Cobb Salad

The Cobb salad was created at The Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood in 1937 by owner Robert Cobb. The original and defining ingredients are: chopped romaine lettuce, watercress, endive (chicory), ripe tomatoes, cooked chicken breast, crispy bacon, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, Roquefort (blue cheese), and chives. The salad is traditionally dressed with a red wine vinaigrette and arranged in neat rows of each ingredient across the lettuce base, then tossed tableside. In modern versions the watercress and endive are often omitted and any blue cheese may replace Roquefort. The combination of protein (chicken, egg, bacon), fat (avocado, cheese), and fresh greens is the essence of the dish — all three should be present. Corn, croutons, or other additions are not part of the original recipe.

The Brown Derby's original Cobb salad dressing is a red wine vinaigrette: red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, sugar, salt, black pepper, and olive oil (or a mix of olive and vegetable oil). It's sharper and more savoury than a standard vinaigrette because of the Worcestershire. A good homemade version: 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire, 1 small garlic clove (minced), a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper, and 6 tablespoons olive oil — shake in a jar. If unavailable or if you prefer a creamier dressing, a classic blue cheese dressing (buttermilk, sour cream, crumbled blue cheese, garlic, lemon juice) is an excellent match and very common in American restaurants. Ranch dressing is another popular substitute but is milder and not traditional.

Dry chicken in a Cobb salad almost always comes from overcooking the breast, which has very little fat and dries out quickly above 74°C. The best methods for juicy chicken: poach the breast gently in barely simmering water with salt, a bay leaf, and peppercorns for 15–18 minutes (for a 200 g breast) — it should reach 74°C internally. Let it rest for 10 minutes before chopping. Alternatively, brine the chicken first: dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in 500 ml of cold water, submerge the breast for 30–60 minutes, rinse and pat dry, then cook as normal. A third option: use rotisserie or store-bought cooked chicken, which is often more moist than home-poached. If pan-cooking, sear in a hot pan then finish in a 180°C oven — never cook past 74°C internal temperature.

Cobb salad holds up better than most composed salads because its components are hearty, but it still requires some planning to prep ahead. What can be done in advance (up to 24 hours): cook and chop the chicken, fry the bacon and crumble it, hard-boil and peel the eggs, wash and dry the lettuce. Store each component separately in the fridge. What must be done just before serving: halve or dice the avocado (it browns within 30 minutes even with lemon juice), chop the tomatoes (they release water), and assemble the rows. The dressing should be added tableside or just before eating — dressed lettuce wilts quickly. If you need a fully pre-assembled salad, cover tightly with cling film pressing against the surface and refrigerate for no more than 1–2 hours.

The traditional presentation of Cobb salad is in neat parallel rows (stripes) of each ingredient laid across a bed of chopped lettuce: a row of tomatoes, next to it a row of chicken, then bacon, then egg, then avocado, then blue cheese, finishing with chives. This stripes presentation shows off all the components at once and lets guests see exactly what they're eating. Serve the dressing on the side and toss at the table. All ingredients should be chopped to a similar, bite-sized size of roughly 1–2 cm — this is not a salad where the components are left in large pieces. In casual serving, everything can be tossed together, but the row arrangement is what makes a Cobb salad recognisably a Cobb. Whichever way you serve it, the key is even chopping so every forkful contains a bit of everything.