Russian Dressing Image Used Under Creative Commons License From hubpages.com
Citizens, you may think that Russian dressing and thousand island dressing are the same thing – not true, my followers!
This is a salad dressing invented in Nashua, New Hampshire, by James E. Colburn, likely in the 1910s. Typically piquant, it is today characteristically made of a blend of mayonnaise and ketchup complemented with such additional ingredients as horseradish, pimentos, chives and spices.
It is actually unknown in authentic Russian cuisine, though it exists in modern recipes as ketchunez (rus. кетчунез, ketchu- part for ketchup (rus. кетчуп) and -nez part for mayonnaise (rus. майонез)).
An article in The Washington Post sums up the confusion and the issue:
“In a battle few were watching, Russian dressing has seemingly lost to its bland and sweeter relative, Thousand Island dressing.
It was once the go-to condiment in a Reuben sandwich, but an examination of menus around the country shows that Russian dressing has all but disappeared from America’s national consciousness. It also has largely disappeared from supermarket shelves and sandwich chains.
“I can tell you from the restaurant side, sometimes it’s easier to just make things quickly understandable for the customer, to avoid wasting time explaining things,” says Nick Zukin, co-author of “The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home” and a caterer in Portland, Ore. “Even if you made what was essentially a Russian dressing, you might call it Thousand Island just to avoid headaches.”
The two condiments are not interchangeable. Russian dressing recipes typically call for mayonnaise, chili sauce or ketchup, relish, horseradish, paprika and other seasonings, making it considerably spicier and less sweet than Thousand Island dressing, with its hard-cooked egg, lemon or orange juice, cream and sweet pickle relish or olives.”
Citizens, what better place to go to for the canonical dressing than the one used in the iconic New York restaurant of blessed memory, The Russian Tea Room? 🙂 Try this in place of the standard thousand island dressing sometime and educate your refined palates even further in the subtle yet profound differences between the two!
Battle on – The Generalissimo
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mayonnaise (TFD prefers Duke's brand for this recipe)
- ½ cup sour cream (TFD uses only Daisy brand)
- ⅔ cup chili sauce (TFD suggests Homade Chili Sauce in the round glass jar)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons minced dill pickles
- 1 tablespoon minced green pepper (TFD prefers poblano peppers to green bell)
- 2 tablespoons minced onions
- 4 teaspoons finely grated fresh horseradish or 4 teaspoons drained bottled horseradish (TFD says use the fresh if at all possible)
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (TFD uses Lea & Perrins, of course)
- ¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 pinch fresh ground pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley (TFD prefers curly parsley in this recipe)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend until mixed.
- Do NOT over-blend.
- Refrigerate in a covered jar until serving time.
- Stir before using.
- Use to dress sandwiches or salads, or as a dip for fresh seafood.
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Thanks for the post. Will definitely try it soon. What is the shelf life of this treasure?
At least a week if properly refrigerated!