Ingredients
Leaves
- 1 headromaine
- ½ headiceberg
- 1 bunchwatercress
- ½ headchicory
Rows
- 2chicken breasts, cooked and diced
- 6rashers streaky bacon, crisped and crumbled
- 3hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 2avocados, diced
- 2tomatoes, deseeded and diced
- 150 gRoquefort or another blue cheese, crumbled
- 2 tbspchives, snipped
Dressing
- 60 mlred wine vinegar
- 1 tsplemon juice
- ½ tspWorcestershire sauce
- 1 tspDijon mustard
- 1 clovegarlic, crushed
- ½ tspsugar
- ½ tspsalt
- ¼ tspblack pepper
- 180 mlolive oil
Directions
- Chop every leaf finely, far finer than you would for an ordinary salad and close to 1 cm. This is a chopped salad, and the point is that a single forkful carries all of it at once.
- Toss the chopped leaves together and spread them across a wide shallow platter.
- Dice the chicken, tomato, avocado and egg to roughly the same size as the chopped leaves, so nothing dominates the fork.
- Lay the ingredients in distinct parallel rows across the leaves: chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, tomato, then blue cheese.
- The rows are the dish. It is arranged to be looked at first and tossed at the table afterwards, and a Cobb that arrives pre-tossed has skipped half of what it is.
- Whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire, mustard, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper together, then whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream.
- Scatter the chives over the top.
- Bring it to the table intact, let everyone see it, then pour on the dressing and toss it thoroughly in front of them.
- Dress it at the last possible moment. Cut avocado and dressed leaves both go limp within minutes.
Technique
- It is attributed to Robert Cobb of the Hollywood Brown Derby, who is said to have assembled the first one from icebox leftovers in the 1930s.
- The dressing is sharp rather than creamy, which is what carries the blue cheese and the bacon.
- Four different leaves is not fussiness. The mix of soft, crisp and peppery is doing real work.
Substitutions
- Turkey in place of chicken, which is closer to the original.
- Any blue cheese, though Roquefort is what the Brown Derby used.
- Little gem and rocket if watercress and chicory are hard to find.
Variations
- With prawns instead of chicken.
- Without bacon, for a lighter plate.
- Chopped fine and used as a sandwich filling.
History
A composed salad of chopped lettuce, tomato, bacon, hard-boiled egg, chicken, avocado and blue cheese, arranged in distinct rows rather than tossed together, invented in 1937 at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, generally credited to owner Robert Cobb, who is said to have created it from leftover ingredients found in the restaurant’s refrigerator late one night while looking for a snack. Its now-iconic presentation, ingredients kept in separate visible rows rather than mixed, is often explained as originally serving a practical purpose, letting diners see and choose to include or leave out specific ingredients before the salad was tossed at the table, rather than being purely a visual or aesthetic choice from the start.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cobb salad?
Cobb salad is a salad & side from United States: chopped salad of chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, blue cheese. A composed salad of chopped lettuce, tomato, bacon, hard-boiled egg, chicken, avocado and blue cheese, arranged in distinct rows rather than tossed together, invented in 1937 at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, generally credited to owner Robert Cobb, who is said to have created it from leftover ingredients found in the restaurant’s refrigerator late one night while looking for a snack. Its now-iconic presentation, ingredients kept in separate visible rows rather than mixed, is often explained as originally serving a practical purpose, letting diners see and choose to include or leave out specific ingredients before the salad was tossed at the table, rather than being purely a visual or aesthetic choice from the start.
How long does Cobb salad take to make?
Cobb salad takes 30 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Cobb salad?
Yes, within limits. Turkey in place of chicken, which is closer to the original. Any blue cheese, though Roquefort is what the Brown Derby used. Little gem and rocket if watercress and chicory are hard to find.
What is the most important thing to get right in Cobb salad?
Chop every leaf finely, far finer than you would for an ordinary salad and close to 1 cm. This is a chopped salad, and the point is that a single forkful carries all of it at once.
