Spread the Spread: Dips that can be called Spreads
Party snacks to remember
Good morning Morsels has arrived. This is the third newsletter from Morsels titled ‘Letter 3, Recipe 2: Spread the Spread.’
Morsels is made possible by subscriber contributions through Substack. If you would like to make a one off donation to support the continuation and growth of Morsels, please be in touch and I will sort that out.
Please consider subscribing. All paid subscribers will have access to the (currently in development) back catalogue of paywalled recipes and articles that will build and grow over time. It costs $5/month or $50/year.
If you enjoy the writing and recipes and wish to subscribe to the newsletter for free, please click below. You can share this newsletter with the button below and don't forget to follow us on Instagram. Thank you so much for your support.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please feel free to share/screenshot/post on social media etc
Letter 3, Recipe 2: Spread the Spread
Dips, spreads, snacks. They all line up with crisps, which if you read this piece last Friday you would know I have a deep affection for. So we can call today an addendum to the newsletter last Friday. Take what you will from that information provided but one thing I can guarantee to you is that the recipes below are party starter favourites. A Louisiana-‘esque’ cheese whip recipe that is thick enough to pipe and thin enough to scoop, alongside a rich bastardisation of baba ganoush. Purists of both forms of dip will be up in arms about the appropriation, but truth be told if they ate the dips, I’m sure they wouldn’t be so angry.
The appropriation of recipes and food cultures in restaurants and recipe writing today is a whole, necessary conversation in and of itself. It is a problem in the commercialisation of Western kitchens and food media, and we need to be conscious of it. I think it is important to acknowledge that while the recipes below are not ‘traditional’, they are intended to honour, and they do impress. How you ask? By being tasty as fuck.
—
Dips aren’t a new phenomenon. What we might think of as hummus dates back to 13th Century Egypt. Not much has changed from the first written record of the recipe for hummus bi tahini, found in the cookbook Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada. The original manuscript, formally housed in the library of the Aya Sofya Mosque, while still in Istanbul is now in the Suleymaniye library (if you in the area stop by, you will absolutely not be allowed anywhere near it but then again, don’t ask don’t get). The recipe is familiar, save for where we would use lemons now, in its place is vinegar. Humble beginnings of a great tradition, hummus can be found in every corner of every supermarket in Australia, not just a testament to the brilliance of the dip, but more importantly to the cultural and social importance of it’s availability and presence.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s that dips as we might imagine them came to be. Chips were synonymous with (and excitedly served alongside) dips. Crockery, glassware, and fine china were specifically designed to accommodate and facilitate chips and dips. Dips officially arrived and they have never left.
There is no shortage of dips in this country. It is a rich landscape of colour and texture. A vibrant, kaleidoscopic disco of soft pastes. Walk into any supermarket and you will come across a minimum of a four meter wide fridge stacked high with thickened flavour. Yumi’s, Aldi’s Deli Originals, Chris’s dips, Black Swan, Obela, Ritz, Coles brand, Red rock deli, Syndian, Paradise Beach, The Olive Branch, Arlington’s, Fresh Fodder, In Season, Imperfect Picks, Monjay Mezza, Syndian, Organic Indulgence, Fifya, Naked Byron Food, Yalla, Pilpel, or the latest wonder spread kids making highly acidic, overly sweetened spreads that apparently sell like wild fire, Nutty Bay.
Go online at Coles and there are 152 options for dips to buy. 5 pages of dips to sort through. It’s fair to say, we love dips and not just the hummus and guacamole style of dips. Fancy dips, rich dips, sweet dips, healthy dips, Mexican dips, Greek dips, Gluten free dips, vegan dips, nut dips, cheese dips, wet dips, dry dips; every possible dip type can be found on the shelf. You could argue it’s a form of culinary liberation - so many snack options, right there in front of you, affordably priced and ‘tasty’. How can you spell freedom in 14 letters? French Onion Dip.
Is it really freedom though? Accepting the below average quality of an every day snack? Yes, dips come in handy in a pinch and a lot of the flavours could have nostalgic afternoon snacking with friends associations, but few of them are really any good. I admit, I haven’t eaten them all. I can’t. There are thickeners, flavour enhancers, food colouring, and setting agents wound through them all so consistently that every time I open one I am reminded of the texture of generic bakery vanilla slice. Not the wet, sickly sweet pastry but the custard. Thick, gelatinous snot blocks. The dips are so commercially produced that texture is uniform across brands and palettes almost uniform across flavours (with exceptions, obviously. Exceptions, while not necessarily guaranteed, generally include more boutique brands such as Yalla and Pilpel).
This uniformity and lack of flavour has encouraged (thankfully) people like Tom Sarafian to start his business Sarafian. Tom and I worked briefly together at Petersham Nurseries in London. He has been back in Melbourne for a while and recently launched his handmade Hummus and Toum, hopefully with more products to come. If you are in Melbourne, seek them out. They are wonderful.
We don’t, however, have to rely on small producers or supermarket shelves to fulfil our dip desires. Below are two of my favourite dips that can also double as spreads. Both are great with biscuits but truly shine with crisps. They are both simple recipes that will last for at least a week in the fridge.
Cheese Whip Dip
This is dinner party dynamite, no jokes. This is a cheese spread like the cheese spread you wished you had as a kids with an adults palette. It’s nostalgic and homely and effortlessly fantastic. Blend it all up. Spread it on bread or toast or biscuits or in a hot dog. If you like, just eat it with a spoon. Take it church for god’s sake, but take extra spoons andBYO crisps for dip.
This is a recipe where everything goes into the food processor and is thought about later. Blend it up. Blend it good. Season to taste. The ingredients are all store-bought, shelf-life ingredients. They are available at the supermarket.
This combination of flavours an effortless joy that will pull you back in for spoon after spoon after spoon after spoon after crisp after crisp. If you want to omit the sherry you can, however it does add a depth of flavour that is surprising and worthwhile. My advice is, if you have it in the cupboard, use it. If you don’t I wouldn’t worry. It adds but it doesn’t detract. Have some pouring cream or milk to splash in if the texture of the whip is too thick. Like a lot of my recipes this recipe can be edited and adapted to your taste buds. If it’s too spicy, add milk / cream. If it’s too thin, add more cheese, if it’s too ‘cheesy’ add some of the liquid from the pickled peppers. Play, make it your own.
n.b - When making reference to ‘unit’ as a measurement it is referring to the singular item. So a can of pimento for example will have multiple chillis in it. A unit means one chilli. For this, it is 1/2 of 1 unit. So you have the rest to play with as you please. You should be able to find all these ingredients in Coles and Woolworths. It’s a vibe.
Ingredients:
260gr cheddar cheese, grated
2 (units) tinned (or pickled) padron peppers
1/2 (unit) preserved (jarred or canned) pimento, chopped
90gr softened unsalted butter
15gr Tabasco (to taste)
50ml Sherry (if available in the cupboard)
Cream to thin
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Add all of the ingredients into a food processor (keeping aside any milk or cream).
Blend the mix until it has the spreadable dip texture required. If it is too thick, add cream one tablespoon at a time.
Soured Eggplant
This is a weirdo soured version of a babbaganoush adapted from a wild dish at Brookes Headley's Superiority Burger. Purists will not like it and will call it blasphemy, yet it’s very very good and will keep for around a week in the fridge.
It’s another simple recipe. You roast the eggplants face down in the oven until soft and caramelised and then blend everything together in a food processor. It’s simple and really, very very good. Along with it being a brilliant dip it doubles as a great spread or as a base under vegetables.
Ingredients:
80ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
2 eggplants
20ml red wine vinegar (to taste)
10ml maple syrup (to taste)
25ml black tahini
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190°C
Cut the eggplants in half lengthways and score the inside of the flesh with a criss cross pattern.
Brush with 10-20ml of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Bake face down for 30 minutes or until the skin has browned and is tender
Remove the stalks but leave the skin on and allow the eggplants to cool.
Blend, skin on in a food processor with the remaining ingredients, season to taste and loosen with a splash of cold water or an ice cube if too thick.
Words by Daniel Wilson
Daniel has a Masters in Food Culture from The University of Gastronomic Science in Pollenzo, Italy. He is a chef and recovering restauranteur.