Although it's easy to find low-fat salad dressings at your supermarket, it's almost impossible to find one that tastes good but that doesn't substitute preservatives, stabilizers and massive amounts of sugar for oil.

The solution: make your own. Simply cutting down on the oil is not the answer; the result would be too mouth-puckeringly acid. By using the following techniques--adding vegetable or fruit juice reductions, vegetable purees, and small amounts of strong-flavored ingredients to replace some of the oil--you can make the best low-fat salad dressings you'll find this summer. 

Grace Parisi is a New York City-based chef, caterer, and food stylist. She is a frequent contributor to Food & Wine. 

 

Published August 1995