Reader recipe swap: More ways to replicate Mac’s House dressing

Mac’s House dressing saga, Chapter 3:

In this column and on our www.dfw.com food blog, comments are still flying about the real, authentic salad dressing from Mac’s House.

Having lived in Fort Worth only five years, I’d never dined at any of the restaurants owned by legendary local restaurateur Willis "Mac" McIntosh, so I was grateful to Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy for taking me to lunch at the old-school Cattlemen’s Steak House in the Stockyards. He says the Cattlemen’s dressing so closely approximates the Mac’s dressing as to be indistinguishable to his palate.

The salad, with Romano cheese and sesame seeds, and the dressing, with its blue-cheese tang, must have been quite a revelation to Fort Worth diners back in the ’60s, when all three of those ingredients were considered fairly exotic, in this part of the world, at least.

This time around, we heard from Mike Powers, who was manager of Mac’s House from 1969-80. He notes that the original recipe came from Howie Wrentmore, who owned the House of Mole — renamed Mac’s House after McIntosh bought it.

"When 'HOM’ was purchased by Willis McIntosh (Carriage House), all recipes were included in the sale," as well as much of the staff, two of whom were responsible for making the dressing, according to Powers.

"Later on, it was hard to get the powdered blue cheese," which was once a grocery-store staple, he notes. As we mentioned two weeks ago, Michael Thomson sells it at Fort Worth’s Michaels restaurant on Seventh Street.

Powers sent us a photocopy of a notebook page he says was torn from the House of Mole recipe book. The recipe specified only the ingredients; Powers walked us through the preparation. The salad itself, Powers notes, contained iceberg lettuce, Romano cheese and toasted sesame seeds.

Mac’s House dressing

Yields 1 gallon

1/4-ounce each Accent seasoning (monosodium glutamate), black pepper, garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt

1/2-ounce each mustard flour and celery salt

14 ounces powdered blue cheese

20 ounces (1  3/4 cups) each water and red-wine vinegar

64 ounces (8 cups, or 1/2 gallon) cottonseed oil

1. In a large mixing bowl, blend dry ingredients (this can be done in advance and stored).

2. Add water and red-wine vinegar to dry ingredients, blending thoroughly. Then, whisking constantly, add the cottonseed oil in a slow, steady stream.

Nutritional analysis per 2-tablespoon serving: 147 calories (93 percent from fat), 15 grams total fat (4 grams saturated), 3 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram protein, 136 milligrams sodium, trace dietary fiber.

— Courtesy of Mike Powers, Fort Worth