This salad originated when a cook noticed a container of vinegar leftover from the Amasia menu developments when they were here last year. He wanted to use it, so he gave it to me to taste. It was seasoned vinegar that is saltier than normal rice vinegar. I told him to make a three to one ratio of salad oil to this vinegar and make an emulsified vinaigrette. I wanted to have a salad on the menu that was tossed with the dressing, versus drizzled all over the top. Graham set out one day to try and make the dressing, and it needed some more work so we put it aside. Then, I thought of three things: (1) Michelle's favorite salad was a duck salad tossed in a hoisin balsamic dressing; (2) the Hualalai Grille's most popular lunch salad, the Crazy Salad, with a bbq meat skewer, lettuce, and a similar but different dressing; and (3) Amasia's Chinese Style Chicken Salad is well liked by the guests, and I like that dressing. This salad took two weeks to complete. It is a string of events that started with the desire to use up some vinegar left on the shelf. The string kept going and going. Now we have this salad which everyone enjoyed and is now on the menu.
~AW