DIY Wedge Salad Party Bar & The Different Types Of Lettuce
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INTRODUCTION TO THE WEDGE SALAD Homemakers were fans, too. Even James Beard was a fan, recommending mixing the crisp leaves with other greens. Instead, foodies filled their shopping carts with romaine plus arugula and radicchio. Those with access to specialty greengrocers could get butterhead lettuce (Bibb, Boston), Little Gem (miniature romaine), and leaf lettuces (green leaf, red leaf, oak leaf, and the hard-to-find lollo rosso [a subcategory of red leaf]). Yet, hardy, crunchy iceberg still accounts for 70% of the lettuces raised in California (down from 80% in the mid-1970s, however). It’s still popular in food service (commercial, institutional), at salad bars, and at casual restaurants. And thanks to the retro food movement of the past decade, iceberg lettuce has returned to restaurant menus beyond the steakhouse, in the hearts of lettuce salad now known by a trendier name: wedge salad. Let the wedge salad add fun and crunch to your meals. If you have a daily dinner salad, feature the wedge once a week. Turn it into a DIY salad buffet for family and guests. An ingredients list is below. May is National Salad Month, June 24th is National Wedge Salad Day, and October 18th is National Blue Cheese Day. Below: > The history of iceberg lettuce and the wedge salad. > How to create a DIY wedge salad bar. > Homemade blue cheese dressing recipe. > Wine pairings with blue cheese. > The different types of lettuce. > The year’s 14 lettuce holidays. > The different types of cheese: a photo glossary. > Great American-crafted blue cheeses. > The year’s 40+ salad holidays. > The year’s 30 cheese holidays. > The history of blue cheese and blue cheese dressing. > Point Reyes Farmstead’s famous blue cheese dressing and dip recipe. |
 [1] California wedge salad with prosciutto crumbles. Here’s the recipe from Little Broken (photo © Little Broken).
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 [6] It’s impressive but easy to make (photo: The Nibble). DIY WEDGE SALAD BAR At THE NIBBLE, we’ve added a lot to the simple wedge salad. Call it a DIY, customized, or signature wedge salad, it’s a fun munch. At the end of the list, there is an ingredients for 8 servings. The Must Haves We’re hardcore blue cheese fans, but not everyone loves it. Provide an alternate dressing, such as ranch or Thousand Island. Our first tip: Buy a decent blue cheese: Gorgonzola, Roquefort, whatever. It’s the major flavor component. You don’t need to buy the very finest; but don’t go for the cheapest unless you can taste it first, to see that it’s up to par. This recipe is from Point Reyes Farmstead, a California dairy whose blue cheeses are out of this world. You can mix the crumbles in with the parsley after the base has been blended, or serve them separately in a ramekin. 1. PULSE the mayonnaise, blue cheese, buttermilk, shallot, lemon zest and salt in a food processor or blender to make a chunky dip and dressing. 2. STIR in the parsley and season with plenty of pepper. 3. USE immediately or refrigerate in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days. You’ll love it. These wines were selected to go with blue cheese dressing, but you can use them with others as well. Blue cheese is the most demanding of the dressings. Because blue cheese is high in salt, fat, and “funk” (the mold Penicillium roqueforti), you need wines that can either provide a big contrast—sweetness—or match the blue’s intensity—high tannin or high acid. If you want to host a tasting with the blues we’ve shown above, consider a wine from each group: Add Some Nibbles. Include a tray with walnuts, dried figs, sliced baguette and honey, and other bites. See the †footnote below. The saltiness of blue cheese and the sweetness of dessert wine is a world-class pairing—much like salted caramel. This is the “gold standard.” Powerful Red Wines With Blue Cheese If you plan to serve red wine, you need a “big” red. With blue cheese, light reds can taste bitter. Oxidative* wines will appear to connoisseurs or those with adventurous palates. Their nutty, salty notes mimic the complexity of the blue veins. The crisphead (iceberg) lettuce variety is relatively new in the history of lettuce cultivation (see the different categories of lettuce, below). Crisphead lettuce was a mutation: A grower discovered a different-looking, sweeter-tasting head of lettuce in his field. Liking its flavor and superior crispness, he teamed with other growers to breed it to be even better. Thus was born what we today call iceberg lettuce. The new variety became a top seller and remains so. It was called crisphead, its given varietal name, until the 1920s. It subsequently acquired the name iceberg because of its ability to be transported for long distances when packed on ice. Before the iceberg named settled in, it was also called cabbage lettuce, for its resemblance to cabbage. In 1894, a Burpee seed catalog exclaimed, “There is no handsomer or more solid Cabbage Lettuce in cultivation.” Numerous varieties of crisphead were developed, including varieties with reddish leaves tinged with green and varieties with scalloped edges. While they did not enter the mass market, you can still buy the seeds from specialty sellers. Period cookbooks, newspapers, and culinary reference books date the popularity of iceberg lettuce salads to the 1920s. But the general consensus is that the wedge salad with creamy dressing became a ubiquitous menu entry in the 1950s. [source] Who served the first “hearts of lettuce salad,” as it was then called? Likely it was a steak house, given the popularity of that type of restaurant in the 1950s and the [still] ubiquitous presence on those menus. But as with so many things, we can only give credit to “an unknown cook.” There are four basic types of lettuce: butterhead (photo #5), iceberg (photo #5), leaf (photo #6), and romaine (photo #7), along with hundreds of hybrids bred from them. Iceberg Lettuce: Also known as crisphead lettuce, iceberg is the most popular type of lettuce in the U.S. It’s the crispest and hardiest of lettuce varieties, lasting twice as long in the fridge as long as most other varieties. The downside: It’s not as flavorful or nutritious as other lettuces. Batavia, also known as French crisp and summercrisp, is another member of the crisphead sub-category. Butterhead Lettuce: Comprising Boston and bibb Lettuces, these are small, loosely formed heads of soft, supple leaves. Boston is a larger and fluffier head than bibb; bibb is the size of a fist, and sweeter than Boston. Both are excellent for lettuce cups. The leaves are sweet and tender. The downside: They’re highly perishable and bruise easily, and are pricier than iceberg and romaine. Buttercrunch lettuce is also a member of the butterhead category. Leaf Lettuce: Also known as looseleaf, cutting or bunching lettuce, this category does not form a head. Instead, the leaves branch up from a single stalk. The leaves are very tender and are often seen in baby lettuce blends. The burgundy tint of red leaf lettuce and the spicier, nuttier oak leaf lettuce add charming color to a mixed green salad. The downside: Leaf lettuces are more perishable than head lettuces and wilt easily. They are used mainly for salads. Romaine Lettuce: Second in crunchiness to iceberg lettuce, romaine, also called cos, is a stalk lettuce that grows in upright stalks. The crunchy center ribs make the leaves sturdy, and they have a pleasant bitterness. Romaine is used mainly for salads and sandwiches, and is the lettuce used in Caesar Salad. When the outer leaves are trimmed, the smaller ones (sold as hearts of romaine) can be used as “boats” to hold protein salads (egg, chicken, tuna, etc.). Cos is the European term for romaine. Summercrisp Lettuce: Also called Batavian or French crisp lettuce, this variety falls midway between iceberg and leaf lettuces. They are very crisp like romaine, but sweet and juicy, without bitterness (photo #9, below). The shape of the summercrisp plant is initially open, much like a loose-leaf lettuce. It then matures into a heavy, compact bunch or head. Stem lettuce: Also called celtuce, celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, or Chinese lettuce (among other names), stem lettuce is grown primarily for its thick stem rather than for its leaves (photo #8). The stalk is used in Asian cooking (primarily Chinese), as well as stewed and creamed dishes. It can also be shaved into ribbons for a salad. In a salad, the leaves are indistinguishable from other lettuce. The stems are traditionally stir-fried in Sichuan cooking. Prized for its woody stem, which looks like a thick asparagus stalk or wasabi root, celtuce has a nutty, cucumber-ish flavor. The stem can grow to 10-12 inches in length. Non-lettuce: Garden lettuce belongs to the aster or daisy family (Asteraceae), the genus Lactuca, and the species L. sativa. We’d be remiss not to mention great greens that are not in the lettuce family: arugula, Asian greens (bok choy, mizuna, tatsoi), chard, chicory/escarole/radicchio, dandelion, endive/frisée, greens (beet, collard), kale, mâche, spinach, and watercress, among others. Most of these fall into three botanical families: *Oxidative wines have been deliberately exposed to oxygen during the winemaking process. Oxygen has a big impact on wine as it ages and if used improperly it can be a flaw. Oxygen is the enemy of most wines, dulling the flavors and leading to premature aging. It there’s too much of it during the winemaking process, or after bottling, the wine can become oxidized (not oxidative), a major flaw. But deliberate exposure to oxygen during aging creates a distinctive category of dessert wines generally referred to as oxidative or rancio (in Spanish). The leading examples are Sherry, from Spain; Madeira, from the island off Portugal; and the vins doux naturels from Maury and Banyuls in the Languedoc region in France; Marsala from Italy; and Port from Portugal. There are also non-fortified oxidative wine styles like Vin Jaune from France’s Jura region. These wines are intentionally exposed to oxygen and wood to develop rich, nutty, and dried fruit flavors. ‡Iceberg lettuce was developed in 1894 by the W. Atlee Burpee & Company of Pennsylvania, and introduced in their seed catalog as a groundbreaking “crisphead” lettuce. It was developed from French Batavia crisphead varieties. Burpee promoted it to growers for its ability to produce solid, crunchy heads, even in the hot summer sun of California—a significant improvement over heat-sensitive lettuces. While some stories suggest the name “iceberg” originated in the 1920s when train cars full of lettuce were packed with crushed ice—looking like “floating icebergs”—the name appears in Burpee’s catalog of 1894. Burpee chose the name to highlight the lettuce’s “ice white” interior and crystalline, crunchy texture. By the mid-20th century, iceberg had become the most popular lettuce in the U.S. due to its success in being shipped long distances from California to the East Coast without wilting, and its long shelf life in-store and at home once it arrived. CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
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