Question
Barbara Forte
I have a recipe for carrot salad. The ingredients are carrots, scallions, olive oil, wine vinegar & sugar. I swapped maple syrup for the sugar but what can I use instead of olive oil?
Answer
So it sounds like what we're looking for here is, um, to remove the olive oil. And, you know, one, one technique that I've, uh, used off and on, you know, over the years is to, uh, to create a flavorful liquid, you know, that's gonna be suitable for the salad. I'll take as an example, uh, vegetable stock. Now, the beauty of with vegetable stock is you can, you can flavor it however you want, right? Uh, you can certainly use the, the base recipe that we offer. Um, but you can start to, um, adjust the ratios of those ingredients. You can remove them, you can add others, you can add spices, you can add other herbs, um, so that, um, the flavor of the stock will be in alignment with whatever it is that you're preparing. Okay? So you've got some stock, um, and then lightly thicken that with, uh, a slurry for, you know, for example, a, a corn starch slurry. Um, and then, uh, chill it. Okay? And then what you're shoot shooting for, aiming for is a viscosity that would replicate the viscosity of, uh, olive oil, so that you get a similar mouthfeel, um, as you, you know, consume the food. Okay? And, uh, so that's, uh, I think a pretty easy approach. And, uh, it gives you a chance to really tailor, um, the, the flavor, uh, that flavor detail, um, as you desire. Okay? So, again, it's, uh, stock, uh, we're gonna thicken it with a slurry. I don't recommend flour, um, but, uh, you know, corn stars could be arrow root and, um, aiming for, uh, a viscosity that's similar to that of oil.
