Ranch dressing is basically straight fat. The appeal is in the hypothalamus or limbic system.

I'm shocked at how so many people use Ranch Dressing on EVERYTHING, more so for the 15-28 year old crowd. Since I'm in the food biz I see it, and we go through 3-4 cases of packets/gallons a week.

For me, the only thing I like to use it with is Chicken Fingers/Chicken Tenders & Fried Zucchini. I see people that will not eat pizza unless they dip it in Ranch (yuck) others that won't eat chicken wings without dipping in ranch or bleu cheese, Some ordering Caesar Salad wtih Ranch instead (another yuck) and, well just about everything else (Fries, Onion Rings, Fried Cheese, Burgers, Sandwiches on and on) Then there are folks that mix salsa and Ranch and call is South Western Ranch....To me creamy and tomato-ey don't mix.

Ranch Dressing is Mayonnaise (Oil, Eggs, Lemon Juice, Seasoning) Butter Milk, and the Seasonings are mostly Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and and a few other Spices. It's Very Dairy for sure.

Damn, BV...having a tough Southern week, are you? Between dogging out the local populace for being too fat and for using too much ranch dressing...next thing you know you'll be hacking away on the family trees.

Mmmhh... good choice!

(seriously)

Tamazula and Tapatio and such have more herbal presence -
epazote, comino, whatever; you can drink them like soup,
they're mild enough. Cholula is more a pepper sauce. I prefer
Cholula to most sauces in its class (I've been using it
for a couple decades and have no particular interest, as you
know, in flogging the products of my FT brethren, so am fairly
unbiased) - but Tapatio has its place, too, such as on wings or ribs
(I've been using it since it was made in some guy's garage
and had his home phone number on the label).

Well, since you're obviously in a different league when it comes to south-of-the-border flavor enhancers, it's ok.

I read your title and thought you were going to tell me you dipped apples and oranges in ranch dressing! Now that I have not seen.

Let no one get the impression that I am unhappy here. My first move south to SC from MA opened my eyes. My values are more in line with southern culture than that of my home state. I especially like many southern foods, but I wish for their own sake, that folks here would cut back a little on fat and large portions. I will miss some of then when they predecease me.

I always feel a little out of place among people whose family bible traces back ten or more generations. 2 short anecdotes:

When I worked close to the Sevier (TN) county line, I glanced through the phone book one day to discover more pages occupied by Ogles than any other name. Someone told me 4 surnames made up 25% of the population. Tell me how you accomplish that without a lot of inbreeding?

Soon after we moved here, my 2 youngest sons came home after a Friday night at the mall with friends. I asked who they had hung out with. the youngest one told me, and added that they had incremented their crowd with several cousins of friends. "Isn't that weird", he said, "I thought cousins were supposed to live in another state."

It's not just you - that stuff is preferable to bleu cheese, but that's about it. I'd rather have margarine on my baked potato first.

Doesn't MacDonald's offer standardized choices of dressings - even in GA?

I think plain mayo has more flavor than ranch dressing. An idea: could you mix in a packet of Mickey's catsup as "homemade" French dressing to jazz up the ranch a bit?

I suppose there are standards, but possibly with local options. I notice Subways vary in their 3rd cheese selection. I've seen provolone and pepper jack and maybe more? I might be worried about the expiration date on anything but ranch where I was. That's probably why the manager opted for one dressing - he couldn't afford to throw out half a case of something every year. I'm guessing he doesn't sell a lot of salads to begin with.

The ketchup's an idea. My late MIL used to mix mayo, ketchup and relish for "homemade" Thousand Island. She may have added something else, but I was never watching that closely.

I suspect that ranch dressing is "surprisingly low in fat"

According to the packet of Newman's I was given by Mickey D's, 130 out of 170 calories came from fat. Surprised?

Sometime last year, I went to a weekday FT luncheon at Don Pepe's in Newark. I believe I was the only woman at this luncheon. Anyway, I think it was ozstamps who gave me a bottle of Cholula sauce to take home. I'm not a hot sauce fan but my husband is. Let me tell you, he LOVED it. We need to get some more. Ok....back on topic.

Now wait a minute - if a salad dressing does NOT have most of its calories come from fat - doesn't that just mean it has a lot of sugar?

Anyway...I do remember when ranch was a new item. (But can't exactly remember what year it began its ascent.)

Growin' up here in Texas, it seems like Thousand Island and French dressings really took the hit from Ranch's popularity. (As child - in the 60s - it seems like Italian, French and Thousand Island were the top choices.)

Same thing I remember growing up in Mass. I worked at mid-scale restaurants as a high school and college student. We would have a 3 bowl serving dish for dressings with those 3. There was also vinegar and oil in cruets on the table. I don't see those much anymore either.

Interesting that when McDonalds launched their new salads they claimed they were very healthy - "balanced" was the term used. Then of course people realised with the dressing the chicken salad was the most fattening product on the menu. Ranch dressing - might be nice - but it isn't healthy!