By Rachel Hergett EBS COLUMNIST
Let’s talk lettuce. Imagine the lowly iceberg, its lumpy round head wrapped in plastic. It’s the most basic, the most boring of any grocery store’s selection of leafy greens. The lettuce was designed for longevity and first sold as iceberg in 1893 by W. Attlee Burpee and Co. out of Philadelphia.
“By reason of its remarkable solidity and crisp, crystalline appearance it well warrants the name—iceberg,” that year’s Burpee’s Farm Annual states.
Throughout the next half a century, iceberg was made ever more popular for its transportability: it could be shipped fresh across the United States.
Now, iceberg is the stuff of school lunches. It’s the ranch-doused salad in retro diners. It’s the lettuce you use for a crunch on your sandwich that allows other ingredients to be the star. It’s so often overlooked, the poor afterthought of the produce aisle.
There is, however, one notable exception, one place where iceberg really shines: The wedge salad.
The wedge was created in the 1930s by Oscar Tucci at Delmonico’s, a still-popular New York City steakhouse. Though it first was known as “hearts of lettuce salad,” as per the book “The Delmonico Way,” the construction and ingredients haven’t changed in the last century. A wedge salad was, and is, simply iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and bacon with a blue cheese dressing.
There is something craveable about how the unctuousness and slight funk of that chunky, creamy blue cheese dressing contrasts the crisp green lettuce—cut in a wedge shape to retain the maximum crunch as diners cut through with a steak knife. Add in pops of salty bacon and sweet tomatoes, and the wedge salad is a study in contrasts and elegance without fuss. There’s beauty in the simplicity.
I have a list of places I go in Bozeman when I’m fiending for a wedge salad, including Copper, Sidewall Pizza, Ted’s Montana Grill and The Rib and Chop House. In service to this column, I attempted to look up others. Montage Big Sky’s Backcast restaurant has a “wedge salad” on the menu that sounds drool-worthy, with crisp iceberg lettuce slices topped in smoked tofu, daikon radish, apple and toasted walnut crumbs and doused in a carrot ginger dressing. This is a salad I would gladly order. But if I came into the restaurant craving a wedge salad, it would not satisfy.
I contend that it takes more than a wedge of iceberg to make a wedge salad. I know, I know. The name comes from this particular cut of this particular lettuce, but when someone mentions a “wedge,” it is generally considered to be this particular type of steakhouse or classic wedge.
Though they are a dish I often crave and like to have at a restaurant, you don’t have to go to a steakhouse to have a wedge. Born out of necessity and the ingredients already on hand at Delmonico’s, a wedge is one of the simplest of salads to make. It’s mainly about assembly.
For your prep, gather ingredients. You need iceberg lettuce, crispy bacon bits, tomatoes and a blue cheese dressing to start. I usually add some red onions or fried shallots—or both—and drizzle with a balsamic reduction. Don’t sleep on some fresh cracked black pepper over the top.
If you’re feeling fancy and really want to amp up your wedge salad, roast the tomatoes to bring out more sweetness and flavor. To do that, roll them in some olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 350F for a half hour. Then turn on the broiler and give them another five minutes to brown on top.
I also tend to make my own dressing, which is really just ranch dressing with a whole heap of blue cheese crumbles added.
So yes, a wedge salad—like the iceberg lettuce at its base—seems basic. But as food costs are on the rise, maybe it’s time to give basic its due. With its rich history, fancy restaurant roots and humble ingredients, this beloved dish has somehow found a way to straddle the simple and the decadent. It’s a wedge for all time.
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
