Best of class: These salad dressings are truly pure perfection. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky |THE NIBBLE.

Except for Kathryn’s Cottage. Proprietor Nancy Little Hucks makes perfect Bleu Cheese and Thousand Island Dressings—even better than ours. We’re in love with them.

Kathryn’s mother was a blue cheese dressing fanatic (like us) and tried it everywhere she went (like us). Never finding one that was ideal, she experimented over the years to perfect her own recipe. It contains mayonnaise, cream cheese, cottage cheeese, blue cheese, buttermilk, onions, lemon juice, vinegar and spices, including a touch of dill. It might take us years to crack the recipe; in the interim, we’ll keep buying Kathryn’s.

Why are Kathryn’s Cottage dressings perfect?

The Bleu Cheese Dressing has just the right body—not thick, as so many blue cheese dressings are. It has just the right amount of cheese—not too little, as with many dressings, nor too much so to be overly cheesy. It is made with the finest ingredients and no preservatives. It tastes like the best recipe was just whipped up in your kitchen.

We don’t mean to give the Thousand Island Dressing short shrift. Made of mayonnaise, chili sauce, ketchup, relish, spices and Worcestershire sauce, it is also a perfect rendition of a popular recipe. On salads, in dips and sauces, both dressings rock!

The dressings are made fresh with the finest ingredients and no preservatives. They are shipped chilled in an insulated container and must be refrigerated. You should consume it in a couple of weeks; but you’ll have zero problem with that, we promise!

CULINARY QUESTION: Why do some people write “blue cheese” and others, “bleu cheese?”

“Bleu” is the French word for blue; the French word for cheese is “fromage.” So “bleu cheese” is an incorrectly-conceived term: half French, half English. However, the French do not refer to blue cheese as “fromage blue.” Instead, they call it persille or fromage à pâte persille.

“Persille” is the French word for parsley, so why is blue cheese called “parsley” or “parsley paste cheese?”

Because long ago, the blue veins in blue cheese reminded someone of parsley leaves! Paste refers to the interior of the cheese—what’s inside the rind.

More food trivia: The pineapple on the label of Kathryn’s Cottage dressing is a sign of hospitality. That’s because until the era of modern shipping, pineapples were so costly in Europe that to serve one to guests was the sign of a very generous host.

HERE’S MORE ABOUT BLUE CHEESE

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHEESE IN OUR DELICIOUS CHEESE GLOSSARY

Cherries complement just about any salad, from plain greens to salads with blue cheese or goat cheese to chicken and tuna salad. Combine dried cherries along with the raisins in curried chicken salad for a show-stopper.

• Speaking of which, try this recipe for curried chicken salad wraps—with dried tart cherries, of course!
• What’s for dinner? Here’s a recipe for pork chops with orange cherry sauce.

Add dried cherries to chicken salad—or any
salad. Photo courtesy Cherry Marketing Institute.

A great, 200-calorie pizza fix. Photo by
Evan Dempsey | THE NIBBLE.

DiGiorno has a solution you’re sure to love:

New DiGiornio 200 Calorie Portions are individually-wrapped pizza slices that go from the freezer to the microwave when desire calls. Calorie (and carb) watchers know exactly what they’re getting…and everyone gets to eat truly delicious home-cooked pizza.

Unlike warmed-over microwave pizza, these DiGiorno slices emerge with a crisp crust, not to mention fragrant and delicious.

More than 12,000 products are introduced into supermarkets each year. Most don’t sell enough and disappear from the shelf (brown sugar Sweet ’n Low, to recall an oldie).

DiGiornio 200 Calorie Portions deserve to stick around forever! Pick some up on your next shopping trip. (If they’re not in your store’s pizza freezer, ask the store manager to order them.)

• Read the history of pizza, plus 12 gourmet pizza recipes and pizza-making tips.

• It takes about 4 cups of tart cherries to make one 9″ pie.
• There are about 3 cups of frozen cherries in a pound.

Using a cherry pie filling?

• There are about 2 cups of filling in a 16-ounce can.

Try this recipe for pulled pork in a tart cherry sauce.

Montmorency (tart) cherries. Photo courtesy
Cherry Marketing Institute.

Chukar Cherrie’s Triple Cherry Cobbler & Pie
Filling. Photo by Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.

You can make a much more flavorful cherry pie with frozen tart cherries, or with a specialty brand of cherry pie filling.

Keep in mind: Sweet cherries like the Bing and Royal Anne are snacking cherries. Tart cherries like the Montmorency yield the best results in cooking and baking.

• Click here for our review of Chukar Cherries pie fillings, our favorites. (They’re certified kosher by KOF-K.)
• Learn about the different types of cherries.