Recipe for Ranch Dressing • Longbourn Farm (2024)

FAQs

Recipe for Ranch Dressing • Longbourn Farm? ›

Even when a restaurant does start with premade ranch, they will often fold in extra fresh herbs, and maybe even more buttermilk, to lighten and bring in some brighter flavors that can be lost in shelf-stable bottling.

Even when a restaurant does start with premade ranch, they will often fold in extra fresh herbs, and maybe even more buttermilk, to lighten and bring in some brighter flavors that can be lost in shelf-stable bottling.

Keep tasting as you go, adding more salt, if needed… Or more chives. Or more parsley, or more dill…or you could go out on a limb and add any or all of the following: white vinegar, black pepper, cayenne pepper, a dash of Worcestershire, paprika, fresh oregano, or Tabasco.

When properly stored in the refrigerator, creamy salad dressings like ranch can last about two months.

Ranch dressing is a savory, creamy American salad dressing usually made from buttermilk, salt, garlic, onion, mustard, herbs (commonly chives, parsley and dill), and spices (commonly pepper, paprika and ground mustard seed) mixed into a sauce based on mayonnaise or another oil emulsion.

Because while some restaurants do use a bottled shelf stable dressing, what you are referring to is a powdered ranch mix (typically the Hidden Valley brand) that the restaurant cooks add milk/ buttermilk and sour cream to make their dressing.

The difference is dairy

The key difference between bottled ranch and ranch that's been mixed from a packet — which is what's usually served in restaurants — is that ranch made from a mix usually contains real dairy ingredients. The store-bought varieties don't.

When considering why meals taste so much better in restaurants than when prepared at home, the answer is usually lots of butter. However, when it comes to ranch dressing, there's another creamy ingredient that steals the show — buttermilk.

What makes ranch ranch? It's a combination of creaminess (from buttermilk, sour cream, sometimes mayonnaise) and herbaceousness (often parsley, thyme, dill), plus a long pull of allium (onion and garlic) and a shot of black pepper.

If your ranch is too thick, add more buttermilk. Too thin? Add a little more mayo.

Can you eat year old ranch? ›

“Eating expired ranch dressing could lead to foodborne illnesses, especially if the ranch has been improperly stored,” she says. It's important to discard this dressing if it's past its expiration date or if you notice changes in its smell, color, or consistency, Randhawa says.

But even if your ranch appears bright and mold-free at first glance, take a sniff — just like with spoiled milk, you'll easily be able to tell if it smells a little rancid. If you're willing to brave a tiny taste, a sour flavor is another surefire indicator that it's best not to consume your leftover dressing.

In 1954 ranch dressing was invented at Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California. Ranch dressing has been the best-selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992, overtaking Italian dressing.

Homer's tastes are meant to reflect those of the American everyman, and in this case the Simpsons writers nailed it: Ranch dressing has been the nation's best-selling salad topper since 1992, when it overtook Italian.

Ranch dressing is essentially a buttermilk mayonnaise dressing spiffed up with herbs. It was popularized by Clorox, when they figured out a way to make their Hidden Valley brand shelf stable. (According to Slate, bottled ranch dressing is shelf stable to 150 days or about 5 months.

Why do white people put ranch on everything? Because it is an excellent mix of three elemental flavors: salty, creamy, and a touch of acidity. It has been said that the four elements of good cooking are salt, fat, acid, and heat. Well, ranch has three of those four: the salt, the fat, and the acid.

According to the New York Times, ranch dressing gets its signature taste from three distinct, yet equally important elements: Creaminess, herbs, and allium (that is, onions and garlic). The cream base can be various things, from sour cream to buttermilk and mayo.

The ranch packet has a fresher taste, because you add your own mayo and milk. Even though all the herbs and spices in the mix are dried, they rehydrate quickly and leave you with a product that feels homemade. This version of Hidden Valley Ranch is more flavorful than the bottled version and much, much thicker.