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original thousand island salad dressing

1000islandfinal

Most of you who visit me regularly know that I’ve been compiling a collection of homemade salad dressings over the last couple years. This collection now boasts 42 healthy homemade dressings, this being the 42nd. The collection is quite popular, and everyone who tries the dressings seem to love them and pass the link to the collection on to their friends. It’s been shared and pinned thousands of times. There’s nothing quite as powerful as word of mouth in advertising! 😉 I’ve created all of these dressings in my kitchen and tweaked them until, in my opinion, they were perfect. The only dressings on the list that aren’t my original recipes are the Lowell Inn Salad Dressings and the one I am about to post.

I don’t usually vent here on my blog, but reserve this space for happy, light subjects and recipes. I’m going to make an exception now because I feel I have something to say and I want to stand up for myself. If you don’t want to listen to me, and just want to move on to the recipe, I completely understand. Just scroll down to the list of ingredients and ignore the next few paragraphs.

Let me start out by saying that I love to learn new things and I view every encounter with every human I meet as a learning experience. We all have our own areas of expertise, and everyone is a teacher in some capacity.

Someone recently contacted me via a blog comment on THIS salad dressing post. It’s my own twist on the classic Thousand Island salad dressing. I love Thousand Island and grew up on the popular Marie’s that can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores. I wanted to make a dressing based on the same flavor concept, but I thought it would be fun to give it a little zing, so I added Cajun seasoning and Sriracha hot sauce for spice.

The individual who contacted me about the recipe left a very rude, condescending note that basically said “I’m from the Thousand Islands area, and your dressing is nothing like the original. All Thousand Island salad dressing is is ketchup and mayonnaise. Please change the name of your dressing.” I responded by saying I appreciated her sharing her opinion and that it made me laugh (mostly because I had never seen anyone get SO worked up over something as trivial as a salad dressing recipe, not because I wanted to make fun of her.) She responded with several, long, nasty letters and ultimately ended up contradicting herself by saying the Original recipe for this dressing is a “closely guarded secret”.

So, I went online and found the original dressing recipe in about 5 seconds. It’s printed HERE in this awesome blog post that includes some fun history facts as well, and HERE by an actual 1000 Islander. Note: there is NO ketchup in this recipe and it does indeed contain pickle relish, olives, and sweet bell pepper, just as my spicy version does. So, in the end, my recipe is more authentic than even I thought it was. Hmmmmm….

Oh well, enough drama. Thanks for listening to me rant. On with this fabulous recipe. We made up a big batch last night and everyone LOVED it! Creamy, tasty and wonderful! Enjoy!

makes approximately 1/2 quart of salad dressing:

1 and 1/2 hard boiled eggs, completely cooled, peeled and chopped

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 and 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

a tiny pinch of ground cloves

2 cups real mayonnaise (I used Hellmann’s)

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1/4 cup black olives, chopped (not Kalamata)

1/4 cup sweet red bell pepper, finely chopped

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients together until evenly blended. Transfer to canning jars with tight fitting lids. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This dressing will keep in your refrigerator for 10 days.

XO,

~Melissa

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15 Comments

  1. Oh PISH! lol. You rant on woman, your recipes are fab and I love the fact that I can take yours ( and tweak just a tiny bit cause sirracha and I don’t agree ) and come out with something edible, NOT full of chemical junk and it tastes like the “real deal”.

    1. Hi Sheryl! 🙂

      Thanks so much for the sweet comment! I appreciate you listening to my dramatics. LOL… enjoy the recipe! XOXO ~M

    2. I agree!!! Rant all you want – you have a wonderful blog and FB page full of nothing but love and goodies and fun, happy things. Both are viewed daily by so many people that enjoy what you have to say, and all are supportive of you – we’re here for you when someone is being so ridiculous, petty, and rude. It’s your blog – I say rant whenever you want to – hopefully you won’t have anyone else giving you a reason to.

      1. Hi Chantelle! Thanks so much for the sweet comment, lovely compliments and for the support 🙂 I appreciate you so much!

        XO,
        Melissa

  2. Rude comments are so unnecessary. We surely should be able to talk to one another without getting all het up about it. I love varying opinions, different turns on recipes. I always learn new or inventive or easier methods to do wonderful things. Keep up the good work. I enjoy your recipes, and your posts. Your photography is so beautiful. I’ve used some of your pictures as a screensavers too.

    1. Hi Ruth! 🙂
      Yes, you’d think people could be more courteous when leaving their opinions and comments. Oh well. I truly appreciate your sweet comments and your support. You are such a dear lady! XOXO ~M

  3. I love your blog too! There are so many awesome recipes on here. I print them off and I also tweek them if I feel I can make them healthy. Keep on doing what you are doing. And Thank you.

  4. Best thing to do to rude people…Ignore!!! LOL Thanks for the recipe…I have always loved certain brands of Thousand Island Dressing…especially the ones where you cannot taste the sweet pickles…those I don’t care for. Do you think dill relish would work as a substitute for the sweet in this recipe?

  5. LOL…a recipe set a reader off?! I hope she calmed down enough to realize there are bigger issues to get up in arms about besides ketchup & mayo!

  6. Dear Melissa, I was so pleased to see your link to my blog http://www.chewingthefat.us.com and my story about Thousand Islands Dressing. I too was attacked somewhat ferociously by the same rude individual! Isn’t it amazing that food, which has the capacity to bring people together, should be the subject of such a vendetta! I loved reading your blog and I send you every good wish for continued success!

    1. My pleasure, Monte! I’m so happy you wrote back. Yes, this individual seemed to have it out for me as well. She “stalked” my blog for months and left nasty comments. Such a strange reaction to a recipe. Oh, well. 🙂 Thanks for visiting! Best, ~Melissa