Oh, the humble salad. Filled with greens and a cornucopia of raw vegetables, dressing is the glue that holds everything together. Well, not actually. A dressing that has the consistency of glue means something has definitely gone awry.

A dressing that is flavorful, creamy and light, on the other hand, can transform your meal into something special. And making it yourself makes all the difference.

“It’s incredibly easy to make your own dressing,” said Becca Guralnick, a personal chef, caterer and cooking instructor in Milwaukee. “So many store-bought ones have unnatural ingredients that you can’t pronounce, too much salt or are just unhealthy. It takes less time and tastes so much better to make it from scratch.”

The most basic dressing around is a combination of oil and acid; for example, olive oil and red wine vinegar. The ratio you want to maintain is three parts oil to one part vinegar.

“You can add whatever flavors you want from there. I love to use fresh lime, lemon or orange juice for the acid,” said Brian Frakes, executive chef at the Pfister Hotel. “Your options are limitless because you can add champagne, rice wine or balsamic vinegar, too.”

As far as oils to use, Guralnick enjoys using her best extra-virgin olive oil. Frakes likes grapeseed oil or a mixture of soybean and peanut oil.

But if you’ve ever left oil and vinegar in a bowl, you’ll notice they won’t mix.

“Acid and oil don’t like each other, so they separate,” Frakes said, in a personification of basic chemistry. “An emulsifier makes them friends and brings them together.” Some common binders/emulsifiers, or “peacekeepers,” are Dijon mustard and egg yolks.

To make a basic vinaigrette, place vinegar, herbs (such as chives or basil), an emulsifier, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk this mixture until it becomes lighter in color, and slowly stream the oil in while whisking. This also can be easily accomplished with a blender. However, it’s very hard to emulsify a dressing by simply shaking it in a jar.

Frakes also uses a secret ingredient in his basic Dijon vinaigrette recipe — an ice cube. “Ice is your friend,” he said. “When all the ingredients for a vinaigrette are cold, they hold together much better.”

A light vinaigrette goes perfectly with a lighter lettuce leaf, such as a salad that features Boston or bibb lettuce. A heavier green, such as kale or a wedge of iceberg lettuce, pairs best with a heavy, creamy dressing such as Thousand Island.

With a creamy dressing, such as ranch or blue cheese, there’s no need to add an emulsifier because it’s already creamy and won’t separate while it’s sitting in the refrigerator.

Mayonnaise is a common base for many creamy dressings.

“Mayo can be your blank canvas,” Frakes said. “Thin it out with water and season with salt and pepper and go from there. If you add ketchup and pickle relish, you’re pretty close to Thousand Island.”

The most famous creamy dressing at Café at the Pfister is its 1893 Pfister dill signature house dressing. It has an herbaceous flavor with a creamy consistency similar to Green Goddess. It’s served with the cafe’s bistro salad, which includes crisp greens with fresh tomato and English cucumber.

“When I’m making dressing, I snack on the ingredients or the lettuce to get an idea of how they will pair together,” Frakes said.

With summer just around the corner, spinach salads with fruit grow more popular. To enhance the flavors already in the salad, Guralnick adds a touch of honey, reduced balsamic vinegar or a splash of fruit juice to her basic vinaigrette recipe to add a touch of sweetness.

Although you won’t get the several-month shelf life of store-bought dressings, homemade vinaigrettes will last in the refrigerator for several weeks, and creamier, mayo-based dressings will last for about a week. So depending on the size of your household, you might want to make smaller batches.

In a vinaigrette, fresh items like shallots, garlic and herbs get preserved in oil and vinegar, she said. “It doesn’t really smell after a few weeks, but it won’t look as fresh…. But this is a rarity in my fridge. Homemade dressings in my house never last long!”

DRESS FOR LESS

As much as a dressing can highlight fruits or vegetables in a salad, too much can wilt the lettuce and add calories. Here are five easy tips to lightly dress your salad — without sacrificing flavor.

1. Pour dressing into the bottom of the bowl before adding the lettuce in (rather than pouring dressing on top of the lettuce).

2. Grill sturdy, bitter lettuces like endive and radicchio, which allows you to get away with using less dressing.

3. Add smoky spices like paprika to your salads to add flavor to every bite.

4. Put dressing on your salad and toss the ingredients before adding cheese. Often the dressing will stick to the cheese and it can clump together, and you’ll need to add more dressing to coat the rest of the lettuce.

5. Measure out the dressing for an individual salad using a small bowl or dish on the side. Dip your fork into the dressing before picking up a bite of salad.