In
American cuisine, Italian dressing is a
vinaigrette-type
salad dressing that consists of
water,
vinegar or
lemon juice,
vegetable oil, chopped
bell peppers,
sugar or
corn syrup, herbs and spices (including
oregano,
fennel,
dill and
salt) and sometimes
onion and
garlic.
The creamy Italian variant adds
milk products and stabilizers.
Both dressings are often bought bottled or prepared by mixing oil and vinegar with a packaged flavoring mix consisting of dehydrated vegetables and herbs.
Despite its name, Italian dressing is not used in Italy, where salad is normally dressed with
olive oil,
vinegar or
lemon juice, salt, and sometimes
balsamic vinegar at the table, and not with a premixed vinaigrette.
In North American cuisine, Italian dressing is also used as a marinade for meat or vegetables, stir frys, and
sandwiches.
Pasta salads sometimes include Italian dressing. The caloric content of Italian dressing varies widely.
History
Ken's
North American style Italian salad dressing is thought to date back to 1941 in
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...
. Florence Hanna, the daughter of Italian immigrants and wife of restaurateur Ken Hanna, made large batches of her family's salad dressing for the house salads at the restaurant. The restaurant, originally called The '41 Cafe, later changed locations and became known as Ken's Steak House. The salad dressing became so popular that it was made in large vats in the basement of Ken's to keep up with demand. Customers started requesting the Italian dressing to go. The Crowley family, who owned a nearby manufacturing business, approached the Hanna family about bottling the popular salad dressing. This resulted in the creation of
Ken's Salad Dressing, which now comes in ten different variations of Italian, as well as many other flavors.
Wish-Bone
Italian salad dressing was served in Kansas City, Missouri, at the Wishbone Restaurant beginning in 1948. The Wishbone was opened in 1945 by Phillip Sollomi along with his mother, Lena.
The Italian dressing served at the Wishbone was based on a recipe from Lena Sollomi's
Sicilian family which was a blend of oil, vinegar, herbs, and spices.
Demand for the salad dressing proved so high that Phillip started a separate operation to produce it for sale, making it by the barrel.
The dressing recipe was eventually purchased by
Lipton and has been made commercially by a succession of owners since, with the
Wish-Bone brand of products currently made by
Pinnacle Foods, Inc.
References
{{Portal bar, Food
Salad dressings
Italian-American cuisine
American condiments