Ranch dressing began as a Western regional brand of salad-dressing mix - Hidden Valley packets of herbs and spices, to be mixed with buttermilk and mayonnaise.
Now ranch has become a commercial flavor, the herby blend applied to snack crackers, potato chips and pretzel nuggets.The original ranch dressing dates back to the 1950s, when it was a fresh buttermilk-and-herb dressing served at the Hidden Valley Dude Ranch near Santa Barbara. Guests used to take home packets of the salad seasoning.
Clorox bought the recipe in 1972, making it a national brand; the cook added buttermilk to a packetful of onion, garlic and dill powder. Eventually, a mix was manufactured that called for regular milk; then ranch began to appear in ready-to-pour-from bottles.
It's a mainstay salad-tosser now, joining ranks with French, Italian, Thousand Island and blue cheese.
Add ranch dressing to low-fat sour cream for a great vegetable dip, to cooked broccoli as a light sauce, to bechamel (white sauce) for scalloped potatoes. A tablespoon or two is delicious stirred at the last minute into beef gravy, or spread on bread for Swiss cheese sandwiches, grilled or not.
- NICE RICE: To insure fluffy rice: Add standing time after cooking. Pull it off the burner after cooking time is up (usually 20 minutes on medium-low heat; no peeking under the lid). Let the cooked rice stand off the heat for 5 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork.
- SNACK ATTACK: American Spoon Foods of Petoskey, Mich., is offering a seasonal snack mix in its fall-winter catalog. This one's expensive and elegant enough to pass with plain butter cookies at a holiday tea. It's made of natural red dried cherries and dried cranberries with unsalted green shelled pistachios. Order 8 ounces of Merry Mix for $5.50 from American Spoon by calling 800-222-5886.
Besides Merry Mix, American Spoon Foods also offers Cherry-Berry Nut Mix, the ultimate trail mix of dried tart cherries, blueberries, cranberries, almonds and pecans (1 lb. $9.95).
- Joyce Rosencrans