TIP OF THE DAY: New Ways To Look At Ranch Dressing
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National Ranch Dressing Day is March 10th. In the category of bottled dressing, Ranch surpassed the previous favorite, Italian dressing, as America’s favorite—way back in 1992. Here’s something most people don’t know: Ranch is buttermilk dressing with some sour cream added. Buttermilk dressing, supplanted by ranch, was a popular dressing that originated in the southern U.S. in the 1800s or earlier. By the 1980s, buttermilk had long fallen out of fashion. How did it evolve into ranch? At Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch in the Santa Ynez mountains, near Santa Barbara, California (now closed), sour cream was added to provide tang to buttermilk dressing. It was so popular that guests asked to buy it; and sales slowly expanded until the dressing caught the attention of big-company executives and was purchased by The Clorox Company. Ranch dressing is made from buttermilk, mayonnaise, seasonings (black pepper, garlic, ground mustard seed, lemon juice, paprika) and herbs (chives, parsley, and dill). Sour cream or yogurt can be substituted for all or part of the buttermilk or mayonnaise. Below: > Beyond salad dressing: more uses for ranch. Elsewhere on The Nibble: > Homemade ranch dressing recipe. > Is buttermilk dressing the same as ranch? > The history of ranch dressing. > More ways to use ranch dressing. > The year’s 18 dip, dressing, and sauce holidays. “People are passionate about ‘their’ ranch [dressing],” says Andrew Hunter in Flavor And The Menu, a magazine for chefs. But even favorites can stand sprucing up. Where would we be if pizza had never gone beyond a fresh basil topping? Hunter offers ways to make ranch dressing “fresh and unique, while staying true to its populist form.” 1. Stir in other ingredients. Superiority Burger in New York, a vegetarian restaurants, serves tahini-laced ranch dressing. Nosh & Grog in Medfield, Massachusetts, seasons its shoestring fries with Spanish piment d’Espelette and ranch dressing powder. But there’s so much more you can do with it. Start with these ideas: |
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2. Use fresh dairy (photo #1). Many chefs and home cooks use powdered ranch dressing. But blend fresh, ice-cold buttermilk into the powdered ranch. To make a richer, thicker version, add an equal part of sour cream or Mexican crema. For a more gourmet version, stir in a spoonful of crème fraîche or mascarpone. 3. Add fresh herbs. The herbs already in ranch dressing are dried parsley, chives and dill. Supplement those with chopped fresh versions of the same herbs. Or, augment the standard herbs with incremental fresh herbs such as basil and tarragon. 4. Make it frothy. For dipping, or over fresh greens for dressing, store a pan of ranch dressing in an ice bath and pulse it with an immersion blender before ladling it into a cup or bowl. Use ranch dressing:
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