Ranch Dressing

Method

1. mince2 min
   on the board, with the salt
   garlic + salt, dragged flat with the side of the knife until it turns to a slick paste — the salt is abrasive and pulls water out of the clove, and paste disperses through the dressing where minced garlic instead sits as hot bites that get sharper overnight
2. whisk2 min
   no liquid yet
   mayonnaise + sour cream, until glossy and lump-free. Whisking the thick fats together before any buttermilk goes in is the whole difference between ranch that coats a leaf and ranch that runs off it — buttermilk added first thins the mayonnaise past the point where a whisk can shear the sour cream smooth, and the lumps never come out
3. whisk2 min
   adding in three additions
   + buttermilk, a third at a time, letting each addition disappear before the next. The mayonnaise is already an emulsion; adding the water phase gradually keeps it suspended rather than breaking it into a grainy, weeping base
4. season2 min
   room temperature
   + garlic paste + onion powder + black pepper + lemon juice + dill + chives + parsley, folded through. The lemon and the buttermilk's own lactic acid also firm the dressing slightly as they hit the mayonnaise's egg proteins — go past about a tablespoon of added acid and it curdles instead
5. rest30 min
   refrigerated, covered
   Chill at least 30 minutes = ranch dressing. The onion powder needs the time to hydrate — used immediately it tastes chalky and raw — and the cut herbs bleed their oils into the fat, which is why cold-rested ranch tastes green and freshly mixed ranch tastes only of mayonnaise. It thickens as it sits; loosen with a spoonful of buttermilk before serving if it has set too far