Mason-Dixon Recipes

Bleu Cheese Dressing

The appetizer's just an excuse for an extra meal. You're always like "Lets see, I'ill start with the 80 buffalo wings … and do you have a low-cal blue cheese? 'Cause I don't wanna fill up too much."

         — Jim Gaffigan

Is it bleu? Is it blue? Truth is, they're both right. I grew up calling it blue and was constantly corrected that is was bleu. These days, it's back to blue. Go figure. But bleu is French for blue, so they're both the same. Call it what you want, but I'm going with bleu because, you know, it's continental.

Bleu Cheese Dressing is almost a must to serve with Buffalo Wings. However, what most people don't know is that it was not meant to compliment the wings. That is a common misconception and even most restaurants make that mistake. It was meant to be served with celery and carrots, which are to be dipped in the dressing … not the wings.

Blue cheese is made from cow's or goat's milk cheeses that include a blue or blue-green mold. The blue mold in these cheeses comes from the spores of different Penicillium mold species.

Most of these cheeses were originally stored in caves in their respective areas, where molds were naturally present. The bleu cheeses were most likely discovered by accident when the cheeses developed mold. While others might have thought the cheeses to be ruined, someone must have decided to taste them and realized how good the taste had become.

Today most bleu cheeses are either injected with the mold, as with Roquefort, or the mold is mixed right in with the curds, as it is with Gorgonzola, to insure even distribution of the mold.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp onions, finely chopped
¹/₂ cup sour cream
¹/₄ cup bleu cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
¹/₄ tsp garlic powder
¹/₄ tsp parsley flakes
¹/₈ tsp salt
¹/₈ tsp

DIRECTIONS

Mix all ingredients but the bleu cheese together using a food processor or blender until thickened. Add crumbled bleu cheese and mix into dressing without blending to much. Chill for at least an hour.

Makes about 2¹/₂ cups.

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