Salad Temperature - what should it be?

[Deleted]

Why? /10salads

I don't eat meals that I haven't prepared myself.
However: Sometimes you just want to accompany others when they go to a restaurant, and not ordering anything would be kind of impolite towards them and the restaurant, you know? So I usually just pick a green/mixed salad without dressing!

[Puupi]

I don't eat meals that I haven't prepared myself.

Why? /10morewats

[Spl4sh3r]

A salad should be below room temperature for me. Though mostly I can just picture the cucumber, I wouldn't want to eat that unless cold so in turn that would mean the salad has to be cold as a whole for me to eat. And just to add, its no salad unless it got cucumber with it

[GarlicGuy]

Depends onwhat the room temperature is and on what kind of salat.

If it is a green one it should be served at room temperature (which should be around 20-25°C in a restaurant in my opinion, but for food means 17-19°C).
Chilled is only ever ok for fruit salat, some kinds of "salat" are exspected to be heated, even.

If want your (green) salat chilled you should have said so when you ordered it.
And if it was my restaurant I would tell you that chilled salat is not on the menu, at least not the kind chilled like you seem to exspect.
Asking for chilled salat is like asking unsalted soup or uncooked steak.

You don't live in the US, based on your wording. It is FAR more normal to get chilled salad than room temp - almost hot - salad, in the US.

[The One Percent]

I assume my salad's ingredients are fresh from the crisper, so I would indeed like it a bit below room temperature.

[Dispraise]

I eat salad at whatever temperature it's served to me.

Or, maybe I don't. I'm a free spirit. Stop tying me down to your leafy greens.

[Deleted]

Depends on the salad.

[Deleted]

lol @ salad at restaurant.

[Acelius]

I prefer salad at room temperature or very slightly chilled.

[Deleted]

Why? /10morewats

Does it matter?

Also, I am not sure why eating salads in restaurants would be a problem - like some people imply.

[Ripster42]

At least in Finland, the basic core of a traditional salad is made from these things: tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, onion.

None of these ingredients require cold storage. Nor should they be stored in cold regardless.

Everything but the onion is cold stored in the US. Usually in ethane absorbent bagging.

[Felicia]

I prefer slightly chilled. If it's too cold, it hurts my mouth. If I wanted something frozen, I'd get ice cream or a popsicle... and I imagine a salad flavored each of those would be disgusting.

Hell, I'll eat it at room temperature, too. Only the dressing needs to be slightly chilled.

[Ripster42]

1. For most things a restaurant will accommodate a customer. In this case, I do understand that they don't have chilled salads, but a customer has the right to ask for a replacement or bill deduction if not to their liking.

2. He sure does. However, his business would be better served if he makes more people happy, rather than more people unhappy.

3. First time there, and will be my last time..... but it won't be because of the salad, but the fact that at a place where you can drop $90 on dinner for 2 ( BYOB )... they charged $3.50 for a CAN of Coke, which they left at the table. And if you wanted more soda, it was another $3.50 per can..... Plus, I had their ginger lemonade. It came in a wine glass that was 3/4 full with ice, so there was literally about 3 ounces of lemonade..... for $3.50, and no free refills.

Who serves cans at a restaurant that is priced like that?

If the restaurant was BYOB it means they lost or couldn't get their liquor license. They have canned coke and no free refills probably to make up for the fact that they can't sell alcohol. Alcohol is a big part of a restaurant's profits. The food, even at moderately expensive places, usually isn't that high on profit margin.

[GennGreymane]

So many people here are talkin about tossing salad....

I dunno, I guess chilled? I generally grab the stuff out of the fridge to make salad

[Immunize]

That's some really deep, life changing question you got here.
I hope you never get to encounter a room temp salad again in your life full of problems

[Sengiratolom]

Depends on the salad, there is no clear cut answer.

[Tojara]

The salad I get for free as part of my steak or ribs, yeah I don't really pay too much attention to what temperature it's at. I wouldn't want a hot salad though, anything chilled or room temperature is fine with me.

I've honestly never had a bad salad in my life, and I've been to so many states/provinces and different restaurants lol. As long as the ingredients aren't mushy or old I really don't care. It's really shitty when you have cucumbers that are dripping wet and mushy in the center, fuck.

[Sengiratolom]

Most salads are served chilled, or at leased colder then room temperature (as parts of it come out of the fridge or are submerged in a ice-water bath prior to being added to the salad), there are however salads, or parts of salads that should be served room temperature or higher.

A few examples below:

bacon bits (freshly prepared= should be warmer then room temp)
lukewarm salads in general (Gado Gado salad would be one of them, rice, green beans, fried onions, soy bean sprouts, egg quarters and sate sauce, as would a multitude of couscous salads)
the OP mentioned a ceasar salad, the chicken parts of it could be freshly prepared, i'd prefer the lettuce, tomato and anchovis parts to be chilled tho, paresan cheese mostly as well, exception being if it is freshly grated then room temp could be ok.
warm dressings to a otherwise cold salad, for example using freshly roasted nuts in a honey-mustard dressing to add a bit of smokey flavour to a carrot salad

[Puupi]

Does it matter?

Sounds just weird to me so I suppose there has to be some kind of special reason for it. Haven't heard anyone else ever say thing like that before.

Everything but the onion is cold stored in the US. Usually in ethane absorbent bagging.

Cucumber and tomatoes stored in cold? You are doing it wrong. Some lettuce require cold storage, but not all.
Some background I quickly googled: http://www.caloriesecrets.net/10-foo...in-the-fridge/

[Extrakt]

I keep all the ingredients for a salad in my fridge, so it's somewhat chilled when I prepare it. As it should be imo.
Food and drinks feel fresher when cold. I drink my beer and cola cold, so I eat my salad cold too.

Warm salad, yuck.