Salads are difficult to define due to the variety of ingredients used. Lettuce-free salads include vegetable, fruit, bound, pasta, and gelatin salads, with a range of dressings and uses as meals or side dishes.
Salad, while an extremely popular dish in North America and elsewhere, is very difficult to pin down due to the extreme variety in the combination of ingredients. Typically, the word salad conjures up images of a bowl filled with leafy greens; however, numerous types of salad are regularly consumed that have never included a lettuce leaf. Lettuce-free salads in North America include those made entirely with vegetables or fruits, tied salads, and pasta salads. There are also salads that can be eaten for dessert.
Lettuce-free vegetable salads include a variety of greens and usually a dressing. The vegetables included vary, with common examples including tomato, cucumber and carrots, which are cut into bite-sized pieces and mixed with a sauce that is usually oil and egg or oil and vinegar based. Vegetable salads are most commonly eaten as a cold lunch or dinner, or as a side dish. Fruit salads are made from a variety of fresh or canned fruits and can include melons, grapes, and citrus fruits, among others. Usually eaten cold as a breakfast, snack. or dessert platter, a fruit salad typically doesn’t include a dressing.
Bound salads have ingredients bound together by an oil and egg based sauce. The ingredients usually include a main protein, such as meat, fish or egg, and may also include vegetables or fruit, such as spring onions or raisins. The most common binding sauce for this type of salad is mayonnaise. Wrapped salads are typically used as a filler for sandwiches rather than eaten on their own. Potato salad, one exception, is a popular bound salad that can be enjoyed as a side dish hot or cold.
Pasta salads are also common types of lettuce-free salads. All shapes and varieties of pasta are used, although they tend to be smaller, bite-sized types such as macaroni. Exceptions to this are pasta salads, which popularly come with Asian-inspired ingredients and dressings. Pasta salads typically include some form of dressing, either cream or vinegar based. Generally eaten as a lunch, dinner, or side dish, people enjoy these salads hot or cold.
While lettuce is not often considered a dessert item, gelatin salads continue to be popular. These lettuce-free salads include pieces of fruit or cake suspended in a jelly. A variety of molds are available for shaping these salads, and because common gelatin is used, they can be made in a wide variety of colors. Typically served at parties, a jelly salad often provides a fun, colorful, and wonky centerpiece for other parties. Popular since the Victorian era, they enjoy periodic resurgences and innovations.
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