# Vinaigrette dressing that isn't destroyed by refrigeration **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901 "2012-05-14T16:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/1 "2012-05-14T16:31:25Z")
I’m a cook at my city’s convention center, and I’m kind of “in charge” of making the salad dressings. And, I’ve been having a bit of trouble lately with the raspberry vinaigrette: it turns into congealed sludge in the refrigerator. (I’m just learning to make this dressing; it used to be made by our former executive chef, but he was fired a few months ago and didn’t leave a written-down recipe when he left. So I had to find my own recipe.) I’m suspecting this is simply an ingredient-quality problem. I’m using a slightly-modified version of the basic vinaigrette recipe found in the Joy of Cooking cookbook. The base dressing is just extra-virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar in a 3:1 ratio, plus salt and pepper. I leave out the garlic and mustard listed in the recipe. The raspberry flavor is provided by a quantity of seedless raspberry freezer jam blended into the base dressing. The first time I made this recipe (2-gallon batch), I used Kirkland extra-virgin olive oil from Costco, and a 6.5-pound tub of “Freezerves” brand raspberry freezer jam. The end result was excellent, flavor-wise, and what didn’t get used for that night’s dinner event remained smooth, nice-looking and good-tasting in the refrigerator for more than two weeks. All that was needed the next time we used it was a quick stir with a wire whisk to counteract a tiny bit of oil-vinegar separation. The next time I needed to make the dressing, the head chef ordered the extra-virgin olive oil from one of our suppliers. I made sure he ordered “pure” x-virgin olive oil for the dressing, not the cheaper 70/30 canola/olive blend we use for sauteeing. Also, we were not able to get the 6.5-pound tubs of freezer jam from this supplier; they carried the same _brand_, but in a case of six 1-pound tubs. Two _days_ later, the whole batch had turned into that thick, congealed sludge I mentioned. Completely unusable. The differences I see: the olive oil from Costco stated on its label that it was made from 100% Italian olives, while the olive oil from our supplier was a blend of olive oils from several different countries. And while the freezer jam was the same brand, I suspect that there may be some difference between the stuff in the 6.5-pound tubs and the stuff 1-pound tubs. The vinegar was the same both times. Could the simple difference in the olive oils used be the reason for the failure of the second batch? Or something different in the jam? Going back to the 6.5-pound tubs of jam is simple enough - apparently those come from our _other_ main supplier. And I know that the Costco olive oil works well, but that’s a pain in the neck, since we have to go get it instead of having it delivered. Specifically, _I_ have to go get it, since I’m currently the only one in the kitchen with a Costco membership and our company still hasn’t gotten around to providing the executive chef with his own company Costco card (not to mention he and his wife have one car between them, so she drops him off and then takes the car, so he can hardly make the run to Costco anyway) — and I have to pay for it and then go through the hassle of running to the accounting office in a different building to get reimbursed. Anyway, ideally I know one solution would be to simply not refrigerate the dressing. If it was just plain vinaigrette I could get away with that, but the addition of the raspberry jam pretty much forces me to refrigerate it (health codes and all that). I would also like to find a better solution than freezer jam for the raspberry flavor. The main advantage of using freezer jam is that it’s a consistent product we can get year-round. Any other chefs out there have any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/2 "2012-05-14T16:57:16Z")
Was the “sludgy” dressing still sludgy even after being brought to room temperature? Some oils congeal in the fridge but then soften up again when warmed. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/3 "2012-05-14T17:59:39Z")
It isnt a quality issue. Olive oil just solidifies at a higher temperature than most other oils. It will liquefy if you let it come back to room temperature. If you don’t want to do that, then just use good canola oil. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/4 "2012-05-14T19:39:49Z")
Oh, and I would use raspberry juice or concentrate rather than raspberry jam, to get raspberry flavor without any possible fruit solids or pectin hassle. Less sugary too. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/5 "2012-05-14T19:58:34Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > It isnt a quality issue. Olive oil just solidifies at a higher temperature than most other oils. It will liquefy if you let it come back to room temperature. > > If you don’t want to do that, then just use good canola oil. Boom! Nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/6 "2012-05-14T20:23:01Z")
I see that you have made a batch with olive oil that didn’t turn to sludge in the fridge, and that’s why you’re asking. I don’t know what the difference is that’s causing the problem… but I do encourage you to follow the above advice to try canola oil instead. Since you’re covering up the peppery olive oil taste with raspberry anyway, it seems like it shouldn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/7 "2012-05-14T23:06:18Z")
My guess is that the Costco oil wasn’t 100% olive oil. There’s a lot of adulterated olive oil on the market sold as extra virgin. I’m not saying that Costco would do this deliberately, but the supplier of their oil might. The term “watered down” doesn’t seem right for olive oil to which cheaper oils have been added. What should we call it - oiled down? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/8 "2012-05-14T23:17:17Z")
My brother was talking about this very thing the other day! He stores his dressing in the cubard. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/9 "2012-05-14T23:36:45Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > It isnt a quality issue. Olive oil just solidifies at a higher temperature than most other oils. It will liquefy if you let it come back to room temperature. I _was_ able to restore the sludgy stuff by adding a bit of warm water and stirring it up again in the mixer, but of course it turned to sludge again after some time in the cooler. So maybe the answer is to just pull it out of the walk-in well in advance. > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > My guess is that the Costco oil wasn’t 100% olive oil. There’s a lot of adulterated olive oil on the market sold as extra virgin. I’m not saying that Costco would do this deliberately, but the supplier of their oil might. I’ll double check the labeling again next time I have a chance. I’m pretty sure it _claimed_ to be pure. But then, if it’s working for me, may as well keep using it if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/10 "2012-05-15T02:16:34Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I’ll double check the labeling again next time I have a chance. I’m pretty sure it _claimed_ to be pure. But then, if it’s working for me, may as well keep using it if necessary. I’m sure it claimed to be pure. My point is that there’s a lot of olive oil that’s labeled as “extra virgin” that has other oils added to it. [This Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulteration) lists a number of instances, as does [this page in Olive Oil Times](http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/tag/olive-oil-adulteration). ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/11 "2012-05-15T02:35:30Z")
This is such weird timing. Last night, at the grocery store, frustrated at the choice of healthy dressings, I decided to go the DIY route. I settled on **Pompeian** extra virgin olive oil and **Holland House** red wine vinegar. Mixed it 3:1 and added some mustard (okay, a lot of mustard - I like mustard) and garlic pepper. I saved a couple of bucks and had a dressing to my taste. Anyway, FWIW, it sat in the fridge all day and was perfectly pour-able this evening and also delicious. Looking forward to playing with more ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vinaigrette-dressing-that-isnt-destroyed-by-refrigeration/621901/12 "2012-05-15T03:28:38Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I’m sure it claimed to be pure. My point is that there’s a lot of olive oil that’s labeled as “extra virgin” that has other oils added to it. [This Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulteration) lists a number of instances, as does [this page in Olive Oil Times](http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/tag/olive-oil-adulteration). Holy crap, I’m convinced! The idea of “counterfeiting” olive oil never even crossed my mind.