Salad vinaigrettes and dressings — basic as they may seem, they’re all but required when it comes to salads, and versatile enough to garnish everything from vegetables to cold meats. They even work well as marinades.

Essential as they may be in the kitchen and on the table, they’re mystifying to many cooks. When I worked at the Los Angeles Times and ran a weekly column featuring readers’ favorite restaurant recipes, one of my most frequent requests was for salad dressings. From basic balsamic vinaigrette to complex ranch and buttermilk dressings, the requests ran the gamut from familiar to long-ago classics. Green goddess, anyone?

Basic as they may seem, they can be intimidating, and making a proper dressing takes a little know-how and confidence. But as unfamiliar as they may be for many, they’re surprisingly simple once you understand the mechanics behind them. Continue reading for tips and recipes….