Food For Thought

The Buffalo Chicken Dip

Growing up we all at one point or another found one meal that stuck out to us more than any other meal that our parents would make us, one that when we heard what was being made for lunch or dinner we immediately perked up and sometimes our mouths would start to water at the thought of the pending meal. Sometimes there is no reason behind a favorite meal other than the fact that you just truly enjoy the way it smells or tastes, some meals hold more value to us than one may realize at first thought. Certain foods we ate in our lives whether it’s a conscious or unconscious act on our parts are linked to specific times in our lives that hold greater value to us than the actual meal itself, for example it could be a meal that is only made for holidays, birthdays or celebration while others may pick that meal as their favorite since they enjoy making it with the person who taught them the recipe and are now passing it down to future generations. When posed with the question of what my favorite meal was and why the answer did not pop into my head instantly, rather appeared when I stopped and thought about why it would be my favorite meal did the answer present itself along with the memories that have caused the meal to hold a fond spot in my mind.

Christmas Eve 2008 my sister and I wait impatiently for my mother to finish making sure we’ve packed everything we needed before going to visit both sides of the family tonight. The oven’s timers loud beeps fill the otherwise quiet kitchen and my mother makes her way back into the kitchen to pull out the steaming hot casserole pan, placing the pan on the stove the smell of spicy rolls off of it into my nose and makes both my stomach growl and mouth water in excitement to be able to try the new dip when we arrive at my uncles house. Not that I’m trying to brag about it but my mom makes one of the best calzones I’ve ever eaten in my life, and I’m not just saying since she’s my mom, it became something of inside joke in my family that for family occasions my mom could only come if she made and brought a calzone for everyone. This year though due to her work becoming busy she had no time to make one for the holiday season and instead tried something new out to bring, a buffalo chicken dip a recipe she got from a friend, originally disappointed that there was to be no calzones when I got the first whiff of the new dip all disappointment vanished like the steam coming off the dip itself. By the time we got to my uncle’s house the entire car smelled of the dip and all 3 of us were just about starving, opening the door to my uncles house we were welcomed by the loud laughing and talking of my family that had arrived before along with all the other smells and sights over the other picky foods laid out on the table. Once we had finished all the rounds of saying hello and catching up with family did we make our way back to the table to try my mothers dip among other foods. Grabbing the crisp salty tortilla chip from the bright red bowl on the table and dipping it into the still rather hot dip I bring it up to my lips and blow as the steam radiating off, the bright orange creamy dip, and take the first bite. Almost instantly my taste buds are welcomed by the hot, spicy and smooth taste of the Buffalo dip and my stomach growls again as I reach for another chip to dip again and welcomed the taste again as I took another bite.

As the years went on the Buffalo chicken dip become a bigger and bigger part of holidays and family get togethers than one might have thought, for as one tends to look past the food on the table and enjoy the company, that is until its time to eat. Though my mother and sister have come to love the dip as much as I do, my father has never liked or been able to eat spicy foods, the recipe was not our own and until now I never stopped to ask my mother where she had first learned of the recipe and why she had decided to try it out herself, she paused before responding.

My friend Julie brought the dip to a holiday party one year.  I thought it was so yummy, and she told me it was very easy to make, so I asked her for the recipe.  I love that you can combine the ingredients in the morning, and put the casserole dish in the fridge until 20 minutes before guests are expected to arrive, and then you just place it in the oven. 

Pam Gorham

Being a mother to two, as she’d put it-crazy, little girls is never a easy job for anyone so when a quick easy recipe for a meal pops up and on top of that mostly everyone in the family loves it, it’s

usually earned a place in the “family” I was also curious to see if like me she also contributed the dip to family occasions which turned out to be a feeling we both shared

I love the buffalo chicken dip dish because it means we are either having a party, or going to one.  I don’t make the dish for just our immediate family of 4, because it is meant for a crowd.  I like hosting a crowd, most of the time!  I like it even more when I am bringing the dip to someone else’s house.  That means I get to enjoy a crowd, but I did not need to clean the house before or after the party!

I think anyone who likes buffalo chicken flavor would enjoy the dip.  You get excited when I make the dip and enjoy your share of it!  You even help eat leftovers the next day, if there are any.  I like that the dip never goes to waste.  I do have to remember to not leave the dip out for too long, or the leftovers would go bad and then have to be thrown out

Pam Gorham

and for the record my sister had her own share as well it wasn’t just me eating it all the time. The dip wasn’t just a food we brought to parties or family gatherings, when the week nights were busy with sports jobs or we just did not have time to make a 5 course meal we’d make the dip and sit around the table and talk about our days and what exciting and not so exciting things happened, but the second most memorial times we ever made the dip was for watching

the Patriots games. Family and friends are well aware of the fact that my father is about the biggest Patriots supporter there could be and gets “a little” to into the games so when there is one, most of the time we keep it to just the four of us, but that doesn’t mean we never make any finger foods to eat while watching them and the main one was once again the buffalo chicken dip, while my father whose still not a fan of spicy would usually have other picky foods such as scallops wrapped in bacon.

Although my mother and I shared the same thoughts of how the dip reminds us of holidays and being with the family, we do not share the same thoughts of it being both our favorite meals. When people ask me what my favorite food is the answer probably would not be the buffalo chicken dip but when asked about a favorite meal and why the dip seemed like the best choice that had the most meaning, when I asked my mother what her favorite meal was I was not surprised to hear that it was not the buffalo dip though it remains high up on the list for her. When I asked her what her favorite meal was and why her response was

I like the dip, but it is not my favorite meal.  My favorite meal is boiled lobster.  I love lobster mainly because it is so tasty, but it also symbolizes a special event.  I only have lobster during the summer, down the Cape, or I used to have it on Christmas Eve before I met Dad.  An Italian tradition is to celebrate “Feast of 7 Fishes” on Christmas Eve.  I didn’t eat 7 fish types, but I definitely enjoyed the lobster and probably some shrimp cocktail.  You know I miss this tradition, but when I eat lobster, it brings back special memories.

Pam Gorham

For anyone who knows my mother her response would not surprise them in the least for we are all aware of how much she loves lobsters. When she was a child and my age she would often cook with her own mother in the kitchen for she had 4 brothers and no sisters to play with when she was younger so she would cook with her mother, a tradition that she’s passed on to me and my sister. Though I am certainly no cook, I enjoy sitting in the kitchen and talking to my mother while she bakes, as for my sister she enjoys baking and cooking more than I do so when she helps my mother in the kitchen its usually less talking and more cooking but my mother has stated that she loves both ways just as equally. On occasion my mother will try to get me to help and learn how to cook certain things so I could do it when I live on my own or I got an apartment near campus senior year we wouldn’t have to get take out all the time, although take out would probably taste better than anything I would ever cook.

Though on occasion there are a few things that enjoy helping make and one of them as always been the buffalo dip since it’s a easier recipe and it brings back memories of being younger again or that first Christmas Eve when we brought it to my uncles house. The recipe for the buffalo chicken dip is not complicated and does not need all day to prepare like

some meals do and the dip itself does not take long to cook making it a quick easy meal or appetizer:

Buffalo chicken dip recipe:
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup blue cheese dressing
1/s cup hot sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese  
2 cups shredded chicken