Not the lemon you asked for, but does she hate balsamic vinegar and OJ? I make a minty-orange salad with that base salad dressing that's always a huge hit.

eta: are you sure this person will even eat salad? I'd ask what she uses for salad dressing.

Just sub lemon juice for the vinegar in a vinaigrette.

I came up with my own lemon vinaigrette long ago, but haven't made it in a long time. I used Dijon, lemon juice, salt & pepper & dill - or other herbs, and olive oil. I originally made it with Meyer lemons, which are sweeter, less acidic than regular lemons, so I would often add a pinch of sugar or some molasses to cut the sharpness when I used regular lemons.

And as Martha suggested, the proportions of a regular vinaigrette work pretty well, replacing the vinegar with lemon juice.

plllog, I agree with just subbing lemon juice for the vinegar. I often add some Dijon to vinaigrettes. Several options for herbs...parsley, dill, chives, basil, tarragon...whatever you think would work best.

This one's from Fine Cooking...easy to tweak any way you like. I know a recipe's not needed for vinaigrettes. Just wanted to show the ingredient combo.

Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

Makes one cup

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs. whole-grain mustard

1 Tbs. finely chopped shallot

1-1/2 tsp. honey

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbs. chopped fresh dill

2 Tbs. chopped fresh chives

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Combine lemon juice, mustard, shallot, honey, and zest in medium bowl; set aside for 5-10 minutes to let shallot's flavor mellow. Whisk in oil. Stir in herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Try this vinaigrette with gemelli pasta, spinach, cucumbers, bell pepper, olives, and feta cheese for a Greek-style pasta salad. Try replacing the dill and chives with mint and parsley.

I make a lemony dressing with olive oil, garlic, and Pecorino cheese.

I like a lemon,olive oil, garlic and lots of oregano dressing from time to time. Sometimes I add grated parmesan.

One of my favorites is Lemon Tahini Dressing. This calls for a tbl of red wine vinegar, but you could skip it and add another tbl of lemon juice:

Luscious Lemon Tahini Dressing From Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

Yields 1 ¼ cups

½ cup tahini

½ cup water

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients until smooth. For the best flavor, let the dressing sit for at least 15 minutes before serving. Covered and refrigerated, this dressing will keep for at least a month. If needed, shake or whisk to re-blend. Note: occasionally tahini has a bitter flavor. If yours does, replace the ½ cup of water with ¼ cup of olive oil and ¼ cup of water.

Thanks, Olychick. That sounds good! I don't know if she'll like it, but I will. :)

PM, I think balsamic counts as vinegar in this case is too much like vinegar since she doesn't even like the vinegar in mayonnaise, but it sounds like an interesting combo.

Yes, she eats salad, but undressed. In all these years, I've only just now learned why. I thought she didn't like dressing in general. I was only given her dislikes, however, by a third party. She's not one to announce what she likes even if asked.

Thanks everyone else for the contributions, but as I said, I could figure out replace the vinegar with lemon juice myself and am looking for something that is not lemon juice and olive oil or vinaigrette.

I don't usually like to go sweet, but I was served a sweet pesto dressing recently that was really good and different. She might like that...

plllog, sorry...my bad. I was more focused on no vinegar vs. no olive oil. Maybe the sweet pesto you mentioned...

No apology necessary, Chloebud. It's not that I meant no olive oil--just whether you call it oil with lemon or a vinaigrette with lemon instead of vinegar, I was just bemused by everybody telling me to do the one thing I'd said i'd figured out for myself.

It just occurs to me now that the Vita-Mix might be a big help. It emulsifies the heck out of mayonnaise. I'm used to whisking by hand and was trepidation the first time I did it, but the outcome was amazing. The recipe wasn't--it was too thin and liquid--but the emulsion was perfect even so.

I can't do a traditional aioli with this crowd. Too much garlic. But if you can use garlic or mustard as an emulsifier, I wonder what else would work? Or I could use lecithin, but that feels like cheating. Wait. The eggs aren't a problem--just a bother to pasteurize. Not such a bother sous vide. Hm....

Maybe use apple cider (juice not vinegar) with a lighter oil, like sunflower (I think I have some if it's still good). Lemon juice for acid and to cut the sweetness of the apples. An egg yolk to emulsify. Tarragon (garden) or Herbs de Provence (dried), and seasoning. Or fenugreek and mint. Hm....

Maybe you could just serve some lemon slices on the side? I've gotten away from salad dressings myself and my go-to is a couple of spoonfuls of balsamic vinegar and grated parmesan. Before that it was a squeeze of lemon, often along with the parmesan & some salt & pepper of course.

FWIW, Dijon & other mustards act as an emulsifier in vinaigrettes, I believe.

"...just whether you call it oil with lemon or a vinaigrette with lemon instead of vinegar..."

I'd call it a vinaigrette, period, since it's an oil mixed with an acid. Your idea of apple cider with oil and lemon juice could work. I'd go with Dijon for the emulsifier. Yolks will definitely emulsify, but, unlike the mustard, won't add flavor and can sometimes produce a foamy consistency.

Honey and mustard should both act as emulsifiers, so how about going that way?

^Yes, honey will also work, and a honey/mustard mix can be a tasty one.

I'm a bit ashamed that I've never made this since I first learned about it on The Splendid Table. Milk mayonnaise. The description on this non-functioning link is very intriguing.

https://food52.com/recipes/3041-milk-mayonnaise-maionese-de-leite

I didn't think that the link was working but now it seems to be. On my list of Things To Do.

lisaam, you said it's a non-functioning link so I didn't even try it -- instead I did a search. I've never heard of milk mayonnaise and I find lots of recipes and they all get really good ratings. I definitely want to try it!

plllog, I don't know about the food52 link, but this one looks interesting and they list several variations that might interest you. Milk Mayonnaise

Yes, mustard is often used as an emulsifier, but it has vinegar, or at least sharp wine. :) Drat those lurking things that so many of us take for granted! I have no issues adding flavors, so an (pasteurized) egg yolk not having any of its own is actually a good thing. :)

Carol, thanks, that would work, but if she wanted lemon, she could have had it at any time. I'm after making a salad dressing that everyone will like so I don't have to fuss about who gets dressing when, or have people have to dribble their own dressing, which is never as good as tossed.

Lisam and PM, thanks for the milk mayonnaise! I've never heard of any such thing. Sort of like a white aioli (which is just garlic, oil and salt). I'm confused about the science quoted in the article PM attached, which sounds different from what I'd thought I'd learned elsewhere, so I'm going to have to look into that more. And more kudos to the Vita-Mix which makes never break emulsions. :) I was glad to see a variation that didn't have the garlic, though I think the ginger might serve the same purpose. I love ginger in salad dressings and I think the vinegar hater may like ginger, too. :) I'm going to have to play around with this. And study up more on emulsions.

Does she hate all vinegar? We went to Paso Robles week-end before last and did some olive oil and vinegar tasting. One of my favorite combinations was at Pasolivo (they have a tasting room/shop downtown now), and I bought some Tangerine olive oil (did not expect to love it) and some Winter Ambrosia vinegar, which is made with vinegar, pears, apples, and mulling spices. The two mixed together made what I thought would be an excellent salad dressing for a fruit salad.

I also bought three bottles (8.45 oz) of olive oil at Olivas de Oro, which was my favorite place when I visited before, but this year I like what I found at Pasolivo better.

I like basil olive oil, and I sometimes add just lemon juice to that for a salad dressing.

Lars, the lemon and basil olive oil sounds good. I love hearing the reports of your travels and what you tasted. You can convey a flavor with a few simple words. I should do a tasting of California oils, but I'm not fond of olives, so haven't. I have an Italian EVOO that tastes properly Italian and doesn't make me want to throw away the food (i.e., it's not heavily olivy even though it has that Italian olive oil flavor), and a Spanish one they sell at Whole Foods which is distinctive, floral, Iberian, and I can taste it straight without thinking, "ew, olives". And that's the extent of it. :) For cooking I either use lite olive (no olivy solids) or safflower.

But, yes, no vinegar, absolutely. I think the vinegar is her objection to mayonnaise. Mind you, she's very polite about all this, and I only just found out from another in our circle that the vinegar or mayonnaise is why she just says no thank-you to salad or takes some before the rest is dressed. So, I'd like to figure out some dressings that would please her. I can't imagine a dressing with no acid, so I was relieved to hear that she didn't mind lemon at all.

Dry mustard flour has no vinegar and will emulsify your oil mix.

and a hint of wasabi..

so

ok

Here's my version of Lemon Dressing:

Juice of ½ lemon

Zest of ½ lemon, grated fine

2-3 cloves of roasted garlic

2 tablespoons of high quality olive oil

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

A pinch of sugar if the lemon is extremely tart

Whirl it all in a small blender (Ninja)

Thanks, Moosemac. That sounds lemonier with the zest. I wonder if it would be too much to use cracked pepper?

Sleevendog, thanks, I've seen your marathon dressing pics. They're definitely worth the repeat. I don't keep dressing in the fridge, usually, except one bottle from Trader Joe's for when I just can't be bothered making any. I'm not sure what you were getting at in particular about guests. Please know that no one has made a fuss over salad. It's just that I recently learned that it wasn't salad that this particular regular guest isn't crazy about (which is what I'd been given to understand as the reason she passed on it), but the dressings with vinegar/mayo, and I want to make something that everyone will like and see if I can please her. From love. I don't care if she takes her salad plain first (just that I have to remember to keep it plain) or doesn't eat it. But I want her to enjoy it more, and while it's true that lots of salads taste fine undressed, and I often eat them that way, a well chosen combination enhances and ties it all together.

plllog,

I've used very coarsely fresh ground pepper in it. It depends on your guests' tastes. My mother loved coarse ground black pepper so when I made it for her use that and added extra. LOL

Thanks! I wasn't thinking for company, for whom I tend to go flavorful but not "acquired taste", but I thought it might go well very peppery for us at home. Thanks for reinforcing that.