Ask a foreigner

[Teasel]

Love hearing about stuff people get a bit passionate about. Makes me want the stuff

 

[Teasel]

Anyway, had some of the M&S (a good quality british supermarket) ranch yesterday, some reviews for it that seem to be written by Americans do say it isn't right, is too thin and too vinegary but overall it gets a good score.

Had some on it's own, it tasted like the dip that comes with pizzas, which I love BTW, very moreish.

The M&S one is too thin and runny for putting on my sandwich. It was lovely on my salad later though.

 

[Friday]

ranch should NOT have vinegar anything.

Doesn’t mean it isn’t creamy/herbaceous/delicious.

Mayo. Cream. (Crème Fraische). Buttermilk. Cream cheese. Fines Herbs. Seasonings (salt & pepper, or extra).

It’s like the difference between tomato jam (delicious!) & ketchup/catsup (omfg).
Or HP brown sauce & good brown gravy.
Or Yorkshire puddings & scones.
Or pancakes & crepes.

It doesn’t mean that one -or- the other is not wonderful, just that they’re not the same as the other.

 

[Rose White]

@Friday tarragon is surprising to hear—that licorice flavor so strong

 

[Friday]

@Friday tarragon is surprising to hear—that licorice flavor so strong

<chuckling> Ranch can have almoooooost anything as its top/boldest notes, there’s even BBQ-Ranch, Parmesan Ranch (almost indistinguishable from Caesar, but still different, as it lacks the anchovy), Mustard Ranch, Bacon Ranch, Spicy Ranch, Garlic Ranch, etc.

I don’t, personally, get a liquorice vibe from tarragon …more honey/clover/oak/green/floral… but I HAVE seen anise-ranch, and that’s onIy a small step away from melting RedVines or BlackJellyBeans on top of your salad!

But??? Ranch is always low acid. Cool & creamy, at its core. Rather than bright & sparkling. (Or creamy/umami like Caesar). And that’s what vinegar does… oomphs up the bright & sparkle.

S’why adding pickles (pickled cucumbers, for non-USA folk, who pickle sooooo much more!), creates weird &/or artisan/herb-forward tartar-sauce. Dill is the most common tartar sauce herby thing, but I’ve come across a whole lotta wacky WTF tartar-sauces.

(Tartar-sauce, served with almost anything fish in the US, is most basically diced pickles + mayo. BUT??? Can be anything creamy, pickled cukes, + ABCXYZ. Herbs. Citrus. Onions/Shallots/Garlic. Cheese. Bacon. Etc.. It’s essentially ANY aioli WITH diced pickled cucumber).

 

[Teasel]

Keep hearing in the news, they talk about stuff going on in town halls. What is that please?

Eg

The questions and Booker’s response mirror what voters and other Democrats have been hearing during town halls.

 

[enough]

it used ro refer to the actual meeting places where open meetings for the citizens were held, in many small towns they still exist sone in the form of a karge church or as a room in a city hall or a school gym.
Nowadays it isnt so much a place or an actual in person meeting but refers to an open meeting with leaders present to hear ideas and field questions in some forum, digital or otherwise. It differs from a political rally in that people can stand and ask questions under some set of rules fir doing so. hopefully. lately, not so much.

 

[Teasel]

Thanks @enough So it's an event? That has been happening regularly for years?

 

[enough]

yep, regularly i guess. Maybe somewhere there are town halls held regularly like the first saturday of the month or such, but mostly i think it is when and where a leader or would be leader wants to get some in person exposure to their constituents, or at least appear to. And not always at the town level. the last one i went to was a state reoresentative home from washington DC. Our governor likes to hold them too, that's a state level thing. We had town hall style meetings put on by our fire district that encompassed multiple towns too, its pretty much a term that describes a format involving statements or questions from citizens in attendance.

 

[Teasel]

Thanks @enough

 

[Lost in the Woods]

The town hall I would like to see would include tar and feathers right before running the scoundrel out of town with the good citizens with their pitch forks in hot pursuit.

 

[Dave Ryan]

The town hall I would like to see would include tar and feathers right before running the scoundrel out of town with the good citizens with their pitch forks in hot pursuit.

Would being run out on a rail be a good enough substitute?