RANCH DRESSING

Ranch Dressing is one of the most popular store bought salad dressings, it is made by some of the most popular prepared food corporations, such as Krafts and many others. In the store aisles you'll find low fat ranch, organic ranch, I've even seen one small company advertise spicy ranch. 

Salad lovers that use ranch dressing usually are dairy lovers, or lovers of rich foods. I've seen a friend of mine literally eat spoonfuls of ranch, I mean she just took her spoon and shoveled it into her mouth. Gross? Not really, I mean if she loves it and it turns her on, then to her it's an orgasm. But to just shovel a heaping spoonful of ranch into your mouth is well...ok, gross! But nonetheless, ranch dressing if made right is great as a sandwich spread, dips for buffalo wings, and celery sticks, as well as on soda crackers. I've actually used some ranch to top off roast beef sandwiches, as well as on hot dogs, I've even put it inside of omelets for breakfast. Oh yeah if you've been reading my blogs over the past couple of years, I do love mayonnaise, I love its texture and its creaminess, and richness on dry foods. No, I would not shovel mayonnaise into my mouth and go nuts, that's sick! But, mayonnaise in the right quantity on foods is delicious. 

Ranch dressing has mayonnaise inside as well as sour cream, dried chives, dried parsley, dried dill weed, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. The best way to make ranch is to use Best Foods Mayonnaise, now it is not organic, I've never grown an extra finger eating it, though if you want you can use whatever brand you want. I've used Vegenaise before and it works out well for an all natural no animal fat type of vegan mayo. But Best Foods will do. And of course use a good brand of sour cream.

Here is a basic recipe for Ranch Dressing, and if you have a 16 fl oz. jar you can make enough for dips and spreads.

Ingredients

2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. dried chives
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried dill weed
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1 dash of salt
1 dash of white pepper

Directions:

Simply put all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and using a whisk, blend all of the ingredients together. Taste it and adjust the flavors to your liking. Put a piece of foil or plastic wrap over it and chill for at least an hour before serving.

Making fresh dressings will definitely taste better, if you want to make really fresh ranch, make the mayonnaise from scratch. And you can make sour cream by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of whole milk, let it curdle, buttermilk. And then add a 1/4 of the buttermilk, to a cup of heavy cream, mix it up well, cover it and let it stand at room temperature for a whole day. Then refrigerate it. 10 oz. of sour cream will be made.

But this blog is about simplicity for the everyday home chef, you can't go wrong by mixing your own ranch dressing, your guests will love it. If there is extra that can't fit in the jar, put the small amount in a ramekin and use that first.

Ranch Dressing as a Dip:

Buffalo Wings
French fries
Chicken Fingers
Celery sticks
Chips
Garlic sticks
Fish sticks
Crab cakes
Raw fish
Shrimp Tempura
Fried pork rinds

Ranch Dressing as a Spread:

Roast beef sandwiches
Ham sandwiches
Cheese burgers
Club sandwiches
BLTs
Patty melts
Turkey on rye
Tuna melts
Chicken sandwiches
Tuna sandwiches
Kosher dogs
Portuguese sausage

So there's a little tip on ranch dressing for those of you home chefs that want to make something from almost scratch. Until my next blog take care.