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Hello everyone:

Last evening I dined with friends in their home. The center piece of the
meal was a dandy seafood salad. They offered a choice of two dressings,
but urged me to try their latest cooking "project" - a Green Goddess
dressing. I have had no serious experience with Green Goddess salad
dressing in it's art form, just the green stuff to squirt on lettuce
that goes by that name. I was impressed with the result of their
endeavor and surprised at how well the tarragon in the dressing
presented the vegetation to my palate, it was delicious. I am impressed,
and wish to add this item to my "presentation dinners" menu list.

I have checked my cookbooks and the Internet for Green Goddess Salad
Dressing and found a hodgepodge of references. An URL that purports an
original recipe is:

http://members.cox.net/jjschnebel/grgdssdr.html

Looking over this recipe to understand it's concept I see a couple of
things I want to understand.

First is the anchovy filets that are included, why? This is remarkable
to me because I am studying Thai cuisine, and I am stumped why that form
of cooking calls for fish sauce in so many dishes when I can hardly
detect it's presence. And when I do, it is likely to taste nasty to my
occidental tongue. My current theory is that bottle of fish sauce is a
Thai equivalent of my salt cellar.

It is all a mystery to me why anchovy fish are a major ingredient in
this salad dressing. Is it there to present salt to the diner? I would
welcome comment from this group on this subject.

Second is the tarragon. This is a herb that has never seemed sensual to
my palate. It is currently not represented in my spice rack. But my
dining experience last night has focused my curiosity upon it. How do
others use this ancient herb in their cooking? Again, I would welcome
comment from this group on this subject.

And I would enjoy anyone's thoughts or stories regarding Green Goddess
Dressing.

Enjoy your day.

Kit

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