I have stopped buying salad dressing.

[quote]For Ranch, I use sour cream, mayo, buttermilk, and dill.

How much of each do you use?

You don't have to make thousand island or ranch or anything. Just dress the salad with anything you like.

Equal parts of each, R1.

Season to taste.

I really love herbs too, so I go heavy on the dill and sprinkle in some dried parsley as well.

R2, sure that's the way to go.

But many people enjoy the specific flavor of thousand, ranch, or italian dressing.

[quote] You don't have to make thousand island or ranch or anything.

One should either buy it or have it prepared. One should always avoid cooking.

True, and you can also control the amount of sugar and salt. A lot of bottled dressings are full of sugars and also stabilizers that give them a glue-like mouth feel.

I never put salad dressing on my salad and my parents think I’m weird.

Many vegetables (carrots, onions, etc.) have a good distinct flavor and with dressing, you are just drowning them out.

I often mix in canned seafood (scallops, oysters, tuna, sardines, etc.) for not only the seafood but the oil which can make a dry salad more appealing.

It isn’t for me, really a health thing, though I know it is healthier. It just tastes better.

If I want ranch, I will just chug ranch out of the bottle.

I've always hated store bought dressing, except for Bolthouse. 9 times out of 10 I stick with olive oil and vinegar.

What are you OP, a restaurant?

[quote] True, and you can also control the amount of sugar and salt

There is no reason to put sugar in dressing. And you don't really need that much salt, either.

If you use mayonnaise, it's salty enough. And ketchup has a ton of sugar. So does bottled relish.

The MAY want to add a pinch of sugar to Italian dressing, to offset the acidity of the vinegar.

I put two tablespoons on my salad.

I've stopped preparing salad, OP. No need for dressing at all!

[quote] What are you OP, a restaurant?

No. I just started to do a lot more cooking at home since the pandemic began.

And I discovered a lot of cool and interesting things along the way.

Cooking is actually very fun.

I've also found out that many things I thought were too difficult, or that could only be purchased at a grocery store or restaurant, can EASILY be done at home.

R6 I never think to buy canned seafood other than Tuna, but I know there are some good quality options. Smoked oysters are actually pretty delicious. During the first month of Covid lockdown, I bought some for my storm closet, and they tasted really good.

Do you drain your salad dressing?

[quote] I bought some for my storm closet, and they tasted really good.

So now what are you going to eat when a storm blows in?

Use Becky Thatcher Salad Dressing. It’s good shit.

If you want real fun when cooking OP, do your own thing. Be creative and imaginative.

I'm fine with just pouring a bit of vinegar on mine.

Lick up Becky Thatcher dressing with your fucking tongue!

Oil, vinegar or lemon, garlic. If I feel like it, some mustard or tahini. Yogurt. I make it up as I go along.

It is funny how home cooks announce their little tricks and dibs like they've successfully worked alchemy. And such pride.

It doesn't occur to them, for example, that bottled salad dressing is bad because IT IS BAD (usually), not because the bottles clutter their refrigerators. Every halfway-good all-purpose cookbook shares traditional recipes? So what! Reproduce Kraft and all is well. One supposes that "French" would just be Eye-talian with four tablespoons of sugar and a little Cheeto dust. Russian must be her Thousand Island with a healthy dollop of Heinz cocktail sauce. Excuse me, I meant "sprinkle."

R17 is such a nice person. And OP is, actually, on a journey of discovery. But it's okay to know that in cooking "Herb" does not refer to your mother's third ex-husband.

I stopped buying it also. I used to get "Italian" which was soybean oil based (not that great for you) and tons of sodium. Now I just buy a bottle of plain olive oil and a bottle of balsamic vinegar and drizzle both over my salad. I don't even mix it to make my own salad dressing.....that seems like a waste of effort.

I love green goddess!

I'm going to make Green Goddess dressing next week. It was a popular salad dressing in the 70-80s, but fell out of favor once ranch became a big thing.

[quote] After a few uses, it usually sits in the fridge for a year. For Ranch, I use sour cream, mayo, buttermilk, and dill.

Who the hell keeps buttermilk on hand? And if they do, I’m sure it sits in the fridge for over a year.

R25 What? You mean you don't churn your own butter?

R24 Green Goddess was popular in the 70s or 80s as a seven Seas bottled dressing, but it goes back to te 20's, it was named for a George Arliss play (and later, movie). Apparently it even goes back to Louis XIII, whose chef made it as a sauce for ell (acc. to Wikipedia).

*or eel

[quote] For Thousand Island, I use mayonnaise, ketchup and relish.

[quote] For Ranch, I use sour cream, mayo, buttermilk, and dill.

[quote] For Italian, I sprinkle on olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper.

I combine all these ingredients and make Thousand Italian Ranch Island dressing.

Is the mayonnaise or the ketchup the "island"? Which one is the "thousand"?

Queens on here clench pearls over salad dressing.

OP: the one thing store bought dressings do a little better is emulsification. I also make homemade dressings (though, not exclusively) and if I haven't taken care to blend them I find that the oil-based ones taste overly oily. The oil still somewhat separates from the other ingredients in a way I don't find appealing.

For Ranch is use sour cream, mayonnaise , buttermilk...

OPThat salad dressing is SKY HIGH in calories which lead me to conclude that you're a

FAT WHORE

I meant to say in quoting OP- I not is

I was watching one of those British shows on youtube about people who over eat called SECRET EATERS. This one guy would make a nice vegetable salad with lettuce, cucumber , tomatoes , etc but he put MAYONNAISE directly into the salad as his dressing- EWWW.

I would never have guessed the recipe for Italian dressing without OP. Eyeroll.

For Thousand Island, I use mayonnaise, ketchup and relish.

You should also add some sort of acid, such as white vinegar, and a tablespoon or so of sugar. And to make it even better finely grate some onion into it.

I’ve stopped buying toilet paper.

Yes R37, but what's your DIY replacement trick?

Tree bark? Or just your right hand?

There are a lot of people at Versailles today.

I'll alert the media.

R38 warm wet washcloths. I rewash them. Saves trees.

I don't like sand.

Honey mustard dressing with a bite: A whole jar of Beaver honey mustard (12oz), about 1/2- 2/3 cup of organic tahini (oil separated then drained), 1-2 cloves finely minced (I use garlic press), 1-2 TBS finely minced horseradish or unsalted horseradish sauce (usually in refrigerated section), apple cider vinegar (enough to make consistency you want). Put all the ingredients into a mason jar and mix. It keeps well in the fridge for a week.

Disgusting, R41.

I hope you're joking.

Are you just finding this out, OP?

R43- That sounds GOOD

That should be 1-2 cloves of garlic

R45, are you also R35?

Deep thoughts OP

I don't think we should be discussing #2 techniques in the condiments aisle!

Bleu cheese is my favorite salad dressing. Anyone homie a good recipe?

[quote] Bleu cheese is my favorite salad dressing.

Grape is my favorite.

I haven’t purchased store salad dressing for years. It’s easy to make at home, so why go to the Hidden Valley? I will take a vinaigrette over what these cretins are consuming.

Homemade Ranch dressing never tastes as good as Hidden Valley. It just doesn't have the same flavor. I've tried several recipes and wasn't satisfied with any of them. Same goes with Thousand Island and French. Sometimes you just want the flavors that you grew up with and most of us grew up with bottled dressing.

I often buy Barcelona dressing at Whole Foods. It's a very tasty vinaigrette dressing.

Is it used to make Franco fritters?

Ranch dressing is so vile it makes me gag. I do not buy it. I will never buy it.

[quote] For Thousand Island, I use mayonnaise, ketchup and relish.

Add a little diced up hard boiled egg and it because something else quite amazing.

R57- Deep throating makes me GAG. So I do not do it. I never will.

R6 is a gross and smelly person .

Not sure why but this thread has caused me much mirth. Hilarious it is. I will say that I really enjoy making homemade Cesar dressing . With egg yolk and anchovy paste included,other than that I really like red wine vinegar and oil on my salad. Thousand island is good as shrimp cocktail dip and blue cheese is good with wings. I would be embarrassed to poor ranch dressing on a salad. So trailer park.

I love Thousand Island dressing. The restaurants made it better than any you could buy in the store.

"Cooking is fun" Cooking is fun when you don't HAVE to do it every night.

Buy some Dorothy Lynch salad dressing at Walmart!

I meant “to pour” ranch dressing . How very trailer park of me. Oh dear!

[quote] I love Thousand Island dressing. The restaurants made it better than any you could buy in the store.

The only restaurants that would actually make their own Thousand Island dressing would be top tier eateries. In other words 99% of all restaurants buy prepared dressings.

If you go to NYC never ask for Thousand Island dressing. The waiter will always say "we have Russian". They're the same in that burg.

Ken's Steakhouse dressings are awfully good, especially the original Italian (not the Zesty or Romano Cheese kinds).

I don't eat at fast food restaurants R66.

OP, salad dressing goes bad in your fridge (!!!), yet you have buttermilk on hand?

Buttermilk never goes bad per my Southern mom. How do you think it became buttermilk?!

She'd drink it too. Barf.

But could make hella biscuits and fried chicken!

While we are making our own dressing, I hope we also know that we can make our own buttermilk.

[quote] I don't eat at fast food restaurants

There is a whole world of restaurants between fast food joints and 3 star Michelin eateries, and trust me little to none of those in between make their own salad dressings. Hell, many of them don't even make most of their own food. They buy it all frozen and just heat it up.

[quote]Buy some Dorothy Lynch salad dressing at Walmart!

What does it taste like?

When someone says "trust me" you know not to trust them. I don't use thousand island dressing now because I am vegan. My mom dated a French chef so I learned a thing or two. Restaurants are a lot different now than when I was growing up. The restaurant made their own dressing. I don't eat at those franchise restaurant either. I think of eating out as a treat. I want to enjoy a well prepared meal instead of drinking gallons of water afterwards because the cheap restaurants over-salt everything.

First of all, like someone earlier said, you can easily make buttermilk simply by adding some acid (any type of vinegar or lemon juice) to milk.

Secondly, Ken's Italian Dressing is an abomination.

Thirdly, making salad dressing is a simple affair:

Get a jar (an old jam jar is perfect)

Add canola oil or a "good" light extra virgin olive oil.

Add some rice wine vinegar (it's slight sweetness is good in salad dressing).

Add a little Dijon mustard, some kosher or sea salt, some freshly ground pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

For a more Italian type dressing, use a good extra virgin olive oil, a good red wine vinegar, a bit of Dijon, a little dried oregano, and a small crushed clove of garlic (do not chop it up).

For a lovely creamy dressing for use with Boston lettuce, just whisk together 6 Tablespoons of heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black, pepper until slightly thickened. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of red wine vinegar. Done.

Using "buy" instead of "purchase " marks you as a low class dirt ball unworthy of the attentions of patrician DLers.

^Low class person that wants people to think otherwise.

That mayonnaise-ketchup-relish combo is very common in many restaurants, and also goes by many names.

Some call it thousand island, some call it russian dressing, McDonald's calls it "special sauce," other places call it "fry sauce."

They're all variations on a theme.

But clearly, people love it.

There is a taste difference between Russian dressing and thousand island R79. As a kid I loved thousand island dressing, but hated Russian dressing.

Russian dressing is basically mayonnaise and ketchup. With some hot additions like horseradish and maybe onion. Maybe a dash or Worcestershire. Thousand island is mayo and ketchup with the pickle relish.

R76-Use a GOOD extra virgin olive oil , use a GOOD red wine vinegar.

You sound like

MARTHA STEWART

[quote] Use a GOOD extra virgin olive oil , use a GOOD red wine vinegar.

[quote] You sound like MARTHA STEWART

Actually, they sound like Ina Garten.

If you watch her show, that is like almost every other word out of her mouth.

Ina Garten is shitty!

Dorothy Lynch is a homestyle French- tomato based dressing

[quote] Ina Garten is shitty!

And FARTY!

R85- and CHUBBY

Leave Ina alone. Her recipes are much better than Martha's.

The bottles for Marie's and Boathouse dressings have shrunk considerably while the prices have gone up. No thanks. One bottle is only enough for 2 salads.

[quote] One bottle is only enough for 2 salads.

Really? You must use a generous amount of dressing.

Who the hell uses only 2 tablespoons of dressing R89?

[quote] Who the hell uses only 2 tablespoons of dressing [R89]?

Marie's Dressing comes in both 12 ounces and 25 ounces.

Bolthouse [NOT Boathouse] Farms Dressing comes in 14 ounces and 22 ounces.

Two tablespoons is one ounce. You said that a bottle contains enough dressing for only two salads. This means that (given your two tablespoons question), a bottle of dressing would contain a mere 4 tablespoons of dressing (or, two ounces). Yet, as stated above, the small bottles contain 12 ounces and 14 ounces and the large bottles contain 25 ounces and 22 ounces.

Do you use 6-7 ounces of dressing on your salad? That's nearly a cup. Or, if you buy the larger bottles, do you use 11 to 12.5 ounces of dressing on your salad? That would be a cup and a half.

Just curious.

Maybe they're feeding more than one unlike you, Greg.

R91 I am not R88, I'm R90. I use Briannas, which is 12fl. It says there are 12 servings. I get about 3 maybe 4 out of a bottle. No way would I be able to get 12 servings from it.

That's great OP. Bottled salad dressing is one of the worst things you can eat. Full of cheap, inflammatory industrial seed oils and sugar. One part acid (lemon juice, various types of vinegar) to one part olive oil, a bit of salt, mustard, garlic, fresh herbs. Shake it all up in a Mason jar and viola! Cheap, healthy salad dressing.

And ketchup does have vinegar for whatever poster said it does not.

[quote] Now I just buy a bottle of plain olive oil and a bottle of balsamic vinegar and drizzle both over my salad. I don't even mix it to make my own salad dressing.....that seems like a waste of effort.

I do that too, R22.

A drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and freshly ground salt and pepper over my salad.

Then give it a toss, and done.

So simple. And it tastes really good too.