Ranch Dressing The Right Way
So the picture here is of a fish fry on a place called Rat Key in the Bahamas. How does this fit in with Ranch Dressing? Well….there was a salad served so there was dressing and the dressing was from a bottle…and guess what….it was sub par.
If you are cooking steaks, fish, or wild game, you are most likely going to have a salad. It is a “go to” side dish that makes its way to just about every dinner we have. My problem is that I have never found a “store salad dressing” that was worth a damn. I just did not understand why restaurants could have such wonderful dressings and the store had such lame knock -offs (maybe it has to do with the amount of preservatives you have to add in order for that salad dressing to sit on a shelf for 6 months…..).
So my kids have ranch dressing with more food than I care to admit. They call it the…. “White Sauce”. I found a recipe for this sacred “white sauce” and tweaked it a bit. This recipe is easy and makes an awesome dressing for salads, veggie plates, wings, whatever. Be warned..it makes a lot. So keep a few mason jars around and give some out to your neighbors, friends, and family. One piece of advice, you need butter milk for this. I only use butter milk for two things: this recipe, and marinating fried chicken. So might be best to pick up some chicken drums and thighs and have a fried chicken night to go along with your salad (hate to waste the left over butter milk).
- ¼ cup mayo (Dukes…please)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp of minced Vidalia onion (or sweet onion)
- ½ tsp of minced fresh garlic
- Fresh ground black pepper to taste (about 1 tsp should do)
- Salt to taste…(your call on how salty you would like to go…I say no more than ½ tsp)
- All in a bowl, mix well. Shake before using
This will last one-two weeks in the fridge. The onions and garlic are the things that put the time limit on this dressing. If you substitute onion powder and garlic powder for those flavors, you can get more fridge life out of the dressing. I like the texture of the onions and garlic myself…and at the rate my kids eat ranch dressing….two weeks is never an issue. You can add Crystal hot sauce or Sriracha if you are looking to spice your life up.
Thanks for reading!
~Chris