 Y'all, I'm here today to talk ranch: Americans' favorite salad dressing, the flavor that rules the shelves, from Cool Ranch Doritos to ranch rice cakes (they're good!). As a cook, it's easy to make fun of ranch and take it for granted: it's easygoing, ubiquitous, and basic in the truest sense. But oh how we love it: me, you, every child I know. In a cooking season like this one, when we need all the easy pleasures we can get, ranch dressing has been a little gift: herby, tangy, readily available, and always welcome as a shortcut to flavor.
Ranch dressing sits at the intersection of flavor punch-ups that are all-too-often missing from food: acid, with that buttermilk tang; herbs, like chives and dill; spices, which lend heft, like ground mustard (one of the most underrated spices; it's the secret ingredient in so many good dishes). It's like the skeleton key of flavor: the answer to almost any savory dish. Who cares if it's basic? It just tastes good. (Generally my philosophy in life, too.)
We are finishing a week devoted to this everyday hero and oh, we've had fun. Meghan gave us Sky-High Ranch Biscuits with cultured ranch butter and a homemade ranch sprinkle. Our resident cookie expert Jesse took on a challenge of producing ranch cookies, and gave us these Parmesan ranch shortbread crackers you must taste to believe.
For dinner, where ranch reigns as the shortcut you must never forget, this 5-Ingredient Baked Ranch Chicken uses the classic packet and is exactly what you want to eat on an almost-spring evening, with a huge crispy salad. Another ranch shortcut? The absolutely classic Mississippi Pot Roast, made over for the Instant Pot.
Personally, I always have a bottle of ranch dressing in the fridge — two, actually, as I am currently dependent on Marzetti's garlic ranch dressing, which has a real bite to it. My kids love the always-essential Hidden Valley, while I love the way it makes them dip and crunch carrot slices and cucumber wedges; what is ranch but the highway to eating your veggies?
For grown-up dinners I often hack my basic bottled ranch dressings; I'll add a vast quantity of fresh cracked black pepper for a peppery dip that balances out the sweetness. Or I'll Microplane in a feathery heap of Parmesan cheese and a dash of fish sauce for an extremely hacky but effective marriage of ranch and Caesar. Another trick is to whisk about a tablespoon of balsamic dressing or vinegar into ranch; it cuts the sweetness and turns it into a whole new thing.
Of course, nothing beats a good homemade ranch, something I don't always have time for these days. But as spring approaches, and the clocks turning ahead means that it's time to fill my kitchen herb boxes, I look forward to snipping those chives, dill, and parsley leaves straight out of my garden into buttermilk laced with rice vinegar. (This is the recipe I use: don't skip on the herbs.) Add butter lettuce or Little Gems, some pickled beets, pistachios, and goat cheese crumbles and toss: hello spring, brought to you by ranch.
Back to the ranch,  FOLLOW FAITH
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Sunday, March 14, 2021
Let us now praise ranch dressing
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