salad, grapefruit, carrot, courgette

With tofu.

Plain grapefruit juice tests 3

Combined dressing tests 4

Slightly less acidic. This is what was expected. 

And lo,  thine eyes behold and  pour over a brand new thing bequest unto all mankind upon which I stake my hard-won reputation and reinforce my natural birthright claim to the title King of Salads. 

Behold!  I said, Bitches. 

No srsly, I mean it. 

This has got to be one of my better inventions. The edge knocked off grapefruit juice with something sweet, here mirin, but it doesn't have to be. It could be honey, sugar, or anything you can think of that is sweet. I think modern grapefruit are not as sour as they were in olden days of yore. I recall watching my mother, in focus beyond the sippy cup on my highchair tray, sprinkling grapefruit halves with sugar and letting it soak in overnight to counteract the extreme unbearable sourness, but these grapefruit can be eaten without any adjustment at all. On the other hand, maybe grapefruit stayed the same and my taste buds have changed dramatically since then. Who knows? What do I look like, an agricultural genetic history major over here? 

The dressing can contain oil of any kind or none at all. Here olive oil is drizzled  in near trace amount. Salt and pepper added to individual tastes at the table. Carrots are sweeter than you might imagine, maybe not, but they do contribute significant sugar when left to marinate for an hour or so. They tenderize slightly. All of that is transported into the courgette which is quite tender and readily takes up anything it soaks in. The grapefruit acid would wilt any lettuce so that is held off until the very end.

Tofu is marinated separately, here with stronger flavors, the usual favorite Asian additives, soy, sake, mirin, chile pepper flakes in water. It was all discarded after marination, and that did seem a waste. Maybe it could be worked into a dressing of its own. The oddest thing though, the chile peppers could not be tasted at all while eating the salad which was bright and happy and all smiley like something tossed up for children, then when it was all gone the heat from the chile peppers suddenly became apparent as if it would not be denied but unable to adequately express itself in all that sunshine and happiness. After the salad was completely consumed the lasting residual heat built and built and built until finally POW, oh, now we're feeling it! 

Review: sweet, sour, salt, umami.

(salt and umami from soy sauce marinated into the tofu, in case you were wondering. )