Watch Samin Nosrat Surprise Us with Salad Tricks (& Slick Dance Moves)

A proper, thoughtfully-considered salad, one that does the work of balancing a meal and keeping the palate curious and awake needs—needs!—a proper, thoughtfully-considered dressing, according to Samin Nosrat’s cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (you read Acid Lesson 2, right?). Anything you make at home can be as easy as any simple shaken-in-a-jar vinaigrette, and far tastier than what you can buy bottled. The right dressing (maybe a Dijon sauce, muscular Caesar, or simple grapefruit juice and olive oil?) paired with the right base (toasted bread cubes? ribbons of chard? beefy tomato slices? wispy pea shoots?) can make salads more fun than even we thought—this, from folks who just wrote a book about salad!

Samin muses over every element of every salad with care, and inspires us to do the same.

All April, Kitchen Confidence Camp takes us through the four essential elements of cooking, inspired by chef and author Samin Nosrat's cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Follow along here.