What is your favorite salad?

[Gifted Gourmet]

article on the history of salads

the nineties introduced arugula and purslane as rediscovered treasures. And, unbelievably, the fiddlehead fern has made some brief appearances as a rare delicacy. The salad cheese of choice? Anything from a goat. And for dressings, we discovered white truffle oil near the end of the decade, eked out by the drop to flavor sauces and salads.

This coincides with the ongoing and current thread on salad bars, but is different ...of salad bars ...and dodo birds ... not in the same bowl ...

This article made me nostalgic for those salads of yore ...

If I only had one salad to eat, I'd opt for _________________.

Me? Cobb Salad: the right proportions of ingredients, chopped into a uniform (small) size, and mixed with a creamy, tangy dressing.

[jsolomon]

While I really like the thai salad they talk about, and Shogun in Lincoln has a really good Japanese-ish ginger dressing on their salad, if I had to choose only one to eat for the rest of my life it would be the one left off of the list.

I would eat Seizure Salad (Caesar Salad) as my only salad if forced under penalty of death to choose.

[BarbaraY]

If I could have only one it would be Romaine and Belgian endive with pears, walnuts and Gorgonzola, garlicky white wine vinaigrette. It's good with Balsamic vinaigrette but it looks awful.

Cobb salad runs a close second.

I just love salads!

[Shalmanese]

If I could only have one salad, it would be loaded with all the good stuff. Steak, Grilled Chicken Breast, Shrimp, Seared Tuna, Avocado, Cheese Shavings, Garlicky Croutons, Bacon, Pancetta, Heirloom Tomatos, Cherry Tomatos, More Bacon, Shallots, Red Onion, and a handful of Cos Lettuce. Probably with a thick, creamy dressing.

Sure ascetism and a careful balance of minimal ingredients is nice once in a while. But not if it were my only option.

[petite tête de chou]

A couple favorites spring to mind...

Wedges of iceberg with homemade blue cheese dressing (extra, extra blue cheese) I like a good Thousand Island dressing on iceberg wedges, too.

A mixture of greens (romaine is a must), home-grown tomatoes, thick slices of red onion, garlicky croutons and a simple vinaigrette (using really good olive oil) .

Cobb salad is super tasty. But that has sooo much stuff in it that, somehow, it seems more than "just" a salad.

[Artichoke]

My all time favorite salad and one of the only salads I will ever order when I am dining out is served at Ouest restaurant here in Manhattan. Slices of smoked sturgeon with frisee, lardons and a poached egg on top. The warm yolk, mixing with the silky smoked sturgeon and salty, smokey lardons, all offset by the crunchy frisee, heaven.

[ninetofive]

A salad caprese and only in August and September, when the tomatoes are luscious and the basil's heady. With buffalo mozzarella cheese, good olive oil, a sprinkle of ground pepper, and the crunch of sea salt ... I'm in heaven.

[Chris Cognac]

a wedge of chilled iceberg with blue cheese and crisp real bacon, with some cracked pepper on top and a bit of balsamic....oh yea!

[Bueno]

Tomato, balsamic, basil, buratta or mozarella, olive oil, salt and pepper! Caprese!

Watercress, watermelon, fried garlic, lime, olive oil, salt and pepper.

My 2 favourites, by a country mile.

Panzanella is also lovely.

[JAZ]

I really like a lot of different salads, but for nostalgia's sake, I'm going to say a wilted lettuce salad with red leaf or butter lettuce, sliced onions, and hot bacon and vinegar dressing. It's one of the salads I grew up with, and it's still great.

[mizducky]

To judge purely by the frequency with which I make and eat it, my favorite salad seems to be that pico de gallo/chopped salad thingie I evolved on my own--diced tomato and cucumber, sliced scallions, other cubed veggies as available and appealing (daikon, jicama, etc.), seasoned with chopped cilantro, a tart vinaigrette, and sometimes some minced jalapeno.

I also love a good big restaurant chef salad--but only if they keep the iceberg lettuce to a minimum or go with some other greens altogether, and preferably if they use real meats rather than julienning up some glorified lunchmeats.

Oh, and then there's the deli-takeout smoked whitefish salads of my youth in the burbs of NY -- but yummy as those are, I tend to think of them more as bagel spreads than "salads" as such.

[chef koo]

a wedge of chilled iceberg with blue cheese and crisp real bacon, with some cracked pepper on top and a bit of balsamic....oh yea!

←

ditto. minus the balsamic and heavy on the bacon.

caesar as well. heavy on the bacon

[johnsmith45678]

I like all salads, for the most part. Since nobody's mentioned it - Waldorf salad.

[nessa]

There's this layered salad that I just adore. Its got baby spinach, peas, sour cream, red onions, cheddar cheese, bacon, and olives. So my fav is either that, or spinach drizzled with hot bacon grease and lemon juice.

[BarbaraY]

I like all salads, for the most part. Since nobody's mentioned it - Waldorf salad.

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I haven't thought about Waldorf Salad in a long time. I just may make one to go with the grilled chicken this evening. Usually, when I think of salad, I think of green stuff with additions, For instance, last evening we had spinach with pickled beets, green onions, dried cranberries, and toasted pecans.

edited for grammer.

Edited June 22, 2006 by BarbaraY (log)

[sparrowgrass]

What JAZ said--wilted lettuce. Or tomatoes right from the garden, chunked up, dressed with olive oil, cider vinegar and a clove of garlic mashed to a paste with plenty of salt. Throw some cukes in there, too.

[Dave Hatfield]

I'm in the Cobb Salad fan club. Wilted lettuce comes second. Followed by Nicoise.

Does anybody know the history or origin of Cobb Salad?

[dano1]

I'm in the Cobb Salad fan club. Wilted lettuce comes second. Followed by Nicoise.

Does anybody know the history or origin of Cobb Salad?

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bob cobb, the brown derby in l.a.

[VenerableBede]

oh, i'm embarrased to talk about my favorite salad- let me preface by saying that i was in pittsburgh.

was at a small bar/restaurant across the street from pnc park, and friends and i were looking for place to eat before the gates opened. found this place that would serve food, and, against all my prior desires and instincts, i opted for the salad. why? well, since we were in pittsburgh, the "salad" was topped with mozzarella and included, sprinkled throughout, boneless chicken wings. yum!

[misstenacity]

Wow, I thought the answer to this question was easy - COBB - but then when I really started thinking about it things became more complicated.... So my list is all rated #1, because they all are fantastic for their own reasons.

1. Steak salad w/ arugula & romaine. Rare/bloody steak, blue cheese, bacon....

1. Cobb salad, with everything under the sun on it.

1. Green Papaya salad, made "non-whitey THAI hot".

1. Caprese, but only in late August with stunning tomatoes.

1. "The Wedge" with fantastic gorgonzola and that icy crunch.

Yikes. I do loves me some salad. Not that that's a bad thing, of course.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[andiesenji]

Bread salad with a rustic bread, torn into chunks, fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped red onions, sweet butter lettuce, salt & pepper and a drizzle of fresh walnut oil and a spritz of one of the very old, very sweet balsamic vinegars.

I also am a big fan of the Cobb salad. The very first one I had was at the place it originated, the Brown Derby in Hollywood, in October 1958. It was the best!

Edited June 22, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Does anybody know the history or origin of Cobb Salad?

←

the history of Cobb salad with recipes for the original & dressing

the history of Waldorf salad with recipes

KitchenProject.com has a lot of great information!

[Jason Perlow]

I love a good spinach salad with some type of crumbly blue cheese, apple slices, pecans or walnuts, and some sort of warm bacon dressing.

A properly, classically prepared-at-table Ceasar doesn't suck either.

[BarbaraY]

Does anybody know the history or origin of Cobb Salad?

←

the history of Cobb salad with recipes for the original & dressing

the history of Waldorf salad with recipes

KitchenProject.com has a lot of great information!

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I found the recipe for the dressing to be rather wishy-washy. A former employer who had had the salad in the original Brown Dreby agreed. Perhaps we needed a more acid vinegar.

I had it first in MacArthur Park in San Francisco and it was served with a lemony dressing.

Edited June 22, 2006 by BarbaraY (log)

[Daddy-A]

1. Pear & Stilton Salad at the Hammie.

2. Waldorf Salad (while watching Fawlty Towers)

3. "Golden Glow" Salada - a jello/carots/fruit concoction my grandma used to make. I seriously miss both.

4. Anything that ends in "Slaw"

A.