In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make three dips that will level up any dinner party. These hummus, french onion, and spinach artichoke dips are packed with flavor and will make great additions to your table.
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00:00I'm Frank Proto, professional chef and culinary instructor,
00:02and today I'm gonna show you how to make
00:04three of my go-to dips at home.
00:06French onion, hummus, and spinach artichoke.
00:09This is Dips 101.
00:13I love making my own dips at home
00:14because I control what goes in them.
00:16I'm always gonna choose the best ingredients
00:19for the people that I love.
00:20If you buy them at the store, you don't know what's in them
00:23or they might have preservatives that you don't want.
00:25You could also control the seasoning, spice level.
00:28You're always gonna get a better reaction
00:30and people will be blown away with how much better they are
00:33than if you bought them at the store.
00:37Chef, you're making French onion dip.
00:39Why wouldn't you just use the packet?
00:41I'm telling you, this is going to be miles ahead
00:45of just using the packet.
00:46You're choosing your ingredients,
00:48you're taking care and love,
00:49and people are gonna love it so much more than the packet.
00:51Take the time to do it.
00:53French onion dip has most of the components
00:55that French onion soup has in it.
00:57So I wanna start out by caramelizing my onion.
00:59I have a nice big stainless steel pan.
01:01Put it on high just to start.
01:03And I wanna get my pan nice and hot.
01:05I start out with high heat and then I lower it down.
01:07I'm using a neutral oil
01:09just to get the bottom of my pan coated.
01:11So you can see that my oil
01:12is starting to get a little shimmery.
01:13Whenever I add things to the pan, I add them away from me
01:17so I don't get burned.
01:18Snap, crackle, pop.
01:19That's what we want.
01:20Sizzling, not steaming.
01:21Leave it on high heat for a few minutes.
01:23Add salt now.
01:25The salt right now is just gonna draw
01:27some moisture out of the onions.
01:28You can see I'm starting to get brown already,
01:30and that's good.
01:31But if I leave this at this high temperature,
01:33things are gonna get brown too quick.
01:35I have some fresh thyme and I have some bay leaf.
01:39I leave it whole because then it's easy to take out.
01:41I'm just gonna lower my heat a little
01:43and let those sugars caramelize.
01:45These onions are gonna take about 10 to 15 minutes.
01:48Don't rush this.
01:49You don't wanna burn them.
01:50My heat's a little high.
01:51I'm gonna lower it just a little.
01:55So you can see that my onions are nice and brown.
01:57They've actually gotten translucent
01:59and they're cooked all the way through.
02:00They're soft.
02:01We wanna stop here.
02:02Hit it with just a touch more salt.
02:03Put this onto a tray.
02:05Flatten it out so that it cools faster, right?
02:08And it doesn't overcook.
02:09I'm gonna put it in the fridge.
02:10Caramelized onions are cool.
02:12You can make this dip a couple of days ahead.
02:14It's actually better the longer it sits.
02:16Sour cream's going in the bowl.
02:17Use full fat sour cream, please.
02:19Mayonnaise has a little zing.
02:21It has some nice flavor.
02:23Get my caramelized onions into the bowl.
02:26Onion powder, garlic powder are some of the things
02:28that people don't think chefs would use.
02:30When I was a younger cook or a younger chef,
02:32I would never use onion powder,
02:34but I've come around on it.
02:35It has a lot of strength,
02:36a lot of onion flavor in a small amount.
02:38Another thing that I'm using that's a convenience product
02:41is actually a beef bouillon powder.
02:43It has a beefy, rich, meaty flavor
02:45because a lot of French onion soup has beef broth.
02:47A lot of the stuff we're putting in our French onion dip
02:50mimic what French onion soup tastes like.
02:52Black pepper, always fresh cracked.
02:56Now, we have to be careful with the salt
02:57because we have the beef bouillon powder in,
03:00so I'm gonna go light on the salt for now,
03:03and then I'm gonna add sherry vinegar.
03:04If you can't find sherry, use what you got.
03:06It's kind of like a secret ingredient that chefs use.
03:09If something's a little dull and lackluster in a sauce,
03:12a little lemon juice, a little vinegar, and it pops.
03:15And now all we have to do is just mix this together.
03:18We wanna get that onion powder,
03:20and we wanna make sure that that beef bouillon powder
03:23is broken up and not in lumps.
03:25I wanna taste it now to make sure
03:27that I have the seasoning correct.
03:29As you get things colder, the seasoning is a little dulled,
03:32so I want this to be just a little more
03:35than what I would normally season,
03:37so give it a little taste.
03:39I'm gonna add a pinch of salt
03:41and just a little more black pepper.
03:43If you look at this, it's kind of liquidy.
03:45If we put this in the fridge,
03:47it's actually gonna firm back up again.
03:49It's gonna absorb all those ingredients.
03:50It's gonna equalize,
03:51so it'll be a nice, thick, creamy, rich dip.
03:54It goes in the fridge.
03:55It's gonna rest, and then we can eat it.
03:58Look at that.
03:59My onion dip has sat.
04:01You see it's gotten a lot thicker.
04:02The color changed as well.
04:04It got a little browner.
04:05Some of that caramelized onion kind of seeped out into there.
04:08So let's plate it up.
04:09No wimpy bowls here, right?
04:11I get a little bit of this caramelized onion that we saved,
04:14and we're gonna just try and put it around.
04:15And then I have some fresh thyme leaves,
04:17that I'm just gonna kind of like dot around.
04:19And at the end of the day, like, yeah,
04:20you could use the packet, but look at this.
04:22Come on.
04:23You serve this to someone, and they're like,
04:25wow, Frank actually cares about me.
04:27What would onion dip be without
04:29a nice, big bag of ruffled chips?
04:32Make sure we get a little bit of everything in there.
04:37It has a ton of zing to it.
04:39The fresh onions just make this, like,
04:42super, super savory and delicious.
04:44If you take the time to make this and say,
04:46hey, look, I made some onion dip,
04:48people will be blown away.
04:49It's that much more delicious
04:51than anything you could buy in a package.
04:55Hummus is a dipper spread that you'll see
04:57throughout the Middle East.
04:58Hummus, when I was younger,
04:59wasn't in the national consciousness of America.
05:02Now, hummus is everywhere.
05:04You can buy the stuff at the store prepackaged,
05:06but this one is, like, a thousand times better.
05:09The base of hummus is chickpeas.
05:11We do have canned chickpeas here.
05:12And canned beans, to me,
05:14are one of the best convenience products out there,
05:17just for the fact that they're cooked really, really nice.
05:20But for my hummus, I like to cook them just a little more.
05:23This step, where we boil them for about 20 minutes,
05:26makes our hummus super creamy, super smooth.
05:29If you don't have the time for this,
05:30use it straight out of the can.
05:31I save the liquid from the chickpeas
05:33in case I have to adjust the final consistency.
05:36These beans are going.
05:37I'm gonna cover them up and just let them simmer away.
05:39We don't want this to be a hard boil.
05:41If it's boiling, they start to break up
05:43and they fall apart completely, and that's not what we want.
05:46My chickpeas have been simmering for about 20 minutes.
05:49Shut it off, bring it over to the sink,
05:51and I'm gonna dump all that liquid out.
05:52We don't need to save that.
05:54If you look, some of the skins are coming off.
05:56They're starting to split in half, and that's what we want.
05:59So I cooked the chickpeas, got them nice and tender.
06:02I've let them cool.
06:03All we really have to do is make the dip now.
06:04Take my chickpeas, they all go in.
06:07At this point, I'm going to add a little bit of garlic.
06:10About two cloves here.
06:12It depends on what you're looking for.
06:13Are you looking for super garlicky,
06:16or are you looking for just a little bit of garlic?
06:18I think two medium cloves like this are really good.
06:21Just give it a little whack right into your food processor.
06:26I have some fresh cumin.
06:28People have a love-hate relationship with cumin.
06:30I think that as long as it's a nice background flavor,
06:34it gives a little body to it,
06:35it gives a little earthiness to the finished hummus.
06:37I would not skip the cumin.
06:39I have some lemon juice.
06:40I'm gonna start out with half a lemon.
06:43I'm gonna save the other half, and when I taste it,
06:45if I need a little more, I'm gonna put more in.
06:47Hit it with some salt right now.
06:49Extra virgin olive oil has a little bite to it.
06:51It adds a little more creaminess.
06:53And one of the key ingredients to a great hummus
06:56is a really nice tahini.
06:57It adds creaminess, it adds nuttiness to it.
07:00This one is just basically ground up sesame seeds,
07:04and I'm not shy with it.
07:05This amount of chickpeas, I'm using a quarter cup,
07:07so it is a fair amount.
07:09And then all we really have to do right now is puree.
07:11We want it to be nice and smooth.
07:13Take time and let it go.
07:16So I can see right away, right?
07:18I'm gonna shut it off.
07:18I can see right away it's too thick,
07:21and that is why I saved my chickpea juice from the cans.
07:28So I'm gonna let it puree for a second and then go again.
07:34Scrape down your sides one more time.
07:37I think this consistency is beautiful.
07:39When you run your spatula through it,
07:41it kind of holds its shape.
07:45And here's the most important part at this time, right?
07:48I have a spoon, and I'm gonna taste.
07:50Biggest mistake home cooks make
07:51is they do not taste their food until it goes on the table.
07:57It's good, but it needs more salt,
08:01and it definitely needs a lot more lemon juice.
08:06Right, a little more olive oil,
08:09and believe it or not, a touch more salt,
08:12and we're good to go, I think.
08:16One last taste.
08:19Really nice, lemony, a little sharp.
08:21What hummus is not complete without an assortment
08:24of things to dip in that hummus?
08:26We got some beautiful veggies.
08:27We got some pita bread, and then I have garnishes.
08:30You want things to look good as well as taste good.
08:32Take our spoon, and we're gonna push it to the edges.
08:36Add my olive oil.
08:37This is extra virgin, and we want it to be,
08:40not necessarily swimming in it,
08:41but we do want it to have a nice amount of olive oil.
08:44With my parsley, I'm just gonna pick some leaves
08:47and spread them around.
08:49Parsley's gonna add some freshness to this,
08:51some brightness, gets yourself some nice sea salt.
08:55Not because we didn't season it well,
08:57but a little crunch of salt is really nice,
09:00and then some of our Aleppo pepper
09:02gives us this nice smokiness,
09:03and this is how I make hummus at home.
09:08It's got a smooth, creamy, silky texture.
09:11We get that pop of lemon juice,
09:13and then the earthy garlic at the end.
09:14Make hummus.
09:15Take the time.
09:16Do it for yourself.
09:17Do it for your family.
09:18Do it for yourself.
09:21Spinach and artichoke dip is a dip I make
09:23for almost every single family occasion.
09:25Part of the reason why I choose to use
09:27canned artichokes and frozen spinach is
09:29they are very hard to deal with fresh.
09:31Spinach, you have to wash several times.
09:33You have to blanch it.
09:34You have to chop it.
09:35Same thing with artichokes.
09:36Super seasonal, super expensive
09:38if you buy them in the store.
09:39I'm gonna start out by putting my cream cheese in, right?
09:42Cream cheese I have is room temperature.
09:45This is about eight ounces,
09:46and this whole brick goes in.
09:48Mayonnaise.
09:49This gives us a little bit of textural difference.
09:52It helps make it a little smoother,
09:53but it also gives a little zip to this.
09:55So I'm just gonna basically put
09:56like a pinch of chili flakes in.
09:58I have some garlic powder,
10:00and then I have some Parmesan cheese.
10:02I like to use extra virgin olive oil,
10:04and then salt and pepper.
10:06So this is the base for our dip.
10:08We're gonna puree this until it's nice and smooth.
10:13Which it is.
10:14I don't have to taste it or anything.
10:15Artichokes go in first.
10:17We've drained them.
10:20Pulse, pulse, pulse,
10:21because we still wanna have a little bit of texture here.
10:23So what I like to do with the spinach is get in there,
10:26and if there's a lot of excess liquid,
10:27this one's actually nice and dry,
10:29and then throw that in there as well.
10:30If you don't take the liquid out,
10:32our spinach and artichoke dip's gonna be watery and wet.
10:35I want it to like stick to whatever I'm dipping in it.
10:37So I pulsed it with the artichokes,
10:40and now I'm gonna do the same thing with the spinach.
10:42I'm not gonna puree it super fine.
10:44Just pulse.
10:51Give it a quick scrape down.
10:54I think it needs a little more salt,
10:55a little more olive oil as well, and that's it.
10:57So unlike our onion dip, which was a little thin,
11:00and it thickened in the fridge,
11:01what's gonna happen to this is once we put it in the oven,
11:04it's gonna get like a little thinner,
11:05and it's gonna get gooey,
11:07because all that cheese is gonna melt,
11:08and our cream cheese is gonna melt.
11:10So I want this to be a fairly thick consistency
11:13where it holds onto the spatula.
11:16When I serve my spinach and artichoke dip,
11:18I like to use a cast iron skillet
11:19or something heavy like that that retains the heat,
11:22so that when I put it in the oven,
11:23not only does the dip get hot,
11:25I take it out, I put it on a potholder or a trivet,
11:27and it stays hot for a little while.
11:29Don't be shy with the cheese.
11:31This is gonna help get it nice and bubbly and brown on top.
11:33So all I gotta do right now is take this,
11:36put it in a 300 degree oven, and get it nice and hot.
11:39Fresh from the oven, super hot.
11:42There is a nice crust of Parmesan cheese on top.
11:45If you can't get it crunchy like that,
11:46throw it under the broiler for a minute or two,
11:49and it'll give you that nice, crunchy top.
11:50Serving this with some crostini.
11:52It's just a baguette with some olive oil, a little salt.
11:55It's baked in the oven till they're crunchy.
11:56All right, ready to get in there.
11:58Let's see what we can do.
11:59Look at that.
12:00You get a little bit of the top.
12:05It's creamy, it's artichoke-y, it's spinach-y.
12:10It's got a nice, cheesy crunch from the top.
12:11It'll hold on to your crostini.
12:13This is a real stick-to-your-ribs type dip.
12:15I've actually had this for dinner before.
12:18My dips are gonna be better
12:19than anything you can buy in the store, I guarantee it.
12:22The ingredients are better.
12:24The time that I put in has made them much more delicious
12:27than anything you get in a package.
12:28It's totally worth making your own dips.