meanwhile, back at the ranch...

meanwhile, back at the ranch....

  Even amidst CoVid-19, we relish the idea of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.  This is the time of year we more often think of dieting rather than abstaining.  It's almost as if we imagine ourselves losing weight, our thoughts will mysteriously vanquish our sins of consumption.  And, what better menu to think about right now than Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner and all the trimmings, including ranch dressing.

  HUH? What's up with that? 

  There are so many fabulous stories to be heard, read, and written about and that's why the history of things we are interested in is so fascinating.  There are unheard tales confronting each generation.  So often, we accept things as they appear and don't explore origins or know how circumstances evolved.  In other words, what happened to bring it to the table?

  Some food items have fascinating stories.  For example, according to dressings-sauces.org,....Russian dressing got it's name because it originally featured caviar as an ingredient.   Likewise, the origins of Heinz Foods and Del Monte are also little known by most of us and each has an interesting trail of events leading to the present day products.  

  It's probably never occurred to most of us there would be an alluring story behind ranch dressing!  Here's what happened.

  In the early 1950s, a contract plumber in Alaska by the name of Steve Henson was working with his crew when he started cooking various meals for his co-workers.  At the same time, he was trying to perfect his buttermilk dressing recipe.

  Five years later, Henson and his wife, Gayle, moved to California where the two bought a ranch.  His dressing became a staple on the dinner table and Henson started selling his creation to guests and local supermarkets.  Anyone who came to Hidden Valley Ranch and sat at the Henson dinner table was treated to the unusual dressing.  

  According to thrillist.com, the Hensons sold their name and recipe to Clorox in 1972 for eight million dollars.  Saving.org, computes eight million bucks in '72 to be the same as 50 million, 19 thousand, two hundred seventy dollars and seven cents today.

  Not bad for a little buttermilk, mayonnaise and herbs.  But, Clorox soon found out they had a major problem.  

  Steve Henson's creation was perishable.  It is unknown if Clorox executives had this knowledge prior to purchasing Steve's recipe.  

  So, instead of continuing the Henson tradition and producing the refrigerated dressing (at a much higher cost), Clorox, Kraft, Ken's, and Wish-Bone created something else entirely.  

  They conceived soybean and canola oil alternatives.   In addition, Clorox added MSG, disodium insinuate and disodium guanylate, and other chemicals in place of the original recipe.  

  There probably aren't many people around who remember the authentic taste of Steve's technique.  But, if you try really, really hard, you can almost put yourself at that Thanksgiving table on the Hidden Valley Ranch out in California in the 50's and see Steve Henson's dressing. That's it on the table right next to the huge salad bowl.  

  Dressings-sauces.org writes, Salads were favorites in the great courts of European Monarchs.  Royal chefs often combined as many as 35 ingredients in one enormous salad bowl.  Mary, Queen of Scots, preferred a salad of boiled celery root diced and tossed with lettuce, creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil and hard-boiled eggs.  

  Curious to note.  The Babylonians used oil and vinegar for dressing greens nearly 2,000 years ago.  Around the same time period,  D-S.org notes, Egyptians favored a salad dressing with oil, vinegar, and Asian spices.  

  And, Mayonnaise?  Giving credit to Kraft is erroneous.  Mayonnaise made its debut at a French Nobleman's table over 200 years ago.  

  Meanwhile, back at the ranch.  The Henson Thanksgiving table is covered with a cornucopia of other specialties, like those Betty Crocker biscuits wrapped in a huge cloth napkin to keep them warm.  

  Miss Crocker was born in 1921 when an advertisement for Gold Medal Flour was placed in the Saturday Evening Post and featured a puzzle of a quaint main street scene.  Contestants were encouraged to complete the puzzle and send it in for the prize of a pincushion in the shape of a sack of Gold Medal Flour. 

  The response was overwhelming as thousands of entries (an enormous number for that time) were sent in along with questions about cooking.  According to pbs.org, .....baking questions and like inquiries were received by the tens of thousands.  Previously, the flour mill that eventually became Gold Medal had answered a few questions from consumers as they were received, but those were few and far between.  

  The advertising department of Gold Medal realized that the mail was too much for them to handle and all the office staff would have to help reply to consumers questions.  The department’'s answer to this issue was to invent a female chief of correspondence, a fictitious woman who could dispense advice, give out recipes and solve cooking issues.  They named her “Betty Crocker.”  Gold Medal executives thought the name Betty was wholesome and Crocker was the last name of a retiring vice-president of the company.

  The original Betty Crocker photo which appeared on product boxes in the 1920s was a composite of all the women in the Gold Medal office who helped answer questions.  

  The company held a contest among its female employees with the idea of creating a unique Betty Crocker signature.  A secretary by the name of Florence Lindeberg won the contest and the signature on every Betty Crocker box belongs to Florence.  It is still used today.  

  In 1924, Betty went from signing letters and answering questions, to a live radio show that started in Minneapolis and eventually went nationwide. An actual home economist was used during the life of the program. The concept later moved to television.

  Betty Crocker’'s first namesake grocery item in 1941 was a soup mix. Her famous cake mix appeared on store shelves in 1947, and the bestselling Betty Crocker'’s Picture Cook Book was published in 1950. You can even purchase the book today.  In an effort to keep Betty current, she now has a website that features recipes, advice, and gifts. 

  Meanwhile, back at Hidden Valley Ranch.  Toward the end of the table over there on the right, next to the salt and pepper, you will find a bottle of Mrs. Dash (actually invented in the early 1980s).

  The salt-free seasoning was developed by Carol Bernick who was a marketing executive at Alberto-Culber.  Today, she is the CEO of Polished Nickel Capital Managment.  

  Bernick was looking for a simple, salt-free way to season the meals she cooked for her family.  It didn't take long to discover there was very little on the grocer's shelf that would fulfill her needs.  She decided to see if she could come up with a seasoning that would work by mixing various spices.  Bernick collaborated with a number of spice suppliers until they had a mixture she thought was perfect in taste and flavor.  Mrs. Dash was the result of that effort.

  Today, there are two dozen varieties of Mrs. Dash.  Recently, B & G Foods, which owns the spice, dropped the Mrs. from the name and the product is now called, Dash.  

  However, Carol Bernick wasn't finished coming up with product substitutes.  She also helped create Molly McButter (sounds like you would find it on a McDonald's menu).  Molly McButter is a fat-free butter substitute.  It comes in a two-ounce jar and sprinkles on your baked potato or popcorn.  Its main ingredient is a carbohydrate made from corn.   

   Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Gayle Henson just pulled the piece de resistance out of the oven for this particular Thanksgiving dinner. A perfectly roasted 23 pound turkey.  

    Wild turkeys go back millions of years, but it was the Pilgrims who brought back domesticated European turkeys to the New World on the Mayflower (although that claim is disputed).  Columbus thought of turkeys as similar to European game birds.   

  In the 1800s, the turkey population in America was grim.  Over-hunting and deforestation were taking a toll according to thespruce.com.  Conservation measures were put in place to protect the birds.

  In 1947, a presidential pardon was granted to two symbolic turkeys and that act gave the fowl respectability in America and brought the bird to the Henson Thanksgiving table adjacent to the mashed potatoes.

    Pomme Purees first appeared in the 18th century.  According to mentalfloss.com, an English author included a mashed potato recipe in a cookbook in that time period. At the same time, here in the states, Mary Randolph published a recipe in her cookbook, The Virginia Housewife.  It called for an ounce of butter and a tablespoon of milk for each pound of potatoes. 

   History.  It's insightful, comprehensive and a trail from the past.  There are so many more stories about the origination of food items just as there would be for any topic. As an example, the documentation of Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup is a total reflection of American history, but pancakes didn't work out on the Henson Thanksgiving table.  Maybe another time.

  Next up, we'll meet some more Encore Performers and coming soon H?WUWT? will introduce you to a few amazing artists.

  Oh, one final Thanksgiving thought, and it comes from the late Johnny Carson who said, Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often. 

  HUH? What's up with that?