I always thought that my mother plucked this dip from a 1980s suburban ladies’ home magazine, but she recently told me I had no idea what I was talking about. “Hey, my cucumber recipe came from my last apartment building before dad and I were married,” she emailed me. “I walked into my neighbor’s place and her roommate had just made it and I could smell the cool cucumber. She won a prize at a county fair for it.”

The judges at that mid-1960s Boone County Fair knew what they were doing. My mother’s co-opted it as her own and used it to improve four decades worth of back-yard barbecues. Like her, I’m a sucker for the light scent of the cucumbers. I’ve always thought of it as the cooler, easy going brother of sour cream and onion dip.

Ready

• 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2Tbsp mayo
• ¼tsp worcestershire sauce
• small onion, grated
• ½ cucumber, grated
• squirt of lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• bag of crinkle potato chips

Set

• medium mixing bowl
• grater
• fork
• serving bowl
• plastic wrap

Go

1. Add the first six ingredients to the mixing bowl and begin mixing together with the fork. (If the cream cheese is straight out of the fridge you’re going to have trouble.) As you’re mixing add dashes of salt and pepper, making sure to always add a little more pepper than salt as the potato chips will be salty as well. Mix until well-combined but not so well that there aren’t a few small chunks of cream cheese left.
2. Dump or spoon dip into serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours so the flavors can combine or, in the case of the onion, mellow out. Give it a quick stir with a fork before putting on the table.
3. Open bag of chips. Dip.