Layers

I’ve got lots of them; my dips don’t

Layered dips, do you know them? 

I’ve always taken against them but never really given them a chance. I think my feeling about them, which I’d never really articulated before I thought about writing this, was that if I’m making a dip or dips, I want to see and experience the splendour of each dip I’ve made on its own. And if I’ve made a number of dips that complement each other, that’s lovely, but I still want to have control over what I combine, and how I do it, with each bite. Plus, I like having a number of dips on the table, I’m only human. 

This is a largely irrelevant but undoubtedly nice photo by Ella Miller of the cashew, kale and Parmesan dip in The Joy of Snacks, one of my fave dips

I can be kind of old school like this, though. For instance, at the weekend I saw something in the supermarket called a ‘burger melt’, which is a slice of cheese made round so it fits better in a burger. Some of them are flavoured with chipotle, say, or harissa. I just would never be a person buying these when we already have cheese, knives and condiments. I’ve got nothing against the melts, and I do love seeing the kooky stuff supermarket development chefs are up to, it’s just that I am and have always been obsessed with not being ripped off, which means I’m narrowing my eyes in a Larry David style at the burger melts.