Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from Scratch
Some while ago, I put on this 'blog, a copy of Campbell's Book. That 1929 edition gives several recipes needed to make homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. I like the commercial version, but I think my homemade version is better flavored. This is not a recipe for beginning cooks. You must make your own spiced vinegar, then your own mayonnaise and buttermilk, too. It take some time. And you should not be concerned or afraid of raw eggs, either. If these ideas are serious to you, stop reading here and now.
First, I had to make buttermilk, as the only buttermilk for sale here in Los Angeles at the markets I shop at is fat free. That's a no NO! From the Farmer's Market, I purchased a pint of raw (unpasteurized) whole milk. I removed about 1 fluid ounce of it from it's container and added about 4 tbs. of storebought unflavored yogurt. That sat on the counter at room temperate for 48 hours. I say that I have some concerns about that. I thought the whole milk could go bad, but it didn't. The end result is a buttermilk (such used to be called, in old recipe books, sour milk), a flavor that is creamy, and tangy. But there are not solids in it, such as come in storebought buttermilks.
After the buttermilk was made, I move on to the spiced vinegar recipe. As I cannot buy garlic oleoresin, I decided to make garlic flavored vinegar.
Garlic Vinegar for Homemade Mayonnaise
As this quantity would make a lot of mayo, I give quantities for about 4 cups of finished dressing.
15 grams of peeled, crushed and diced garlic
1 scant cup of vinegar. (I used malt vinegar. Campbell's says: cider or malt)
Put the garlic and vinegar in a pot, heat to a boil, uncovered. Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer, cover and continue simmering 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature. Strain liquid of solids. Package and label.
Now that the garlic flavor is added to the vinegar, the spices can be added next. This recipe, adjusted for the above amount of garlic flavored vinegar is from Campbell's book (1929 edition). I believe that this recipe was not new or made up by the author. But as to how old it is, I cannot guess.
2.30 grams Ground coriander
2.30 grams Ground clove
2.30 grams Ground mustard
1.53 grams Ground ginger
1.15 grams Ground cayenne
0.38 grams Ground cardamon
0.38 grams Ground mace
0.53 grams garlic, chopped
0.16 grams Ground caraway
0.07 grams Ground bay leaves
127.82 milliliters vinegar, white 10%
108.69 milliliters water
I did not go to the Korean market and but 25% vinegar to adjust the above to 10% strength from 5%. I made a ration and proportion of the vinegar and water to make less water and more vinegar. The outcome is it tastes good to me. YMMV.
I did not have ground caraway. I ground it myself and sifted out the coarse remains and ground more until I had a powder. As I had previously made a garlic flavored vinegar, that is omitted from my recipe, but given here for clarity.
The spices and vinegar sit for 7 days at room temperature, being agitated daily. At the end of that time, the spiced vinegar is filtered through a paper coffee filter. It took the better part of a day to obtain the filtered liquid.
Making the Homemade Mayonnaise
This gives a delicious mayo, unobtainable from the markets. I used canola oil, as I'm cheap, but any neutral flavored oil is sufficient.
Below are the percentages by weight. You can scale up as you like, based on these.
Oil 82.00%
Spices 9.24%
Eggs 6.85 %
Vinegar 6.66%
Water 1.87%
Salt 0.98%
Mustard 0.76 %
Sugar 0.64%
I cannot get the decimal points to align. If anyone reading this knows how to make blogger.com align columns, drop a comment below.
I decided to make about a quart of mayo because I was down to near the bottom of my current jar.
The following are what weights I used in this specific recipes.
907± grams total weight, so weight below yield a typical quart±.
Liquids
725.00± grams of oil
62.140± grams of egg yolk
60.420± grams of vinegar
16.960± grams of water
Dry
83.83± grams of spices
6.890± grams of salt
6.790± grams of mustard powder
5.700± grams of sugar
I have a scale capable of resolving tenths of a gram, and I have given accurate measures.
I used a stick blender to emulsify the oil. I had to use 3 eggs for their yolks to 62 grams. As the rule-of-thumb is 1 egg yolk (or whole egg, if you prefer) will emulsify 1 cup of oil, I used more egg, as I like it that way. The eggs were brought to room temperature before being used for the mayo.
This mayo came out thinner than storebought. But it spreads evenly and isn't soggy.
I have in my herb garden, fresh dill and chives, so that's what I used. And more precisely, I had only fresh, yellow dill seeds so that is the source of my dill for this recipe. Guarded by Gnomes
To the buttermilk, add the mayo. Then the dill and chives. Stand overnight and then refrigerate. As I made mine but a few days ago, I cannot give a sense of how long it will stay fresh.
All I had growing
Lastly, as I like salad dressing to taste tangier than the commercial dressings, I added about 15 mL of lactic acid to the jar. That product is available in small quantites from the Woodland Hills Home Beer, Wine and Cheesemaking Shop.
Finished Buttermilk Dressing
