Wedge Salad

The wedge belongs to the early-twentieth-century American vogue for iceberg lettuce, a crisphead bred to survive cross-country rail shipping that made crunchy lettuce available nationwide. A wedge of lettuce with blue cheese dressing appears in print as early as Marion Harris Neil's 1916 cookbook, before bacon and tomato became standard; the Manhattan steakhouse Delmonico's claims to have originated the dish in the 1930s, though such restaurant attributions are self-asserted and hard to verify. After fading mid-century, it was revived as a steakhouse signature from the 1970s on.

The first forkful is all cold, watery crunch from the iceberg, then the dressing hits — thick, tangy, and funky with blue cheese — followed by the salty crackle of bacon and a burst of sweet tomato. There is little to chew and everything to contrast; the appeal is texture and the pungent dressing more than the lettuce itself. Iceberg must be ice-cold and freshly cut, or it goes limp and watery and the whole thing falls flat.

Leaving the iceberg in a wedge rather than tearing it preserves the head's structure, so the leaves stay rigid and audibly crisp and the cold, high-water cells hold their snap. The lettuce is kept ice-cold, sometimes chilled in ice water, because warmth wilts it fast. The dressing is an emulsion thickened with mayonnaise and sour cream and studded with crumbled blue cheese, whose mold-ripened proteins give the sharp, salty, ammoniac punch; it is poured on thick because the lettuce itself is nearly flavorless and serves mainly as a cold, crunchy vehicle.