The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, August 10

Hello, all!

Every time I get started on the Hoddle, I hope that Getty uploaded some new pictures of the women’s team at training, but as you can tell, I’ve got nothing. Old pictures of Son Heung-min aren’t so bad, though.

Ramble of the Day

Let’s start the week with a take; whether it’s hot or not is for you to decide. I know ranch’s claim to fame is as salad dressing, but its worst use is as salad dressing.

I say this, taking into consideration that I’m remarkably picky about salad dressings and that I used to dislike ranch. The truth is that I pigeonholed ranch for a while, thinking it could only be a salad dressing when it doesn’t actually taste that good mixed with vegetables (and occasionally, croutons). It’s not like I wasn’t exposed to the combination of chicken wings and ranch at that point, but my opinion was already shaped on ranch being bad because I didn’t think it was a good salad dressing.

I have since gotten around to eating ranch on other things — last night, I had it with some fried chicken and fries. I thought about how it’s pretty great that ranch exists outside of salads (there’s a great piece from The New York Times about ranch as “the one true American dressing”). Ranch tastes pretty good with chicken, fries, tortillas, and probably a few other places like as a dip for carrots or celery. While it does pair well with some vegetables, it is truly a bad salad dressing.

Ranch is creamy, but not particularly light. Something like fried chicken, for example, can handle a thick dipping sauce, but I don’t think salads are great for thick dressings. A lot of times, they get in the way of the actual vegetables in the salad and especially in the case of ranch, the flavor is too overwhelming for a salad. Ranch is best in small doses — dipping a little bit of a fry into it, for example — but enough to coat some vegetables for a salad really eliminates the flavors brought by everything else there. Ranch isn’t complimentary in this format.

tl;dr: I believe ranch is pretty versatile and like it, but I do not think it’s best as a salad dressing.

Stay informed, read this: Sue Obeidi and Evelyn Alsultany on the increased and improved depictions of Muslims in Hollywood, and where the industry still has room for improvement for The Hollywood Reporter

Links of the Day

A former colleague said he witnessed Haitian FA president Yves Jean-Bart sexually abusing young female players.

Two people at Atléti tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the team’s Champions League match Thursday.

Juventus hired Andrea Pirlo to replace Maurizio Sarri.

League One and League Two will begin working with a salary cap.

The USL Championship game between Philadelphia Union II and Hartford Athletic was postponed after someone at the Union tested positive for COVID-19.

A longer read: Rory Smith asks (and answers) what happened to Arda Turan as his deal with Barcelona finally expires and he ends up with Galatasaray for The New York Times