A TWIST ON CALIFORNIA DIP OR FRENCH ONION DIP INVOLVES A TWIST OF THE SPICE GRINDER

What could possibly be new about a dip that has been around since the 1950's?  Commercial cultured sour cream hit the market in the 1950's.  Before that sour cream was something made at home and didn't have the consistency of  the commercial product.  If you look in 1950 era cookbooks, you will find that when sour cream is listed as an ingredient it is listed as commercial sour cream.


After the introduction of sour cream on the market, executives of Lipton's noticed a big spike in their sales of Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix in California.  When investigating this spike they found that people were mixing their soup mix with the new sour cream to create a dip.  Lipton called the new dip, California Dip, and put the recipe on their boxes of soup mix. 

A few weeks ago, Matt wanted me to try a new dip that they had found and really enjoyed.  The French Onion Dip was creamy, smooth, cool, and full of rich onion soup flavor.  It did not smack you tongue with hydrolyzed beef protein flavor and dried onions.  Izzy and I are not very creative right now as we try to find our way through the grief of losing Tom and Katrinka.  However, we can still duplicate some commercial products.
 

What the taste and look of Matt and Cindy's favorite new dip told me was that dip contained a very finely ground flavoring.  I decided to use a spice grinder and grind a package of onion soup mix into a fine powder.  Then I decided to add it to 24 ounces of sour cream instead of the usual 16 ounces.  Izzy and I decided we had to add a little personal touch so we added some dried chives as well as the soup mix.  

My Grand-daughters and friends, saying, "This dip is so good Grandma!", finished the whole bowl of dip except for what I had taken out to photograph the next day.

THE MOORE'S VELVETY FRENCH ONION DIP OR CALIFORNIA DIP 

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1  (24oz) carton sour cream, low-fat or fat-free works well
1/4 c plus 1 T dried chives, optional
Bacon dust for garnish if desired
Fresh chives, chopped for garnish if desired

Ingredients:  French onion soup mix, sour cream, and dried chives if desired.

In a spice grinder, grind onion soup mix and 1-tablespoon of dried chives to a powder.  Add to 24-ounces of sour cream.  Mix well. Add approximately 1/4-cup dried chives to the sour cream mixture.  Chill to meld flavors.  Put dip mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with bacon dust and chopped fresh chives if desired.  Serve with potato chips and vegetable dippers.

Put dry soup mix in spice blender and grind to a powder.  (I need Tom to take the pictures for me!) 

Add a tablespoon of dried chives, if desired and grind into soup mix.

Put ground mixture into a bowl.  

Add sour cream.

Mix well.

Add some dried chives to mixture, if desired.  Mix well.  Chill to meld flavors.

Put chilled dip into a serving bowl and garnish with chopped fresh chives if desired.

Garnish with bacon dust if desired.  To make bacon dust go to:  http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/07/bacon-dust-new-in-seasoning-plus-how-to.html

Serve dip with potato chips and vegetable dippers.

My Grand-daughters and friends enjoyed the dip with potato chips.  Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!!

TO CLEAN YOUR SPICE GRINDER GO TO:  http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/07/bacon-dust-new-in-seasoning-plus-how-to.html