The Asian entree salad trend
Eric commented on the Asian entree salad trend under You Can Run..., which got me thinking about what made a salad an Asian entree salad. Just adding some soy or edamame won't cut it.
An industry Web site lists Asian chicken as one of the five "on trend" salads (along with house, Caesar, grilled chicken and Southwestern). Its example of ingredients...
...includes crisp noodles, straw mushrooms, nuts and mandarin oranges. (Funny how mandarin oranges are so often key. Maybe just because the name sounds Asian. After all, a tangerine from Spain is a mandarin. Or maybe it's because they're the only canned fruit you can get away with sticking on a salad.)
Flavors like ginger and soy in the dressing, which often seems to be sweet-sour, are also standard. The nuts are usually almonds or peanuts, and snow peas can be in the mix.
What you won't get if you order the McDonald's Asian chicken salad is anything like the salad pictured, Asian Grilled Duck Salad, with crisp wonton strips and sesame seed. The recipe suggests adding "a bit of aromatic toasted sesame oil" to a prepared Caesar dressing to give it an Asian twist.
It seems a little weird to me to go to the trouble of roasting duck and then putting prepared Caesar dressing on it, even with a little aromatic toasted sesame oil, but maybe that's just me.
(AP Photo/Duckling Council)
Comments
...includes crisp noodles, straw mushrooms, nuts and mandarin oranges...
Seriously, my wife said the same thing.
Posted by: Eric | December 10, 2007 12:49 PM
I like the Chinese Chicken Salad at Houstons on Rockville Pike.
Posted by: Bonniesgirl | December 11, 2007 11:45 PM
Straw mushrooms? On a salad? I've only ever seen them canned in Chinese food (they're the little, er...penis-shaped ones with dark tops and light stems). Maybe you mean enoki mushrooms, the thin wispy long-stemmed ones usually eaten raw?
That was the Web site's example, but maybe they meant enoki. Probably, though, they did mean canned.
Posted by: Kathy | December 12, 2007 9:47 AM