Caesar salad:
In THE BATTLE OF THE DAIRY, cheese won with ice cream and milk coming next in the poll on dairy products.
Now it's the turn of salad ingredients to do battle. A while back I did a poll on different types of salad which Caesar salad won - see THE BATTLE OF THE SALADS. This poll isn't about different types of salad again but about different ingredients often found in a salad.
Salad, etymologically, derives from the Latin word 'salata' meaning 'salted'. The word describes the practice of salting vegetables in order to season (and preserve) vegetables. In Old French, the word became salade and in Middle English, salat or salad.
A salad is normally a composed, tossed or bound medley of vegetables, sometimes with meat and fish added, and is usually served cold. For the purposes of this poll, I'm only including savoury salads. Sweet or dessert salads, such as fruit salad and jelly/jello salad, are excluded from the poll.
To make the poll manageable and meaningful, I'm excluding all meats and fishes which may be found in a salad from this poll. There's no abalone, anchovy, bacon, bacon bits, beef, bison, carne asada, carp, caviar, chicken, chorizo, corned beef, crab, crayfish, duck, gammon, goose, ham, jellyfish, katsoubushi/bonito flakes, lardons, lobster, mackerel, mortadella, Parma ham, pancetta, pastrami, pรยขtรยฉ, pepperoni, pork, pork pie, pilchards, prawns, prosciutto, salami, salmon, sardines, sausage, serrano ham, shrimps, speck, squid, steak, taramasalata, trout, tuna, turkey, veal, venison and whitebait allowed in this poll. The reason is simple. Often the meat or the fish is the main star of such a salad (eg a beef, a chicken, a crab, a ham, a prawn/shrimp, a salmon, a tuna and a turkey salad) and the main star will always win. This poll isn't about the meaty A-list stars but about the non-meaty B-list stars that keep the show on the road!
However, this somewhat arbitrary exclusion is perhaps persecuting anchovies, bacon bits, caviar, pork pie and taramasalata, but so be it! Also it's allowing cheese and eggs to escape the exclusionary net, but I'm always disposed to give them, and particularly cheese, the benefit of the doubt.
Also this poll excludes salad dressings, whether it's apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, barbecue sauce, blue cheese dressing, Caesar dressing, chipotle dressing, coriander/cilantro-lime dressing, French dressing, garlic dressing, ginger dressing, green goddess dressing, hoisin sauce, honey dressing, Italian dressing, ketchup, lemon juice, lime juice, maple syrup dressing, Marie Rose sauce, mayonnaise, miso sauce, mustard, olive oil, peanut/satay sauce, ponzu sauce, ranch dressing, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, salad cream, sesame oil, soy sauce, tahini, thousand island dressing, tzatziki, vinaigrette or yogurt. And any seasonings such as herbs and spices (eg allspice, anise/aniseed, basil, black pepper, cardamom, chervil, chives, coriander/cilantro, cumin, dill, fenugreek, garlic, mint, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, parsley, rosemary, salt, saffron, sorrel, sugar, tarragon, thyme) are all excluded from the poll.
My most favourite salad ingredients are avocado (especially guacamole), beetroot/beet, carrots, cheese (but not smelly mouldy cheese), couscous, cucumber, egg, lentils, olives (especially stuffed olives), peas, rocket/aragula, spring onions, sweet corn/corn, tomatoes and watercress, with potatoes being the best salad ingredient. A boiled potato and even better a potato salad is something for my fork to aim for on a salad plate. It's often said that the first bit of food you eat from a plate is the food you most like on that plate of food.
Potato salad:
My least favourite salad ingredients are apple, artichoke hearts, aubergine/eggplant, chicory, courgette/zucchini, fennel, grapes, peppers/bell peppers, pine nuts, radish and tofu, with celery being the worst salad ingredient by a country mile. There's just no point to celery.
What are your most and least favourite salad ingredients?
How often do you eat a salad? And how often do you make a salad?
If in a restaurant with a salad bar, how high do you load up your salad bowl?
I don't eat salad regularly and if I do eat salad it's always a side salad. I was put off salads when I was a kid being continually fed salads because my parents and grandparents grew vegetables to make a salad. I used to hate salad but now as a mature adult, I can more appreciate a salad if nothing more than for health reasons. However, I cannot recall ever making a salad, not even a potato salad which I love to eat.
For some reason, whenever I go to Pizza Hut I have an urge to load up a bowl at the salad bar. My mantra is the higher the better. And there's a skill in loading up the salad ingredients. I'd make sure at Pizza Hut, with cucumbers to extend my stacking room of the salad bowl, that I'd get more than my fair share of cherry tomatoes and potato salad with bacon bits and croutons sprinkled liberally plus a lashing of thousand island dressing so I can prove that I'm the healthiest eater of all diners while pigging out on pizza!
Below is a poll in which you can anonymously select your most favourite salad ingredient.
Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll. If you don't like any form of salad, please don't vote but please do comment even just to say you don't like salads.
Given almost any food can be thrown into a salad and because a poll on this site can only have a maximum of 20 answer options, unfortunately there was no room as poll options for: akanwu, almonds, apple, apricots, artichoke hearts, asparagus, aubergine/eggplant, banana, beans, bean sprouts, blackberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, bok choy, bread (including breadsticks and croutons), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bulgur wheat, cape gooseberries, capers, Capri berries, caraway seeds, cashews, cassava, cauliflower, chard, chayote, cherries, chia seeds, chickpeas, chicory (including endive and radicchio), chilli/chili pepper, chocolate, chutney/pickle/relish, coconut, collard greens, courgette/zucchini, couscous, cranberries, cress (including watercress), dandelion leaves, dates, falafel, farro, fennel, fiddleheads (young fern fronds), figs, flax seeds, gnocchi, gooseberries, grapefruit, grapes, guava, heart of palm, hemp seeds, horseradish (including wasabi), hummus, jicama, kale, kimchi, kisir, kiwi fruit, kumquat, lentils, lychee, mango, marshmallow, melon, mizuna (including mibuna), mushrooms, mustard greens, nasturtium flowers, nettle leaves, nigella seeds, noodles (including pasta), oca, okra/ladies' fingers, orange, papaya, parsnips, peanuts, peach (including nectarine), pear, pecans, pineapple, pine nuts, pistachios, plantain, plums (including damsons and greengages), pomegranate (including pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds), poppy seeds, pumpkin (including pumpkin seeds), quinoa, raisins (including sultanas), raspberries, redcurrants, rhubarb, rice, salsify, seaweed, sesame seeds, spinach, spring greens, strawberries, sumac, sunflower seeds, swede/rutabaga, sweet potatoes, tabbouleh, tatsoi, tofu, tortilla strips, turnips (including turnip greens), ugli fruit, utazi leaves, walnuts, water chestnuts, water spinach/kangkong, wonton strips and yam. Hopefully I've covered all the popular salad ingredients as poll options because I never want 'other' to win a poll.
I think tomatoes will win this poll, but cheese, egg and even lettuce may make the poll too close to call.
I want to thank @EnigmaInitiative for her help in compiling this poll. Obviously, any mistakes with the poll are my mistakes unless 'other' wins then it's the fault of my good friend!
Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle of the food and drinks so far.
Summer salad:
10
25 comments
Mango
I've not had mango in a salad other than a fruit salad.
Any salad I make always has lettuce of some form
Lettuce is a staple of salad. I'm slightly surprised lettuce is winning and will undoubtedly win the poll.
OKAY I really have to ask. on a sex and hook up site that there is a poll on what do you like on a salad????? (We have been members here for 18 years). Shaking my head right now.
You can keep shaking your head. I can blog about what I want provided it complies with the site's terms of use.
I just don't understand why you took time to leave a comment when you could have easily walked on by.
Also your self-appointed role as what people can blog about means you're going to be very busy.
What are your most and least favourite salad ingredients?
Voted for tomato but actually my favorite is parsley (main ingredient in tabbouleh and fattoush but I also add it to Greek salad, tuna salad, quinoa salad, lentil salad, egg salad, etc). Least favorite is meat (ham, chicken, steak strips, etc) that Amuuricans are fond of adding.
How often do you eat a salad? And how often do you make a salad?
I make my own salads, which can be as simple as tomato&cucumber or as complicated as salad nicoise.
I also eat a lot of cooked greens - wild greens like dandelion, chicory amaranth or cultivated like chard, beet greens, spinach - which end up becoming a 'salad' when topped with tomato/onion/pomegranate syrup/vinegar/olive oil.
If in a restaurant with a salad bar, how high do you load up your salad bowl?
I avoid the salad bar as I don't trust the hygiene.
Salade niรยงoise is my favourite type of salad, especially when served up in a baguette.
Mixed greens are always my base. Hummus is always a regular accessory in my homemade salads. I only have homemade, I avoid them eating out.
I love the earthy taste of hummus.
I chose cheese, because I LOVE cheese on everything! I eat salads regularly, changing up the ingredients all the time. My fave - Romaine, raisins, cucumber, blue cheese, with Poppy Seed, or Balsamic dressing. Adding more fruit, if I have it.
I love cheese but I don't like fruit, except tomatoes, in a salad.
Anchovies
I love a few anchovies on my salad and on my pizza too.
Just read Mayonaise is excluded as a "dressing". I'd argue that in some cases it isn't dressing, it's an ingredient.
Else, change my vote to Avocado, Onion, or Garlic.
I can see your logic. But I had to draw a line somewhere.
Mayonaise
Mayonnaise is great on a salad.
Another great battle poll here my friend and this one isn't such an easy one for me to answer.
What are your most and least favourite salad ingredients? I like ice berg lettuce, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, green onion, cheese, olives, and especially crunchy chicken strips, and sometimes freshly cooked chopped bacon. With lots of ranch dressing and cracked black pepper. I will be showing a picture of it below.
How often do you eat a salad? Not very often maybe four times a year.
And how often do you make a salad? Not as often as I would like.
If in a restaurant with a salad bar, how high do you load up your salad bowl? The restaurants here don't have this for the most part only Sizzler which we don't go to.
This salad doesn't do mine justice..lol next time I make one I will take a picture of it.
I hope you enjoy your Thursday my friend..
I'll look forward to seeing one of your home-made salads.
Eggs, olives, lettuce, tomato... a classic
"Ensalada mixta"
A salad without olives shouldn't be allowed to call itself a salad!
@spunkycumfun I agree
harsh. can't pick just one!รฐลธห
I bet if I gave you a million dollars you could choose one!
Only one? That is just cruel.
I know, but I'm trying to get people off the fence!
For the record, Brussels sprouts won THE BATTLE OF THE VEGETABLES, bananas won THE BATTLE OF THE FRUITS, basil won THE BATTLE OF THE HERBS, garlic won THE BATTLE OF THE SPICES, cashew nuts won THE BATTLE OF THE NUTS, sunflower seeds won THE BATTLE OF THE SEEDS, roast beef won THE BATTLE OF THE ROAST DINNERS, cheesecake won THE BATTLE OF THE PUDDINGS, pepperoni won THE BATTLE OF THE PIZZA TOPPINGS, Caesar salad won THE BATTLE OF THE SALADS, green beans won THE BATTLE OF THE BEANS, watermelon won THE BATTLE OF THE MELONS, tomato-based pasta sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE HOT SAUCY DIPS, barbecue sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE COOL SAUCY DIPS, vanilla ice cream won THE BATTLE OF THE ICE CREAMS, capellini (aka angel hair) won THE BATTLE OF THE PASTAS, steak won THE BATTLE OF THE BARBECUE, romaine lettuce won THE BATTLE OF THE LETTUCES, honeycrisp apples won THE BATTLE OF THE APPLES, stout won THE BATTLE OF THE BEERS, whisky won THE BATTLE OF THE SPIRITS, clam chowder won THE BATTLE OF THE SOUPS, sourdough bread won THE BATTLE OF THE BREADS, liver won THE BATTLE OF THE OFFAL, roast turkey won THE BATTLE OF CHRISTMAS FOODS, Old Fashioned won THE BATTLE OF THE COCKTAILS, Americano coffee won THE BATTLE OF THE COFFEES, green tea won THE BATTLE OF THE TEAS, maple syrup won THE BATTLE OF THE PANCAKES, barbecue sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE CONDIMENTS, ribeye steak won THE BATTLE OF THE STEAKS, portobello mushrooms won THE BATTLE OF THE MUSHROOMS, beefsteak tomatoes won THE BATTLE OF THE TOMATOES, barbecue crisps won THE BATTLE OF THE CRISPS, strawberries won THE BATTLE OF THE BERRIES, crab won THE BATTLE OF THE SHELLFISH, vanilla yogurt won THE BATTLE OF THE YOGURTS, jasmine rice won THE BATTLE OF THE RICE, chicken wings won THE BATTLE OF HOT FINGER FOODS, cheeses won THE BATTLE OF COLD FINGER FOODS, dry red wine won THE BATTLE OF THE WINES, tap water won THE BATTLE OF WATER, blueberry muffins won THE BATTLE OF THE MUFFINS, cheese won THE BATTLE OF THE CHARCUTERIE, cow milk hard cheese won THE BATTLE OF THE CHEESE, burgers won THE BATTLE OF FAST FOOD, olive oil won THE BATTLE OF THE OILS, beef stew won THE BATTLE OF THE STEW, cow milk won THE BATTLE OF THE MILK, butter won THE BATTLE OF THE BAKED POTATO, salad won THE BATTLE OF THE SIDE DISH, pizza won THE BATTLE OF THE SAVOURY PIE, apple pie won THE BATTLE OF THE SWEET PIE, coffee won THE BATTLE OF THE HOT BEVERAGE, iced tea won THE BATTLE OF THE COLD BEVERAGE, salmon won THE BATTLE OF THE FISHES, rice won THE BATTLE OF THE GRAINS, cheese won THE BATTLE OF THE OMELETTE, cream won THE BATTLE OF THE DOUGHNUTS, chocolate won THE BATTLE OF THE MILKSHAKES, butter won THE BATTLE OF THE TOAST TOPPINGS, salted peanuts won THE BATTLE OF THE PEANUTS, strawberry jam won THE BATTLE OF THE JAM, flaky pastry won THE BATTLE OF THE PASTRY, bacon sandwich won THE BATTLE OF THE SANDWICH, orange juice won THE BATTLE OF THE JUICES, chocolate won THE BATTLE OF THE COOKIES, American Bourbon whiskey won THE BATTLE OF WHISKY, pumpkin pie won THE BATTLE OF THE PUMPKIN, cherry jelly won THE BATTLE OF JELLY, vanilla ice cream won THE BATTLE OF DESSERT ACCOMPANIMENTS, dark chocolate won THE BATTLE OF CHOCOLATE, baked potatoes won THE BATTLE OF THE POTATO, broccoli won THE BATTLE OF THE CABBAGE, and cheese won THE BATTLE OF THE DAIRY.