Ranch Dressing
Ranch dressings now are ubiquitous on grocery-store shelves because the original homemade version was so good. It still is, and it doesn't take long to make. In Texas it's served on everything from lettuce to baked potatoes.
¾ cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon minced parsley
2 teaspoons minced onion
1
to
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
Splash of white vinegar, optional
Makes approximately 1½ caps
Combine all the ingredients in a large lidded jar and shake them well. Chill at least 30 minutes. The dressing keeps, refrigerated, at least 5 days.
Variation: For jalapeño ranch dressing, add one or two minced fresh or pickled pods.
Mint Vinaigrette
Vinaigrettes are recent arrivals in Texas, but this one thrives on mint, an old Lone Star favorite.
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint
2 tablespoons cider vinegar, preferably unrefined
1 garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon salt
Makes approximately ⅔ cup
Combine all the ingredients in a lidded jar and shake them well. For the best flavor, refrigerate the dressing at least 30 minutes. The dressing keeps well for several days.
Variation: To make cilantro vinaigrette, replace the mint with cilantro. It's especially good over avocados or paired with Southwestern spices.
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Salads seem today like a natural way to control weight, but people had other ideas in the past. In the 1920s Ida Chit wood, a Texas food chemist and cookbook author, advocated an elaborate diet fortified with laxatives to reduce your stomach to "little boy size," so you would eat less in the future. She also recommended exercise, because it brought body oils to the surface, where they could be washed off, as a way of shedding pounds.
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Molasses and Bacon Vinaigrette
This robust vinaigrette mimics the smoky sweetness of wilted lettuce salads.
4 ounces slab bacon, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons unsulphured dark molasses
1 green onion, sliced
Dash of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
2
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4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Makes approximately ⅔ cup
In a small skillet, fry the bacon over medium heat until it is browned and crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon, drain it, and reserve it. Stir in the garlic and sauté it for a quick minute.
Reduce the heat to low and mix in the oil, molasses, green onion, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the vinegar. Taste, and add more vinegar if you prefer.
Serve the dressing warm. (It can be refrigerated and reheated.) Sprinkle the reserved bacon over the salad, if you like.
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When Texans finally began consuming green salads in quantity, invariably the main ingredient was iceberg lettuce, about the only variety sold in grocery stores until recently. It lacked the earthy flavor of most greens, but it provided the perfect crisp platform for the stout dressings Texans came to love.
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Crunchy Carrot-Raisin Salad
This salad is a lively twist on the usual creamy combinations of carrots and raisins.
4 carrots, sliced into thin rounds
¾ cup raisins
½ medium green bell pepper, diced fine
2 tablespoons minced onion
6 tablespoons peanut oil
2
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3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
Serves 4 to 6
In a medium bowl, combine the carrots, raisins, bell pepper, and onion.
In a lidded jar, mix together the oil, vinegar, sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt. Pour the dressing over the carrot mixture and toss well to coat. Refrigerate the salad at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Taste the salad, and add salt if you like. The salad keeps well for several days.
* * *
Helen Corbitt was such an influence on Texas cooks a few decades ago that she once created a run on sour cream in Houston. Demand for the product skyrocketed overnight after Corbitt taught a cooking class that featured a horseradish-sour cream dressing.
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Hill Country Broccoli Salad
We got the idea for this dish—a kind of broccoli slaw—from Mike Hughes's Broken Arrow Ranch Cookbook.
3 cups (about 1½ pounds) chopped fresh broccoli
⅓
to
½ cup sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives
⅓ cup sliced green onions
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Serves 4
In a large bowl, toss together all the ingredients, including a generous grind of black pepper. Refrigerate the salad, covered, for a couple of hours. Serve the salad chilled. The salad keeps for 2 days.
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Gail Borden, Jr., the nineteenth-century Texan who created the process for condensing milk, also invented the dehydrated beef biscuit. Meant to be portable chow for armies, it was a powder made from beef extract and flour. You added water, heated the mixture, and had a hefty meal. From all reports Borden should have stuck with milk.
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Roasted Corn Salad
Much of the flavor in this salad comes from roasting the corn on a charcoal grill, a step definitely worth the extra effort. Remove the silks, but not the husks, from the ears of corn and soak the ears in water for a few minutes before grilling. Lay the ears over medium-hot coals and a few presoaked mesquite chips, and cook them, covered, for about 30 minutes, turning them occasionally.
5 ears corn on the cob, roasted
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2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 celery rib, diced fine
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
2 tablespoons minced sweet onion (such as Texas 1015, Vidalia, or Walla Walla) or sliced green onions
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 canned chipotle chile, minced
1
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2 teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Lettuce leaves, for garnish
Serves 6
Remove the kernels from the ears of corn, slicing deeply enough to cut through the milky bottom portion of the kernels, but avoiding the cob.
Place the corn in a medium bowl, and mix in the tomatoes, celery, cilantro, and onion. In a small lidded jar, shake together the remaining ingredients, and pour them over the corn. Serve the salad at room temperature or chilled, on the lettuce leaves.
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Corn was the first major crop cultivated in Texas and the most important staple during the pioneer period. Spanish and Mexican settlers made it into tortillas and Anglos made it into cornbread, the staff of life in both cases. In a good year, some said, a farmer could grow corn so tall and thick, it took two experienced woodcutters a full day to chop down one stalk. The only other way to harvest it, they claimed, was to shoot the ears off the stalks with a hunting rifle.
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Texas Three-Bean Salad
This variation on a common dish takes advantage of a German-style sweet-sour dressing that is similar to some dressings used in potato salads. When you're in a hurry, substitute canned kidney and garbanzo beans, but stick with fresh green beans.
2 cups cooked kidney beans<
br />
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
2 cups cooked green beans or yellow wax beans, or a combination of the two
2 tablespoons oil, preferably canola or corn
2 slices slab bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
¾ cup unsalted chicken stock
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
2 celery ribs, chopped
½ medium green bell pepper, chopped
¼ cup minced parsley
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Serves 6 to 8
Combine the beans in a large bowl.
Warm the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the bacon and fry it until it is brown and crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon from the pan, drain it, and reserve it. To the bacon drippings and oil, add the onion and garlic, and cook them over medium heat until they are softened. Mix in the flour. Pour in the vinegar and stock, stirring, and add the sugar, mustard, and paprika. Simmer the dressing for about 10 minutes total, adding the celery and bell pepper in the last couple of minutes. They should be softened slightly, but retain some crunch. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the parsley. Taste, and add salt and pepper as you wish. Stir the dressing into the beans.
Chill the salad, covered, for at least 2 hours. Stir in the reserved bacon before serving. The salad keeps for several days.
Calico Black Runner Bean Salad
This one's dedicated to Bill's mom, Lois Gilder, who lives in Dallas. A few years ago she discovered how much she likes fresh vegetable combinations with vinaigrette dressings.
1 pound dried black runner beans, scarlet runner beans, or lima beans
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
Kernels cut from 1 ear of roasted or boiled corn
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 medium bell pepper (red, green, or yellow, or a mix of colors), diced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon paprika
Mint Vinaigrette ([>])
Serves 6
Presoak the beans: In a large saucepan, cover the beans with several inches of water. Bring the pot of beans to a boil, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the salt and bay leaf to the beans after the beans have begun to soften. Plan on a total cooking time of at least 2 hours. Add more hot water to the beans as needed. Stir gently to avoid gouging the sleek black exteriors of the beans. When the beans are soft but have not yet begun to break down, drain and rinse them.
Place the beans in a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and toss lightly. Refrigerate the salad for at least 1 hour, preferably several hours.
Dora's Macaroni Salad
Macaroni salads with cheese and peas are popular all over Texas, from the Gulf waters to Sweetwater. This version came to us via Dorothy Hicks, whose stepmother Dora Thompson lived much of her life in Amarillo. Like all good natural cooks, Dora would toss in approximate amounts of ingredients until the salad tasted "right"—a little sweet, a little savory, and bound by just enough mayonnaise to make it moist. Today Dorothy uses a smaller amount of cheese and substitutes nonfat yogurt for at least half of the mayo. The salad still tastes great.
1 pound macaroni, preferably small elbows or shells, cooked and drained
6
to
8 ounces mild or medium cheddar cheese, cut in small cubes
1½ cups baby peas, fresh or frozen
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
¾ cup sweet pickle relish
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup pimientos, chopped
White pepper to taste
Serves 6 to 8 generously
In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients. Refrigerate the salad, covered, for at least 1 hour to develop the flavors. The salad keeps well for several days.
Variation: For additional flavor in this salad, add a clove or two of garlic, or some chopped green olives.
Jalapeño Rice Salad
A winning recipe from the Laredo Jalapeño festival inspired this salad. It combines several Texas favorites—jalapeños, pimientos (alone and in green olives), and marinated artichoke hearts.
2 cups cooked rice
1 6-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, sliced thin, with marinade
⅓ cup mayonnaise
2 celery ribs, chopped fine
3 tablespoons sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives
2
to
3 tablespoons minced pickled jalapeños
2 tablespoons chopped pimientos
2 tablespoons minced parsley
3 green onions, sliced
Pinch of sugar
Lettuce leaves, optional, for garnish
Serves 6
In a medium bowl, mix the rice with the other ingredients, except the lettuce. Cover the salad and chill it for at least 30 minutes. Serve the salad cold, on top of the lettuce leaves if you like.
* * *
The Jalapeño Festival is part of Laredo's ten-day celebration of George Washington's birthday, the largest event in the nation in honor of the first president. First celebrated in 1898, the fiesta also includes a Mexican-style rodeo and a waiters' race, in which competitors must carry a tray with a glass of champagne and an open bottle. It's all great fun, but ol' George may have had different ideas about his legacy.
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Grapefruit-Avocado Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Jeremiah Tower, San Francisco superchef, once mused ruefully that his epitaph will likely read, "He invented black bean cake." Texas trailblazer Helen Corbitt is equally identified with this salad, a delightful combination of flavors.
3 grapefruit, preferably a Texas Ruby-Red variety, peeled and sectioned
3 ripe Hass avocados, sliced
Lettuce leaves or shredded red cabbage, for garnish
Poppyseed Dressing ([>])
Serves 6
Just before mealtime, arrange the grapefruit sections and avocado slices decoratively on the lettuce. Drizzle some poppyseed dressing over the salad and serve more on the side.
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Technique Tip
For the most attractive presentation of the grapefruit, start with whole fruits. Peel each, removing the bitter white pith. Working with a sharp, flexible knife, slice into each fruit along both sides of its membranes, cutting to the core. The sections will release. A little practice makes the process easy.
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* * *
No Texas chef has ever influenced home cooking in the state as much as Helen Corbitt did a generation ago. A demure New Yorker, she moved to Austin, worked as an instructor at the University of Texas, and then moved on to the Driskill Hotel and a Houston country club before settling in Dallas at the Neiman Marcus Zodiac Room. Corbitt introduced the state to fresh herbs, fish that wasn't deep-fried, pepper mills, and olive oil, among many food blessings.
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Poppyseed Dressing
This dressing, an integral part of Helen Corbitt's grapefruit and avocado creation, today appears in many other Texas fruit-flavored salads.
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
¼ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon grated onion
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika, optional
1 cup oil, preferably canola or corn
1 tablespoon poppyseeds
Makes about 2 cups
In a food processor or with a mixer, combine all the ingredients except the oil and the poppyseeds. Pour in the oil and continue mixing until the dressing is thick. Blend in the poppyseeds. Drizzle the dressing over Grapefruit-Avocado Sala
d or another fruit salad. Refrigerated, the dressing keeps for a couple of weeks. If it separates, process or mix it again before using.
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Technique Tip
If you don't want to make your own poppyseed dressing, there's a good commercial version based on the recipe Helen Corbitt made legendary. La Martinique still mixes the dressing by hand. If you would like it shipped to your door, see "Mail-Order Sources" ([>]) for additional information.
Texas Home Cooking Page 30