This Cobb salad recipe is true to its historic roots. Cobb salad was named after its creator Bob Cobb who owned the famous restaurant, The Brown Derby, in Hollywood California. Legend has it that one night he was looking for a midnight snack, and pulled whatever he had in the fridge out, various greens, tomatoes, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, avocados, and cheese. He started chopping and topping it with bacon.
Some say it could have gone unnoticed if it wasn't for Sid Grauman, the man behind the intricate Chinese Theatre, who started to request the Cobb salad. True to Hollywood fashion it's all about who you know not necessarily what you know. Thanks to Bob Cobb, his late-night hunger, and a famous theater owner, we have a salad classic that you can find at just about every restaurant in the US.
Salad Ingredients:
- 1/2 head iceberg lettuce
- 1/2 bunch watercress
- 1 small bunch of curly endive
- 1/2 head romaine lettuce
- 2 Tablespoons chives, minced
- 2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced
- 1 whole boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and diced
- 6 bacon slices, cooked and diced
- 1 avocado, peeled and diced
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
- 1/2 cup Roquefort cheese, crumbled
French Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
1. Chop lettuce, watercress, endive, and romaine into very fine pieces. Mix in 1 large wide bowl or 6 individual wide shallow bowls. Add chives.
2. Arrange tomatoes, chicken, bacon, avocado, and eggs in narrow strips or wedges across the top of the greens. Sprinkle with cheese. Chill.
3. Meanwhile, to make the dressing, combine water, vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, mustard, garlic, and oils. Chill.
4. At serving time, shake the dressing well. At the table, pour 1/2 cup of dressing over the salad and toss. Pass the remaining dressing at the table.