From a scientific perspective, you probably should dress your salad with a splash of vinegar first, and THEN the oil. Oil is hydrophobic, which means it resists water- aka all the veggies in your salad. If you put it on your salad before the vinegar, it will pool into beads and you won't get an even distribution of dressing. Just a fun science fact for today!

I recall from a class on making garlic-scented oil that garlic + oil + room temperature is a bad combination for growing nasty stuff...they recommended the fridge for the garlic oil one made at home. I think oil + vinegar is probably fine, but if you're adding other stuff like garlic or things that themselves are refrigerated (like mustard), then the fridge is safest.

hmm, i have found that for at least the lettuce part of the salad, the oil coats the leaves much better if you add it first. Then you toss the leaves with seasoning and add a splash of vinegar last. if you wet the lettuce with vinegar, the oil won't cling at all. as for the vinaigrette; i put garlic in mine so i don't leave it out. But a simpler one should be fine, though i would use a very small dark bottle to avoid oxidation of the olive oil.

We make homemade vinaigrette with garlic, dijon, and a bit of honey, so we refrigerate it (in a bottle). In order to get it to room temperature, we fill a large cup halfway with warm water and put the sealed bottle in the cup. It only takes a couple of minutes to warm the dressing enough to shake it a dress the salad.

@MCraig this explains the benefit of making a vinaigrette vs just drizzling veggies with the separate components:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/salad-dressings-vinaigrettes-the-food-lab.html
personally i've never noticed a difference either way, but it is sort of fascinating

My grandmother had a tall cruet that whe used for salad dressing and it usually contained a mix of oil, vinegar, salt pepper and a touch of sugar. It was never refrigerated. I can;t see how garlic granules or herbs would change that, though fresh garlic could.

I'm missing why the vinaigrette needs to be at room temperature. Once its on the salad, do you really notice that its "cold"? Or does this have to do with a thicker consistency when its cold, leading to an overdressed salad (i like a lot of dressing, so not a problem for me)? If that's the case, maybe i would make a thinned version of the dressing for keeping in the fridge -- maybe add a little water or vinegar, or less oil, depending on your taste, to make a runnier dressing.

Store your dressing in the fridge. When you make a salad, pour out the dressing you'll use for that meal into a small microwave safe bowl and zap it for 30 seconds.

mh330-- It needs to be at room temperature for the fat to melt enough so that you can shake and emulsify the dressing.

I mix my vinaigrette in a glass jar, when I take it out of the fridge to dress a salad i usually hold it under warm running tap water for a few seconds - maybe swishing it around every once in a while. then it's ready in no time.

If your dressing is interesting, i.e. includes garlic or shallot or other goodies, than yes refrigerate and don't keep more than a week.

But if it the 1950s-type, like my grandmothers, oil, vinegar, dried herbs, honey than it should be find on the counter.

it was said in so many words, that if garlic is in oil it needs to be refrigerated to prevent botulism, as i learned in a food safety course.

What if you made a flavored vinegar (refrigerated or not) and then mixed that into the oil at the last moment?

Just an aside to cupcakemuffin -- it isn't really necessary to refrigerate mustard. If you go to a restaurant you will rarely find it or ketchup refrigerated.

I whip my vinaigrettes up as I need them. If I make too much, I'll refrigerate in a small glass jar. When it's time to use again, I simply set it in a bowl of very hot water and voila! It's ready to shake and drizzle.

1. Get a container made for shaking vinaigrette. They have an extra part (usually shaped like a spoke) that helps break it up as you shake.

2. Take it out of the fridge a little while before you eat. If that doesn't do it, run a little cool water over it and let it sit a minute more.

I've found that vinaigrettes have the best texture and most even coating when they're juuust warm enough to emulsify, but still just slightly goopy from being cold.