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Basic Greek Style Salad Dressing

希臘風味沙拉醬汁入門

Everyone knows how healthy extra virgin olive oil is, but it’s not easy to get it when you eat out a lot. Some Italian or Mediterranean restaurants have oil sitting in cute bottles on each table, but you actually never know what kind of oil is actually being used.

大家都知道初榨橄欖油很健康，但是我們在外用餐時，不太容易吃到這種油。有些義大利或是地中海料理餐廳，會在桌上用別緻的瓶子裝著橄欖油，但你可能永遠都無法確定裡面到底裝了什麼油。

On a recent visit to one Italian restaurant (I with hold the name for obvious reasons!) I asked what type of oil was in the bottle on the table. The waiter brought out a bottle of Italian Olive Pomace oil, mostly to point out that the oil was from Italy. As soon as I saw the bottle, I was shocked and decided to leave.

最近我去了一家義大利餐廳（當然，我不能講出餐廳名字），我問他們桌上的瓶子裡裝的是什麼樣的橄欖油，侍者拿了一個瓶子，上面寫著”Italian Olive Pomace Oil”，主要是強調這個油是來自義大利的。當我一看到這個瓶子，我下了一跳並且馬上決定離開這家餐廳。

Now at first glance some people might say, “Oh, Olive Pomace… that must be from some special kind of olives, or some exotic location, or something, right?” Well, it’s not. Olive pomace oil is made by processing the remains of the olives used to make extra virgin olive oil. It is created using chemical solvents and high temperatures and so not good for health in general. And according to the International Olive Oil Council, it technically can not be called olive oil!

一開始，人們也許會想，喔，Olive Pomace，這應該是某種特別的橄欖，或是某個地方、或是某個東西，對吧？其實，並不是的。Olive Pomace Oil是一種用製作初壓橄欖油後的殘渣所加工製造出來的成品。它是透過化學溶劑和高溫所製造的，一般來說對健康並不好。而且依照國際橄欖油委員會，技術上來說這種油不能被稱為橄欖油。

The truth is you never know what oil restaurants put in the bottles on the table and you definitely don’t know what oils they use in the kitchen. Good quality olive oil is expensive so it is rarely used in restaurants… except maybe for decoration! Most restaurants either use a mix of vegetable oils with olive oil, inferior olive oil like pomace oil, or no olive oil at all!

所以，事實上，你永遠也不會知道餐廳在桌上放了什麼樣的油，更不會知道他們在廚房裡用什麼樣的油。好的橄欖油很貴，所以你很難在餐廳吃得到…除非只是裝飾用的。大多數的餐廳都是用蔬菜油混著橄欖油使用，或是用不好的橄欖油如pomace oil，或甚至根本用的不是橄欖油。

You can’t depend on restaurants to give you good quality olive oil, so what can you do? The solution is to bring your own. I suggest you use a small wine bottle or other container that has a secure screw-able cap that won’t leak… there is nothing worse than olive oil leaking out in your handbag! My favorite container is a metal brandy or whisky flask that are commonly sold in shops that carry gifts for men. Those containers don’t leak!

你不能仰賴餐廳給你好的油。所以，你能怎麼辦呢？解決的辦法就是自己帶。我建議你用一個小的紅酒瓶，或是其他的容器，可以密封不會滲漏的…若是讓橄欖油在你的手提包裡漏出來，那就糟了。我最喜歡用的容器是金屬的白蘭地或是威士忌酒瓶，可以在男性禮品店裡買的到的那種。這種容器不會滲漏。

The ideal way to take olive oil is raw and at room temperature because the higher the temperature olive oil is heated to, the more the oil is damaged (that’s why it is cold pressed). Of course, just drinking olive oil is boring and a lot of people hate the feeling of pure oil in their mouths.

使用橄欖油時，最好是維持在室溫，因為溫度越高，對橄欖油的破壞就越大（這是好的橄欖油要用冷壓的原因）。當然，直接喝橄欖油是很單調的，而且很多人很討厭純的橄欖油在嘴裡的感覺。

A better way of taking oil is to make it into a sauce. The sauce most people are familiar with is salad dressing. I always say that term is a total misnomer and insult to oil for oil sauce can be used on any food not just salads!

有個比較好的方法是把橄欖油作成醬汁。大多數人最熟悉的醬汁就是沙拉醬汁。我常說這其實是個錯誤的或是辱沒了的名稱，應該直接叫作橄欖油醬汁，因為這種醬汁其實不只是可以用在沙拉上。

There are thousands of salad dressing recipes, but if you know what they all have in common, if you know the concept of what a salad dressing is, you can easily create your own. So here it is: Good tasting salad dressing requires a minimum of 3 things. You need:

沙拉醬汁的食譜有上千種，但如果你了解它們都會使用哪些東西，如果你了解沙拉醬汁的基本概念，你可以很輕鬆的自己創造屬於你自己的口味。所以接下來我們就要來討論這個部份：好的沙拉醬汁是由三個部份組成的，你所需要的東西是：

-          2 or 3 parts extra virgin olive oil

-          2或3份的初榨橄欖油

-          1 part of something sour like lemon juice, vinegar, etc

-          1份酸的調味料，例如檸檬汁、醋等等

-          a pinch to taste of some spice to give it a salty taste or if you don’t want any salt, use red pepper powder, ginger powder, curry powder, etc.

-          一點點香料，用來賦予醬汁一點鹹味。若你不想要有鹹味，就加一點胡椒、薑粉、咖哩粉等等。

These 3 things are great alone on any dish you like including meat, fish, vegetables, starches. You could actually go to a restaurant and just ask for all your food cooked without any spices or oils, then you add your own.

這三種東西自己本身就可以用在許多食物上，例如肉類、魚、蔬菜、澱粉類食物等。實際上你可以直接要求餐廳只提供這些煮好的食物給你，不加任何的由或香料，然後你自己來調味。

Getting Fancy

讓醬汁風味變得更棒

This basic dressing recipe is the foundation of the Mediterranean diet. In Greece you can get a bowl of oil-lemon-salt sauce (made in the proportions given above) in most restaurants as a free condiment and it is poured over grilled meats, fish, or even to dip bread into.

上述的基本醬汁食譜，是地中海飲食的基礎。在希臘，你可以在大多數的餐廳裡免費拿到用上述材料作成的醬汁調味料，來淋在各種燒烤的肉類、魚類料理上，或甚至用麵包蘸著吃。

After using this recipe for a while you might get bored, so here are some ways to spice it up and create your own flavors. The solution is to use a blender. Pour the above ingredients into a blender, then try adding combinations of different vinegars, add a piece of raw onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs like rosemary, basil, etc. The combinations are limited by your imagination.

這種配方的醬汁吃了一陣子之後，你可能會覺得膩了，所以我提供幾種添加風味的方法，讓你可以創造自己喜歡的口味。這個方法的答案就是使用果汁機。將上述的各種材料倒進果汁機裡，然後試著加點不同組合的東西，包括醋、生的洋蔥、大蒜、薑、番茄、水果、堅果、五穀雜糧、香草類如迷迭香、羅勒等等。你的想像力有多大，組合就可以有多少種。

One of my favorite parts of cooking is to try throwing different combinations into the blender and creating new tastes then figuring out what food they would go best with. I have come up with a lot of great sashimi dishes with this. I especially love to soak raw fish into my new salad dressing creations and enjoy the new flavors!

我覺得在烹調過程裡，最大的樂趣就是將各種不同的東西丟進果汁機，創造新的風味，然後看看這樣的風味適合搭配什麼樣的食物。我用這種方法做出許多不同口味的刺身料理。我特別喜歡將生魚片浸滿我新發明的各種醬汁裡，來享受我的新創作風味。

Bringing your own dressings to restaurants is the only way to guarantee what oil goes into your body. Some of my friends that have started using this even bring more than one type of dressing to use on salads, main dishes, etc.

自己帶調味醬汁，是唯一能確保你到底吃進什麼樣的油的方式。我有些朋友已經開始這麼做了，而且還會帶一種以上的醬汁，用來調理沙拉、主菜等等。

One of my friends that travels a lot in China where the stir fried foods contain some very scary types of oils, came up with her own solution. She gets a big cup of hot tea and washed the oil off each bite of food, then dips it into her own salad dressing! This also helps to get rid of the MSG, chicken powder, mushroom powder, and other toxins commonly found in Chinese and Asian restaurant food.

我有個經常前往中國的朋友，因為許多當地的油炸食物所用的油很恐怖，所以自己準備了解決的方法。她用一個大杯子裝熱茶，將所有油炸食物外表的油洗掉，然後在蘸著自備的醬汁吃。這種方法也可以幫助避免吃到味精、雞粉、香菇粉、以及其他各種中國菜或亞洲料理餐廳常見的有毒成份。

Eating 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil everyday will help stabilize your blood sugar and so reduce your body inflammation levels, which will boost your energy levels, fight low blood sugar problems (hypogycemia), boost your immune system, prevent heart disease, and help you to lose weight! So don’t be lazy… make some oil dressing, put it in a flask, and take with you everywhere you go. It’s one of those simple things you can do to stay as healthy as possible.

每天吃2-3茶匙的初榨橄欖油，可以幫助穩定血糖，以及減緩發炎，因此有助於改善精神體力，對抗低血糖問題，強化免疫系統，預防心血管疾病，並且幫助減重。所以，不要偷懶了。製作一些橄欖油醬汁，放在瓶子裡，然後帶著走。這是能夠讓你維持健康的簡單方法之一。

Yamas,

Dimitrios