When should I dress a salad?

Always at the end! That final minute in the kitchen before heading out for the dining table should be spent dressing the salad. You want to make sure all the salad ingredients stay as crisp and fresh as long as possible. As soon as you add salt, they start to shed water and wilt. An even better idea is to make the dressing or vinaigrette separately and bring it to the table alongside the salad so that everyone can add their own.