There is something about the simple wedge salad that has always appealed to me. I first encountered it during a meal at a UK steakhouse chain in the mid 1970s, and
after one bite of the crisp iceberg lettuce topped with creamy blue cheese dressing and
chunks of bacon, I was hooked. It’s been my choice of appetizer at countless steakhouses
in the 30-plus years since then.Unlike some salads (like the Waldorf and the
Caesar), there are no restaurants that lay claim to creating this particular dish.
However, by the middle of the 1950s and well into the 1960s, it was almost ubiquitous on
menus throughout the United States.Unfortunately, like so many dishes from the
60s, it went out of fashion for a while, particularly as new and more “exotic”
salad leaves appeared that made the iceberg lettuce look rather plain by comparison. But I
am delighted to see that, in recent years, the wedge salad has begun to make a serious
comeback. A new generation of diners is waking up to the fact that a salad that requires
only four or five ingredients can be just as glorious as one that has dozens.It’s easy to understand why. The combination of fresh, crunchy iceberg lettuce
with the salt of a great blue cheese and the bite of bacon is the perfect way to wake up
the appetite before attacking a large slice of dead cow.There are lots of new
takes on the original recipe, using different cheeses, different dressings and even
different leaves. But to understand why this salad became one of the most popular
restaurant appetizers for well over a decade, you have to go back to the original.Here is my favorite recipe for a classic wedge salad. Ingredients (serves 4)
For the blue cheese dressing:
½ cup crumbled blue cheese (I like to use Maytag, but have also
made this with Roquefort, Gorgonzola and even Stilton) ¼ cup of yogurt¼ cup of sour cream¼ cup buttermilk 1 shallot (finely
diced)1 clove garlic, minced (Some people use garlic powder, but I like the kick of
a fresh clove of garlic.)1 teaspoon white wine vinegar1 pinch salt1
pinch black pepper
For the salad:
1 head of fresh iceberg lettuce (any leaves that are beginning to brown removed) 4
slices of thick-cut bacon. (Cut into thin batons. I like to use smoked bacon, but regular
is fine, too.)4 chives (finely sliced)