1

I tried this bleu cheese dressing: http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/all/episode.php?episodenumber=422&screen=2&sortby=a. It turned out good (not sure if I'd call it great), but it was a bit thin -- especially when it sits out of the refrigerator for a few minutes.

The only thing I used that I think was a substitute was for the heavy cream. I used Anchor Thickened Cream instead: http://shop.countdown.co.nz/Content/ProductImages/big/94160574.jpg. If anything, I thought this might make the dressing even thicker.

Anyway, any suggestions on what I can do to thicken the dressing? I want this for hot wings.

Any other bleu cheese dressing tips are also welcome.

mfg
  • 11,709
  • 11
  • 61
  • 110
CookingNewbie
  • 1,259
  • 12
  • 34
  • 41
  • 2
    Use less cream? – ElendilTheTall Jan 16 '13 at 12:49
  • 1
    Xanthan gum (added redundant characters to get long enough text to be allowed to post) – Stefan Jan 16 '13 at 14:04
  • 2
    Run it through a coffee filter? – Mike G Jan 16 '13 at 14:19
  • 1
    I would try reducing the amount of sour cream in the recipe and see if you like the taste/texture and then go from there. Or you could try and substitute half of the sour cream with cream cheese to make it more creamy. – Brendan Jan 16 '13 at 15:54
  • @Stefan - can you please elaborate on xantham gum? – CookingNewbie Jan 17 '13 at 15:47
  • @Mong134 - was that a serious suggestion? – CookingNewbie Jan 17 '13 at 15:47
  • @Brendan - is cream cheese a typical ingredient in bleu cheese dressing? With some bleu cheese dressing recipes I found on the net, people would complain and say it isn't "real" bleu cheese dressing (and might claim it to be ranch dressing, etc.). – CookingNewbie Jan 17 '13 at 15:49
  • 1
    @CookingNewbie Definitely. It works for yogurt, why not bleu cheese dressing? It might take a while, but it'll get the excess water out of the dressing. – Mike G Jan 17 '13 at 15:50
  • @CookingNewbie i'm not sure that there is such thing as "real" bleu cheese dressing. Your just making a sauce with cheese as the predominant flavor. Don't be constrained to the recipe because it's supposed to be a certain way, as long as you like it then it's good! – Brendan Jan 17 '13 at 18:40
  • @CookingNewbie: Running through a coffee filter can actually be a good tip if you need to thicken the dressing you already have (and not make a new batch). As said it works great for yoghurt and sour cream too (if you make a new batch, you can run just the sour cream through the filter first, that will make cream cheese). Just make sure to use a a good quality filter (or better yet: muslin fabric), otherwise it will taste like cardboard. – citizen Jan 18 '13 at 15:34
  • @CookingNewbie add very little, say 0.1 to 0.5% xantham gum, use e.g. a tea sieve to not make lumps, then mix. xantham gum will thicken almost anything, never tried in blue cheese dressing but it should work – Stefan Jan 20 '13 at 12:50

2 Answers2

2

This recipe just has a lot of liquid in you can see her dressing is very fluid. If you're comparing it to bought dressing this tend to contain thickener to get the desired consistency so this is to be expected.

There are lots of other recipes so might be worth finding one with less liquid to dry ingredients: more cheese, or other dry ingredients like mustard powder or onion powder. You can thicken it by blending some of the cheese in or adding more cheese by crumbling. This will make it thicker, it will also make it cheesier but that shouldn't really be undesirable. Letting it sit in the fridge will help it stay thick as you've noticed it is a lot loser once it's losing it's chill.

You might also want to consider what blue cheese you are using, A drier crumbly blue will thicken the dressing more than a wetter soft cheese.

vwiggins
  • 2,946
  • 15
  • 19
0

I can't see the linked recipe (the video may only be available to you locally; I'm in the US) but an easy trick for dressings that are oil & acid based (i.e, vinaigrette) is to whisk in a small amount of whey powder when initially blending the dressing.

Pointy
  • 1,851
  • 1
  • 13
  • 17