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Raspberry vinaigrette

Vinaigrette (/vɪnəˈɡrɛt/) is a mixture (emulsion) of oils, such as soybean oil, canola oil, olive oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, grape seed oil, and vinegar, sometimes flavored with herbs, spices, and other ingredients. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing,^[1] but also as a cold sauce or marinade.

Name[link]

Vinaigrette is the diminutive form of the French “vinaigre”. It is often translated as “French dressing”, particularly in British English.^[2][3] It was commonly known as "french dressing" in the 19th Century.^[4]

Preparation[link]

Making vinaigrette - pouring oil into vinegar and mustard prior to whipping into emulsion

Vinaigrette generally consists of 3 parts of oil to 1 part of vinegar whisked into an emulsion. Salt and pepper are often added. Herbs and shallots are added, especially when it is used as a sauce for cooked vegetables, grains, and the like.^[5] Sometimes mustard is used as an emulsifier.^[2]

Varieties[link]

Vinaigrette may be made with a variety of oils and vinegars. Olive oil and neutral vegetable oils are most common.

In northern France, it may be made with walnut oil and cider vinegar and used for Belgian endive salad.

In the United States, vinaigrettes may include a wide range of novelty additions such as lemons, truffles, raspberries, egg white, sugar, garlic and cherries. Cheese, often blue cheese, may also be added. Commercially bottled versions may include emulsifiers such as lecithin.

In Southeast Asia, rice bran oil and white vinegar are used as a foundation with fresh herbs, chili peppers, nuts, and lime juice.

Different vinegars, such as raspberry, create different flavourings, and lemon juice or alcohol, such as sherry, may be used instead of vinegar. Balsamic vinaigrette is made by adding a small amount of balsamic vinegar to a simple vinaigrette of olive oil and wine vinegar.

Uses[link]

In classical French cuisine, a vinaigrette is used as a salad dressing, and, as a cold sauce, accompanies cold artichokes, asparagus, and leek.

Russian Vinaigrette[link]

Russian Vinaigrette (Винегрет)

Vinaigrette (Винегрет) is also the name of a classic Russian salad. The salad consists of beet, pickled cucumber, potatoes, carrot, and onion. Other ingredients, such as green peas or sauerkraut, are sometimes also added.^[6][7][8] Sunflower or canola oil is used as a dressing; there is no vinegar in Russian vinaigrette salad in spite of its name. ^[9]

Despite its widespread popularity in Russia, the root of its origins may be in German or Scandinavian cuisine. An English cookbook from 1845, for example, had a recipe for a herring salad made of herring, beet, potatoes, egg whites, and apples, with a dressing made of oil, vinegar, and sour cream.^[10]

References[link]

1. ^ BBC Good Food
2. ^ ^{a b} Byron, May Clarissa Gillington (1916). May Byron's vegetable book. London, England (UK): Hodder & Stoughton. p. 301. http://books.google.com/?id=ZTkEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA296&dq=Vinaigrette#v=onepage&q=Vinaigrette&f=false. Retrieved 14 April 2012. 
3. ^ French dressing The Food Timeline
4. ^ Hale, Sarah J. (1857). Mrs. Hale's new cook book. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA): T. B. Peterson & Brothers. p. 295. http://books.google.com/?id=ZTkEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA296&dq=Vinaigrette#v=onepage&q=Vinaigrette&f=false. Retrieved 14 April 2012. 
5. ^ Larousse Gastronomique, s.v. cold sauces
6. ^ Vinaigrette Recipe Russian Recipes
7. ^ Vinaigrette Recipe Natasha's Kitchen
8. ^ Vinaigrette Recipe Recipes Wiki
9. ^ Vinegret - Russian Beet and Sauerkraut salad
10. ^ Modern Cookery. 1845. http://www.seafoodfish.com/html/anexcellentherringsalad1845.html. 

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Basic Vinaigrette

Isaac Mizrahi (Born October 14, 1961) is an American TV presenter, fashion designer, and former creative director of Liz Claiborne. He is best known for his eponymous fashion lines.

Early life[link]

Mizrahi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to an observant Egyptain Jewish family.^[1] His father gave him a sewing machine at the age of ten. At 15, he launched his own label, IS New York, with the help of a family friend. He attended Yeshiva of Flatbush, High School of Performing Arts, and the Parsons School of Design.^[2]

Fashion career[link]

Mizrahi presented his first collection in 1987 at a trunk show held by famed New York department store Bergdorf Goodman. The line immediately earned praise from fashion editors, prompting several top retailers to place orders.^[3] In 1989 he discussed his designs in an interview with Elizabeth Cannon. He described them as “controlled and glamorous”, “elegant”, “distilled, refined”, inspired by decadence, and by the diversity of New York City. He also expressed his interest in appealing to a refined and exclusive clientele.^[4] In 1992, the French fashion house Chanel bought a stake in the company and began to bankroll its operations.^[3] Despite continued critical acclaim, sales were inconsistent; Bloomingdale's executive Kal Ruttenstein stated that Mizrahi had "good years and bad years."^[5] This volatility is mainly attributed to the designer's failure to establish a defined aesthetic or "Mizrahi Look," as the frenetic designer was famed for changing gears each season. Though the company grossed between $10–20 million a year, it never made a profit, and in fact lost substantial amounts in its final four years of operation. Chanel eventually tired of the mounting losses and pulled financing in October 1998, forcing the closure of the company after the Fall 1998 collection.^[6] Among Mizrahi's fans and clients were Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman, Selma Blair, Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker, Debra Messing and Natalie Portman, to name a few.^[7]

From 1995 to 1997, Mizrahi also designed a diffusion line, named "IS**C" in an act of "name effacement" intended to prevent dilution of the designer's full name (cf. the use of "G-d" by some members of the observant-Jewish community in which Mizrahi was raised). This lower-priced line (in the $275 to $850 range) was meant to diversify the label from the very expensive Isaac Mizrahi collection, but it failed to gain traction and was shuttered in 1997.^[6]

Mizrahi returned to fashion in 2002 when he began designing another diffusion collection, Isaac Mizrahi for Target. The line was an enormous hit, and soon spread to cover accessories, bedding, housewares, and pet products. Sales volume tripled over five years to over $300 million and introduced the designer to mainstream America.^[8] The line was discontinued in 2008 as Mizrahi left for Liz Claiborne.

Mizrahi designed for Claiborne for only one year, 2009. Although advertising campaigns for his Claiborne work—featuring Mizrahi and women of all sizes, races, and ages—were found in major fashion magazines, the line was a disaster almost from launch. The clothes and accessories were very difficult to find, as only a few minor departments stores, which were not found in major cities, carried Claiborne clothes. Gottschalks carried only a few pieces before declaring bankruptcy and liquidating, only weeks after Mizrahi's launch. Furthermore, the few Liz Claiborne outlets that existed were also far from major cities and were found at outlet malls that were too remote for most customers to visit. As a result, on December 2009, the Liz Claiborne website was closed and rumors abounded that the company was bankrupt and in serious debt. As of Fall 2010, Liz Claiborne clothes will be sold only at J.C. Penney, and are not designed by Mizrahi.

Media[link]

Mizrahi has made appearances in numerous television shows and movies since the 1990s. In 1995, a movie was released about the development of his Fall 1994 collection called Unzipped. In Fall 2005, the Isaac show debuted on Style Network. He previously had a show on the Oxygen network.

Mizrahi often appears on many of E!'s programs and has become well known for being flamboyant. He also appeared as himself in the episode "Plus One is the Loneliest Number" of the fifth season of Sex and the City, and in an episode of Spin City. He guest starred on the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, in which he played a reporter for the cable channel Fashion TV in the episode "Lose the Boss." He appeared as himself in The Apprentice season 1 (episode 6) as one of the celebrities supporting an auction for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He also appeared on the public radio game show, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me in 2006, saying that "Fat is the new black."^{[citation needed] [9]}

Mizrahi has stated that he sees himself as an entertainer who can sing and act. On his Oxygen show, he sang jazz in a nightclub. He has also acted in films, appearing in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks, Hollywood Ending and Celebrity.

Mizrahi was a contestant in the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational. While initially finishing second in a quarter-final game to Jane Curtin, as the highest scoring non-qualifier, he replaced semi-finalist Andy Richter, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. He eventually lost to Michael McKean.

In 2009, Mizrahi began co-hosting the first season of The Fashion Show on Bravo TV with singer Kelly Rowland. Bravo launched the series to replace its former hit Project Runway, which now moved to the Lifetime network.^[10][11] Mizrahi returned as co-host in November 2010 for the show's second season, opposite close friend and colleague, supermodel Iman, who previously hosted the Canadian version of Project Runway. A representative of the network indicated that Bravo believed Mizrahi's exciting presenting style would work well with newcomer Iman and the credibility that she brings to the table as a genuine pioneer in the fashion world.^[12]

In 2012, Isaac Mizrahi participated in the debut season of "Project Runway: All Stars" as a head judge, alongside Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, which aired on the Lifetime TV Network.

In February of 2012, Mizrahi served as red carpet correspondent for "Live! With Kelly" during the 84th Annual Academy Awards. The segment included interviews with Brad Pitt, Emma Stone, Rooney Mara, and Gwyneth Paltrow. It aired the morning after the Oscars, during a special episode of "Live! With Kelly."

2006 Golden Globes[link]

Mizrahi was an interviewer for The Red Carpet Show on E! for the Golden Globes in 2006. He took liberties with many female actresses, including looking down Teri Hatcher's dress, and feeling Scarlett Johansson's breast, over which she later expressed discomfort.^[13] He drew attention to Hilary Swank about being single given that she recently separated from her husband, Chad Lowe. He also asked many celebrities whether they were wearing underwear.

Costume design[link]

Mizrahi has also worked as the costume designer for three Broadway revivals, including two plays (The Women in 2001 and Barefoot in the Park in 2006), and one operetta (Threepenny Opera in 2006). For his work on The Women, he won the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design. Mizrahi was also costume designer in the Metropolitan Opera's 2008 production of Orfeo ed Euridice, directed by Mark Morris, continuing as a longtime collaborator of Morris's in a partnership stretching as far back as 1997, when Mizrahi created costumes for Morris's film project with Yo-Yo Ma, Falling Down Stairs from Ma's Inspired By Bach series.

Other projects[link]

• He made a series of comic books called Isaac Mizrahi Presents the Adventures of Sandee the Supermodel, published by Simon & Schuster
• He co-wrote the historical documentary Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites for PBS^[14]
• He also narrated the children's classic, Peter and the Wolf, at the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process performing arts series in December 2007 and in 2010
• Mizrahi is developing, for the CW network, a one-hour scripted project called "The Collection," which draws on his experiences as a designer

Personal life[link]

Mizrahi married his husband, Arnold Germer, in a civil ceremony in New York City Hall on November 30, 2011.

See also[link]

• List of Jewish Americans

References[link]

External links[link]

• Isaac Mizrahi's Website
• Isaac, Isaac Mizrahi's talk show on Style Network
• Isaac Mizrahi at TED Conferences
• Isaac Mizrahi at the Internet Movie Database
• Isaac Mizrahi designer profile at Fashion Model Directory