Sauces · French cuisine
Vinaigrette
A cold dressing of oil and vinegar – three to one in Escoffier, with capers and herbs.
At a glance
- Origin
- France; the name comes from French vinaigre, vinegar.
- Production
- Oil and vinegar mixed with salt, pepper and herbs, shaken before serving.
- Ratio
- Escoffier: 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.
- Pairs with
- Salads, cold vegetables, boiled calf’s head and feet.
- Use
- With capers and herbs as sauce ravigote.
Vinaigrette is a cold sauce of oil and vinegar (vinaigre), seasoned with salt and pepper and often with herbs. Like mayonnaise, oil-and-vinegar dressings count among the sauce emulsions; without an emulsifier, though, oil and vinegar soon separate again, which is why a vinaigrette is shaken or whisked just before serving.
Escoffier lists it as ravigote or vinaigrette: three parts oil to one part vinegar, salt, pepper, small capers and finely chopped herbs – onion, parsley, chervil, tarragon and chives. He served it with calf’s head or feet and sheep’s trotters, sometimes with a little of the liquor the meat had cooked in.
Today the same principle is used mainly for salads and cold vegetables. The share of vinegar and herbs varies with the dish.