100 Best Recipes Ever: Salads

Steve Corry loves to toss roasted beets with the complex sherry vinegar that Taylor Griffin imports from Spain. To help mellow the vinegar’s tang, Corry reduces tangerine juice to a syrup and adds it to the dressing. Inspired by peanut brittle, he candies marcona almonds to give the salad crunch. The nuts are fantastic on their own.

Macadamias add crunch and an unexpected buttery richness to this salad.

This authentic Caesar salad, from chef Terrance Brennan, gets a flavor wallop from large doses of chopped garlic and anchovies. The creamy dressing is made with raw egg yolks; if you prefer an alternative, coddle the eggs by placing them in their shells in boiling water for 3 minutes.

The usual Indian way of preparing okra is to cut it into rounds. But when Suvir Saran was seven, he insisted that the family cook slice the okra into wispy strips. The supercrunchy result was a hit and became a family legend.

In this easy yet sophisticated recipe, chef Daniel Boulud pairs a curry-spiced crab salad with sweet watermelon and bright cilantro and mint.

This Moroccan-spiced salad combines vitamin A-rich carrots and heart-healthy avocados. Jamie Oliver’s favorite method for preparing carrots (as well as beets) is to first parboil them, then toss them with a dressing and roast them to intensify their sweetness.

Prosciutto and pancetta both require months to cure, but sometimes they’re eaten before they’re fully aged. In Emilia-Romagna, cooks turn that partially cured meat into dishes like pancetta fresca alla griglia, in which the pork is grilled, then lacquered with balsamic vinegar. Here, in a riff on that dish, Paul Bartolotta sautés prosciutto until crisp, glazes it with balsamic vinegar then tosses it into a salad of bitter greens and chopped egg—a brilliant combination of flavors and textures.

Inspired by the antipasto in Italian-American restaurants, Silverton developed a sophisticated version for Jar in Los Angeles. It features shredded and vinaigrette-dressed iceberg lettuce and salami mixed with petite mozzarella balls (bocconcini), which she loves because each is a perfect little bite.

The black pepper and vinegar bring out the cantaloupe's sweetness, making it a good foil for creamy fresh goat cheese. The cheese is served on slices of crusty bread alongside the melon salad.

Feta is a fun, briny addition to this salad's Mexican mix of jicama, avocado and cilantro.

Mexican cooks typically boil or roast tomatillos for tart sauces like salsa verde, but Daniel Orr likes to cut them up raw for salads. Cherry tomatoes can be added for sweetness and color.

For this French-style potato salad, toss the warm potatoes with broth or wine so they absorb the flavor of the liquid. If you can get a delicious French garlic sausage, this would be a great place to use it.