How to make a salad dressing

If you want to actually get your hands dirty, put a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a pinch of seasalt, a grind of black pepper, 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 8 or 9 tablespoons of a good olive oil in a jar and shake it like a crazed carnival-goer. Pour over the salad and mix it well with your hands to ensure good coverage of all those thirsty leaves.

If, on the other hand, you simply want the basic laws of making the perfect salad dressing you can’t do better than this Italian advice:

   A miser should see to the vinegar

   A spendthrift to the oil

   A wise man to the salt

   A judicious man to the pepper

   And a madman to the mixing.

With such simple advice, your next salad dressing could only be delicious.