SALAD BASICS

MAKING SALAD IS ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE culinary pursuits. Baking requires that the cook follow directions precisely. Roasting a chicken or cooking pasta also demands a high level of attention to detail. But salad making allows for a fair amount of improvisation. Watercress can be substituted for arugula, which in turn can be substituted for dandelion greens or mizuna. If you like bell peppers, cucumbers, or tomatoes, they can be added to almost any salad.

Salad making is creative, but there are some broad guidelines that must be followed to achieve optimal results.

SHOP CAREFULLY. Most greens have a short shelf-life, so it's especially important to buy specimens that look healthy at the market. Greens with stems and roots will stay fresher longer and should be purchased when possible. Also, look for any rot among bunches as you shop. Decay can spread quickly and it's best to avoid greens on which this process has already begun. If you get greens home and notice a few slimy leaves, pick them out immediately rather than waiting until you make salad. If you wait, the rot may well have spread throughout the bunch.

KEEP CRISP. Because they are mostly water, greens should be stored in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator, where the humidity is the highest. But while moist air will help prolong their freshness, excessive amounts of water won't. Therefore, don't wash lettuces until you are ready to use them and drain off any standing water in bags before refrigerating greens.

WASH AND DRY THOROUGHLY. Because they grow in such close proximity to the ground, salad greens are often quite sandy. Thorough washing in a deep bowl or sink filled with cold water is a must. Swish the greens in the water to loosen any sand. Once the bottom of bowl is free of grit (you may need to drain the bowl and add clean water several times), dry greens in a salad spinner and then use paper or kitchen towels to blot off any remaining moisture. It's imperative to remove all visible moisture. Dressing will slide off damp greens and pool up at the bottom of the salad bowl. Washed and dried greens can be refrigerated in a dry zipper-lock bag for several hours.

DON'T TEAR UNTIL READY TO EAT. While whole leaves can be washed and dried in advance, do not tear lettuces until ready to dress the salad. Tearing the leaves leads to oxidation and browning in delicate greens. Whatever you do, don't take a knife to salad greens. The more violently they are cut, the quicker they will brown. Gentle tearing of large leaves by hand is best.

DRESS GREENS LIGHTLY. Nothing is worse than a limp, soggy salad with too much dressing. Dressed greens should glisten. We find that ¹/₄ cup of vinaigrette is sufficient to dress 2 quarts of salad greens, enough for four servings. We lightly pack a 4-cup plastic measure to portion out greens.

SERVE IMMEDIATELY. Once a salad is dressed, the clock is ticking. Waiting even 15 minutes to eat the salad may cause some loss in freshness and crispness. The longer salad greens sit under a coating of a dressing, the less appetizing they become as the salt in the dressing draws moisture out of the greens and causes them to become limp.

GLOSSARY OF SALAD GREENS

The following list starts with the four main varieties of lettuce and then covers the most commonly available specialty greens. When substituting one green for another, try to choose greens with a similar intensity. For example, peppery arugula could be used as a substitute for watercress or dandelion greens, but not for red leaf lettuce, at least not without significantly altering the flavor of the salad. Figures 1 through 4 offer some general guidelines on substitutions.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCES: Boston and Bibb are the two most common varieties of these very mild-tasting lettuces. A head of butterhead lettuce has a nice round shape and loose outer leaves. The color of the leaves is light to medium green (except, of course, in red-tinged varieties) and the leaves are extremely tender.

LOOSELEAF LETTUCES: Red leaf, green leaf, red oak, and lolla rossa are the most common varieties. These lettuces grow in a loose rosette shape, not a tight head. The ruffled leaves are green at the base and magenta toward the top in red varieties. These lettuces are the perhaps most versatile because their texture is soft yet still a bit crunchy and their flavor is mild but not bland.

ROMAINE LETTUCE: The leaves on this lettuce are long and broad at the top. The color shades from dark green in outer leaves (which are often tough and should be discarded) to pale green in the thick, crisp heart. Also called Cos lettuce, this variety has more crunch than either butterhead or looseleaf lettuces and a more pronounced earthy flavor. Romaine lettuce is essential in Caesar salad, when the greens must stand up to a thick, creamy dressing.

ICEBERG LETTUCE: Iceberg is the best known variety of crisphead lettuce. Its shape is perfectly round and the leaves are tightly packed. A high water content makes iceberg especially crisp and crunchy, but also robs it of flavor.

ARUGULA: Also called rocket, this tender, dark green leaf can be faintly peppery or downright spicy. Larger, older leaves tend to be hotter than small, young leaves, but the flavor is variable, so taste arugula before adding it to a salad. Try to buy arugula in bunches with the stems and roots still attached—they help keep the leaves fresh. Arugula bruises and discolors quite easily. Try to keep stemmed leaves whole. Very large leaves can be torn just before they are needed.

WATERCRESS: With its small leaves and long, thick stalks, watercress is easy to spot. It requires some patience in the kitchen because the stalks are really quite tough and must be removed one at a time. The leaves are usually mildly spicy, like arugula.

DANDELION GREENS: Dandelion greens are tender and pleasantly bitter. The leaves are long and have ragged edges. The flavor is similar to that of arugula or watercress, both of which can be used interchangeably with dandelion. Note that tougher, older leaves that are more than several inches long should be cooked and not used raw in salads.

MIZUNA: This Japanese spider mustard has long, thin, dark green leaves with deeply cut jagged edges. Sturdier than arugula, watercress, or dandelion, it can nonetheless be used interchangeably with these slightly milder greens in salads when a strong peppery punch is desired. Note that larger, older leaves are better cooked, so choose small "baby" mizuna for salads.

TATSOI: This Asian green has thin white stalks and round, dark green leaves. A member of the crucifer family of vegetables that includes broccoli and cabbages, tatsoi tastes like a mild Chinese cabbage, especially bok choy. However, the texture of these miniature leaves is always delicate.

RADICCHIO: This most familiar chicory was almost unknown in this country two decades ago. The tight heads of purple leaves streaked with prominent white ribs are now a supermarket staple. Radicchio has a decent punch but is not nearly as bitter as other chicories, especially Belgian endive.

BELGIAN ENDIVE: With its characteristic bitter chicory flavor, endive is generally used sparingly in salads. Unlike its cousin radicchio, endive is crisp and crunchy, not tender and leafy. The yellow leaf tips are usually mild-flavored, while the white, thick leaf bases are more bitter. Endive is the one salad green we routinely cut rather than tear. Remove whole leaves from the head and then slice crosswise into bite-sized pieces.

CHICORY: Chicory, or curly endive, has curly, cut leaves that form a loose head that resembles a sunburst. The leaves are bright green and their flavor is usually fairly bitter. The outer leaves can be somewhat tough, especially at the base. Inner leaves are generally more tender.

ESCAROLE: Escarole has smooth, broad leaves bunched together in a loose head. With its long ribs and softly ruffled leaves, it looks a bit like leaf lettuce. As a member of the chicory family, the flavor can be intense, although not nearly as strong as that of endive or chicory.

FRISÉE: This spiky, miniature green has a nutty, almost buttery flavor as well as the characteristic bitterness of all chicories. Although the leaves are quite thin, they are not as soft as they seem and provide a fairly good crunch.

SPINACH: Of all the cooking greens, this one is the most versatile in salads because it can be used in its miniature or full-grown form. Flat-leaf spinach is better than curly-leaf spinach in salads because the stems are usually less fibrous and the spade-shaped leaves are thinner, more tender, and sweeter. Curly spinach is often dry and chewy, while flat-leaf spinach, sold in bundles rather than in cellophane bags, is usually tender and moist, more like lettuce than a cooking green.

BABY COOKING GREENS: Miniature versions of chard, beet greens, turnip greens, and kale are often sold separately by the pound at supermarkets or used in salad mixes like mesclun. The white-or red-veined leaves are easy to spot. The flavor is much milder than that of full-sized cooking greens.