MY FAVORITE PART OF THE HOLIDAY MEAL IS
at the beginning, when my brother-in-law is shak-
ing up drinks and I’m finishing carving the ham and
laying the roasted salmon on a platter for the buf-
fet my big family devours. That’s when everyone
is arriving, and that’s when the dips come out: my
cousin’s tortilla dip, with salsa and gooey melted
cheese; the zesty dip for crudités my aunt makes,
a simple mustard-and-mayo blend spiked with
curry powder; my sister’s creamy bread-bowl
concoction chock-full of water chestnuts
and seasoned with vegetable soup mix. I
love them all. I love digging into the lay-
ers of onion, chopped egg, and sour
cream beneath the surface of briny
roe on my grandmother’s caviar dip.
I love scooping up molten mouth-
fuls of spinach-artichoke dip. I
adore the luscious, dairy-fat cha-
risma of these bowls that kick-
start the holiday meal.
But there’s one dip in my
repertoire that wasn’t just for
special occasions; it was an
everyday dinner in my child-
hood home. Amid the pizza and
Chinese takeout my mother
often fed us, from time to time
there’d be a real treat: a bowl of
clam dip that my mother whipped
up for us to excavate with potato
chips. She’s never been big on cook-
ing, my mom, but she is very big on
love. With the luxe version I dreamed
up—with shallots, Worcestershire sauce,
and crème fraîche—I hope I can show that
I’m big on both. (Dip into my family’s favor-
ite recipes, at right.) —BETSY ANDREWS, CON-
TRIBUTING EDITOR
MOM DIPS 2.0
FOUR-LAYER CAVIAR DIP
ACTIVE 15 MIN; TOTAL 2 HR
15 MIN; SERVES 12
Lightly grease a 6-inch ring
mold with cooking spray.
Stir together 6 large chopped
hard-cooked eggs, 2 Tbsp.
sour cream, 2 Tbsp. mayon-
naise, and^1 / 2 tsp. salt in a
medium bowl. Spoon egg mix-
ture evenly on bottom of pre-
pared ring mold. Top evenly
with 1 cup rinsed and dried
finely chopped red onion. Stir
together 8 oz. softened cream
cheese and^1 / 3 cup thinly
sliced fresh chives in a bowl,
and gently spread over onion;
top with 2 oz. black caviar.
Refrigerate 2 hours. Unmold
onto a serving plate or platter,
and serve with crackers.Source sustainable
caviar from Passmore
Ranch. ($84 for a
30-gram jar,
passmoreranch.com)