Lifehacker Readers Say 10 Ways to Make a ‘Special Salad Dressing’

Thanks for this detailed comment, especially the inclusion of the Hidden Valley packet.

from Shinshin:

My “secret” dressing recipe was passed down from my mother. It’s basically a Hidden Valley ranch tweak for potato salad (but it’s also delicious as lettuce and dip).

The real trick is to grate a medium to large onion into a 16-ounce container of sour cream (full fat is a noticeable difference here and worth the calorie splurge). And you have to do it by hand. I don’t know why, but when I mix this in a food processor it doesn’t taste good. Maybe you need blood when you rub your knuckles out of necessity with a grater.

I like to grind finely chopped fresh parsley and black pepper well at this stage, but my mom didn’t.

Add 1/4 cup of wine (mom’s version) or cider (mine’s) vinegar to it. (Any mild vinegar or even lemon juice you have around the house is fine. Avoid balsamic vinegar and rice vinegar as they overwhelm the flavor.) Add two spoons of mayonnaise and a packet of Hidden Valley Lunch Mix.

Lettuce salad dressings use less mayonnaise and occasionally more vinegar. For the dip, just add a few teaspoons of vinegar (taste after each) and omit the mayonnaise entirely.

In the case of vinaigrette sauce, I found that the trick is to blend your favorite seasonings into the base. I like Penzey’s Fox Point. It’s expensive with freeze-dried garlic and scallions (and enough salt to be a problem if you’re not careful), but it’s basically instant and, like a good vinaigrette base, endless. can be adjusted to I don’t think I’ve ever made Fox Point vinaigrette twice the same way, nor have I ever made it very different, except by using very strong flavored oils like sesame seeds. .