I can’t believe it! The Los Angeles Times actually published – in the Saturday Section – a recipe for onion soup dip. Did’t we all “just know” how to make that from about age five?
History: Invented by an unknown Los Angeles chef in 1954 who paired Lipton’s dried soup mix with sour cream (or cream cheese), the concoction was originally called “California Dip” when Lipton promoted it nationally via television and print advertising.
“Lipton onion dip
I like to think that my lifelong love of chips and dip started in the
backyard of my grandmother’s Torrance house in the ’80s with a wooden
bowl, a tub of sour cream and a blue box of Lipton onion soup mix. I’d
spend most summer days in that backyard, lounging on a beach towel in
the shade of my grandmother’s giant, aboveground pool. She would
always saunter out of the house wearing something fabulous — a kaftan
from the ’60s over a one-piece bathing suit — holding a wooden bowl of
onion dip and a larger wooden bowl of chips.
The dip, magically whipped up in two steps and made by following the
directions on the box, has been a fixture at family gatherings ever since. If
we’re sitting down to watch the U.S. Open, the Lakers, the Seahawks (my
dad will follow Pete Carroll wherever he goes) and of course, the Super
Bowl. There’s something comforting in the bits of dehydrated onion and
the sometimes swirls of salty, almost-real-onion flavor that result when
someone has been a little lazy in mixing in the onion powder that day.
When I once tried to make a version from scratch, with actual
caramelized onions, there was an all out chip and dip revolt. So we go
back to the original, every time, and I can’t imagine a Super Bowl party,
or any Harris party, without it. — Jenn Harris
Ingredients:
- 1 envelope Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup mix
- 16 ounces sour cream
- Chips or vegetables, for serving
Directions:
- In a bowl, stir together the soup mix and sour cream until evenly
combined. (Oh, for heaven’s sake, mix it in the sour cream carton!) - Chill if desired.
- Serve with your favorite chips or vegetables, preferably Kettle Salt and
Pepper chips with ridges.
Serves: Makes 2 cups dip.
Source: Los Angeles Times, Adapted from the Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup mix box.”
