There’s nothing more American than dips, and in celebration of this unquestionable fact, I’m going to hold an unofficial taste test of Trader Joe’s dips at least once a month. Two dips will face off head to head, and the winner will go to the next round to battle the other winners until there is only one remaining dip champion. For the premiere event, we have Blue Cheese Roasted Pecan Dip competing against Sun Dried Tomato & Pesto Torta. Maggie and myself are the judges; think of us as Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson respectively.

First came the blue cheese dip, a risky and unusual rendition of the creamy dip, and I said, “Yo, dawg, I’ve worked with blue cheese before, and your version worked all right for me tonight.” Maggie’s response was to weep maniacally at how good the dip tasted.

Then the torta took the stage—it was a layered performance of sun dried tomatoes topped with pesto topped with cream cheese, and I said, “The vocals had too many runs for me and you started out pitchy, but you worked your thing.” Maggie told the torta it looked beautiful in that dress.

Then our curmudgeon showed up late to the show—we will call him Simon—and said, “I don’t know what Paula and Randy are talking about, blue cheese dip is thrashing about on stage like a drunk dad at a wedding, and I don’t even taste the roasted pecans in this.” But since Simon came late, he didn’t get a say, and Blue Cheese Roasted Pecan Dip was the unanimous winner.

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Assessment: We all agreed both dips are good. They’ve earned their place in the competition and are worthy of party appetizer status, but Maggie and I thought the blue cheese dip was more unusual—it’s also very strong, so you can’t be a blue cheese waffler with this one.

Applications: You can serve this dip with crackers, apples and pears, but here’s a way to turn it into an easy, elegant appetizer: smear baguette slices with a thin layer of blue cheese dip, fold a layer of prosciutto on top, top with pear wedges, sprinkle with brown sugar and toast in the oven.