Classic French dressing

RubyRose, that sounds like it would fit in James Lilek's book Regretable Food. If you haven't seen it, look for it . It is hysterical. And we really ATE THAT STUFF!

RubyRose

CCinNJ


That recipe is not to duplicate. Just to show the ingredient list for commercial Russian dressing in that time period.

 
In the 50's and 60's, it seemed as if more restaurants made their dressings in-house than used food service preparations.  
 
In the restaurants we frequented, Russian dressing was mayo and chili sauce based and Thousand Island was the same but with chopped ingredients added to it.  There was also a red Russian dressing by Wishbone (?) that was similar to the red French but oilier and darker.  It was the base of an awful chicken recipe of that era where a bottle of it was mixed with a pack of onion soup mix and a jar of apricot preserves and poured over the fowl before baking to produce a gloppy, sticky mess that became a fad across the country.

I was born in '69 so I missed all the fun trainwreck stuff. Too young to remember the LSD.
 
All that recipe needs is a little gelatin a shiny copper mold in the shape of a fish and a mound and a half of parsley!!

Dawn,

The gold standard for French Dressings when I was growing up was The Original Western Dressing.  There was the image of a longhorn on the bottle and I think it was made by an independent producer.  Maybe it's a regional thing, but Western is still available here.

Western is now made under the Wishbone label and is exactly as I remember it.  Even the Lite and the Fat Free versions are pretty decent.  Our Roundy's local store-brand is also a dead ringer for Western, which was a huge surprise when I tried it.

I tried making the French Dressing from Joy of Cooking and was really disappointed.  It was nothing like the French Dressing I remember. 

Jim

I've never seen a Western Dressing under Wishbone's here Jim. Maybe it is a regional thing. Is the store brand also labled as a Western?

What trainwreck stuff CC? At 55, all that brain damage,hearing loss,chromasome damage,flashbacks, infertility,... even spine curature nonsense hasn't affected me by now. We lost the war in S.E. Asia and it wasn't my generations fault.  Never went blind or grew hair on my palms either. Apparently didn't affect my genes either (well it did affect my Jeans after polishing complete half gallons of ice cream while exploring other forms of reality,contemplating the cosmos and if the light in the fridge really did turn off when the door closed). About the only lingering malady of those "trainwreck" years left me a progressive liberal.  I know, that's a serious mental condition according to DSM IV, but I'm able to function in public and we just keep that a family secret. Hmm, think I'm hearing Ozzie's "Crazy Train" off in the distance. Gotta climb aboard. Oh yeah, the shrooms. I guess I drank the Kool Aid too. Must be the reason for the "Change" bumper sticker that I don't actually have on my car.

See what you missed out on CC?

I ask my parents why the decided to have me last...all the time!! 
 
None of my siblings appreciate the "friends of the friendless" recipes/dishes of their youth. I would have loved to experience a little more gelatin - hard-boiled egg - mayonnaise - hot dog fancy shamncy mod cocktail party artistic creations.
 
Sometimes...I wish I was never broiled.

Hey now...
 
 http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=204&sid=6847927
 
All aboard!!
 
 

Dawn - The label on the house brand said French Dressing.  It was the identical color of Western so I had to try it.

CC - I've been threatening my wife with hosting a throwback party, where all the dishes have to come from ancient cookbooks.  We've also got Bon Appetit's going back to the early 1970's and thought about serving everything from one year as a party theme.

We did a fondue meal several years ago at our curling club that was a blast.  We had a 4-course meal of only fondue.

JRPfeff


Dawn - The label on the house brand said French Dressing.  It was the identical color of Western so I had to try it.

CC - I've been threatening my wife with hosting a throwback party, where all the dishes have to come from ancient cookbooks.  We've also got Bon Appetit's going back to the early 1970's and thought about serving everything from one year as a party theme.

We did a fondue meal several years ago at our curling club that was a blast.  We had a 4-course meal of only fondue.

That is a fantastic idea!!!
 
Any particular year in mind?
 
Circa '76 with all those bicentennial recipes floating around would be easy to"authenticate"
 
I love the idea!!

Wasn't that the year Gerald Ford ate crow and the rest of us got peanuts?

There is a dollar store on Herald Square dumping short dated 8 ounce bottles of IGA (house brand of IGA supermarkets) French Dressing at 3 for 99 cents. The copyright date on the label is 2000. This dressing has a vinegary tang to it, but close to the of the French dressings I remember getting in restaurants back in the day. But there is something missing from it that Kraft had. Here is the list:
Soybean Oil
Water
Sugar
Vinegar (tastes like white vinegar)
Salt

Contains less than 2%:
Whey (from milk)
Paprika
Xanthan gum with sorbic acid and calcium disodium EDTA as preservatives
Polysorbate 60
Dried garlic
Propylene glycol alginate
Yellow 6 (dye)
Natural Flavor
Allergan: Milk

Xanthan gum was approved for use in food in 1968.

I note this recipe is fairly close to the Pfeiffer one I linked to on page 1:
http://www.marzetti.com/products/pfeiffer/detail.php?bc=20&cid=1&pid=213

From Dawn's list of ingredients taken from old institutional containers of dressings and the lists we have compiled here, it sounds like the old formulation was basically soybean oil, water, vinegar, salt, sugar, paprika, some sort of garlic , some sort of mustard, and a few spices. Even with a detailed recipe, if you purchase retail versions of the ingredients, you will get a different flavor than if you used the brands and types purchased by food manufacturers.

copycat Pfiefer french  or
classic french (orange) like in restuarants:
 
 
1 cup oil
1/2 cup hellmens mayo
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinagar
1/4 cup sugar ( or less )
1/2 teasp onion salt
1/2 teasp pepper
if you add like mince onions etc - it separates - so dont
more ketchup if needed for more tang
 
last fresh longer than pfiefer - great on brocoli, green beans etc
also pour it on steak type roast with sliced onion and sliced green pepper and 1 can stewed tomatoes - slow cook for swiss type steak.