Wedge Salad With All the Fixins

Author Notes

A wedge salad is one of those retro dishes that needs no improvement. Add a martini and a shrimp cocktail and I feel like I’m out for a Mad Men–era power lunch (after which I’ll promptly need a power nap, but the meal is totally worth it). Crunchy iceberg lettuce, just-enough-but-not-too-much blue cheese dressing, salty bacon, cherry tomatoes popping like Gushers with each bite. It’s the kind of salad for which you need a knife, fork, and large napkin, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Classic wedge salad obviously needs blue cheese dressing, which is extra rich—necessary, as iceberg is basically water that you can slice and chew—thanks to sour cream and mayo smashed into the cheese. (And by the way, do yourself a favor and don’t buy pre-crumbled cheese ever again. Its more robust flavor is well worth the extra 6 seconds it takes to break apart your own.) At the same time, you’ll welcome tang from lemon juice and buttermilk in the mix to cut through the fat of the dressing and the bacon. Speaking of which, having made this both with and without the bacon, I’ll say the meat is totally unnecessary, and if you’re feeding vegetarians, there’s really no point in turning on the stove for salad—just be a little more heavy-handed with the salt, maybe quickly drizzle over some olive oil when you’re seasoning the lettuce, and everything will be great.

When it comes to serving, you could of course politely dress individual plates with a thick wedge and all the fixins, but I’ve found that 1) this feels a little too retro, bordering on stuffy, and 2) I always want more than one piece, regardless of whether there’s more meal to come. So I prefer to load up a big serving platter with fully dressed wedges and lay it on the table. Some people will have one; others will have three, and it all works out.
—Rebecca Firkser