Iceberg Wedge Salad

The American steakhouse classic: a cold quarter of iceberg lettuce drenched in thick buttermilk blue-cheese dressing and scattered with crumbled bacon, halved cherry tomatoes, chives, and more blue cheese, eaten with a knife and fork

Origin: United States

From the journey of Lettuce.

The wedge salad is a monument to the American iceberg lettuce, the crisp, watery, pale-hearted crisphead that California perfected and the refrigerated railway carried across a continent. The conceit is deliberately, almost defiantly simple: a head of iceberg is cut into quarters through the core so each wedge holds together, set cold on a plate, and smothered in a thick, tangy blue-cheese dressing, then strewn with crisp bacon, sweet cherry tomatoes, sliced chives or red onion, and a final crumble of blue cheese. There is no tossing and no finesse; the salad is eaten with a knife and fork, each forkful carrying the cold, juicy crunch of the lettuce, the cool richness of the dressing, and the salt of the bacon all at once. It rose to fame in the American steakhouse of the mid-twentieth century, where its cold crispness was the natural foil to a charred slab of beef, and where the very plainness of the iceberg, so often dismissed as the least flavourful of lettuces, became the whole point: the leaf is a vehicle for crunch, chill, and contrast. After decades out of fashion it returned as a knowing retro classic, and it remains the definitive way to show off the one quality the iceberg has above all others, an almost glassy, refreshing crunch.

Ingredients

The Salad

1 large firm head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves removed, cut into 4 wedges through the core
6 rashers smoked streaky bacon
150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp chives, finely sliced (or thinly sliced red onion)

Blue Cheese Dressing

100 g blue cheese (such as Roquefort or Stilton), divided
80 ml buttermilk
3 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp soured cream
1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Cook the bacon in a dry frying pan over medium heat until deeply crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, cool, and crumble or chop into small pieces.
Make the dressing: mash about two-thirds of the blue cheese with a fork in a bowl. Whisk in the buttermilk, mayonnaise, soured cream, and vinegar to a thick, pourable dressing with some lumps of cheese remaining. Season generously with black pepper.
Keep the iceberg wedges in the refrigerator until the moment of serving so they are ice-cold and crisp.
Set a wedge on each plate, cut-side up. Spoon the blue-cheese dressing generously over each, letting it run into the layers.
Scatter over the crumbled bacon, halved cherry tomatoes, chives, and the remaining crumbled blue cheese. Finish with a grind of black pepper and serve immediately, with a knife and fork.

Notes

Choose the heaviest, firmest iceberg you can find; a soft head will not hold its wedge shape. Roquefort gives the sharpest dressing, Stilton a milder, creamier one. The dressing can be made a day ahead and keeps well, thickening as it sits. For a lighter version, replace the mayonnaise and soured cream with all buttermilk and a little Greek yoghurt.

The Gastrographer

Name: Iceberg Wedge Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 1 large firm head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves removed, cut into 4 wedges through the core; 6 rashers smoked streaky bacon; 150 g cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 tbsp chives, finely sliced (or thinly sliced red onion); 100 g blue cheese (such as Roquefort or Stilton), divided; 80 ml buttermilk; 3 tbsp mayonnaise; 2 tbsp soured cream; 1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice; freshly ground black pepper, to taste

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control