always seperates when in the fridge. Bring it to room temperature, shake it and it will be fine.
2007-07-14 02:15:45 · answer #7 · answered by KathyS 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Olive oil solidifies when refrigerated. Either make your dressing with vegetable oil or let it return to room temperature before you try to shake and use it.
Bert
2007-07-13 12:15:04 · answer #8 · answered by Bert C 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The it is just like veggitable oil,it seperats from any other liquid (which would be the vinegar) so you have to shake it really well so they stay together!
2007-07-13 12:06:25 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋