Ranch Dressing

 

Today we are going to make ranch sauce, very popular in the United States, where it is known as Ranch Dressing. It is used above all to bathe salads but also as a dip for chicken wings and even for barbecued meats. The fact that it is slightly acidic helps its use with multiple recipes, it always looks good.

There are many recipes for ranch sauce, some of which use yogurt in their composition. The yogurt in this recipe is actually a substitute for two common ingredients in North American recipes: buttermilk and sour cream. So if you see yogurt in the recipe it is probably a European alternative recipe since yogurt is not very popular in the United States.

For the curious people, it should be said that yogurt has existed in the United States since 1947 when Daniel Carasso founded a company dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of it in the Bronx. Daniel Carasso was the son of Isaac Carasso, a Sephardic Jew from Thessaloniki who in 1919 founded a yogurt factory in Barcelona, Spain. The yogurt he made was commercially under the name "Danone", which means "Little Daniel", in honor of the same son who would later make the Americas. In the United States, the "danone" were renamed "dannon." So, if you are from USA and you eat a "dannon", remember all started in a remote city of Greece.

If yogurt is used instead of buttermilk and sour cream, the taste is not the same. I am going to explain how to make a good substitute for sour milk in a very simple way.

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• Half a cup of cream for cooking (aprox 18% of fat)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• Fresh parsley (1 bunch)
• Fresh chives (2 or 3)
• A tablespoon of chopped dill
• A tablespoon of chopped onion
• A pinch of salt
• Ground black pepper

First of all, we are going to make the sour cream alternative. To do this, we mix the cooking cream with the tablespoon of lemon juice. We stir well and let it rest for one hour. After this you have your sour cream. Easy, isn't?

In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise with the finely chopped garlic clove (removing the green germ so that it does not affect your stomach), the finely chopped fresh parsley (only the leaves), the chopped fresh chives, the tablespoon of chopped onion, the pinch of salt and ground black pepper (a couple of turns).

Stir well and then add the cream, sprinkling the dill on top. It should be a thick but still runny sauce. If it is too thick you can add more cream with lemon juice or even a little water.