I occasionally make a wedge salad at home and top it with either blue cheese dressing or a red sweet and sour dressing known in our family as Aunt Flora's Man-Pleasing Dressing, or a combination of the two.

Must-haves are diced tomatoes and onion, crumbled bacon and extra blue cheese.

I also like iceberg lettuce in a chopped salad.

Interesting....I asked what everyone put on their wedge salad....and got some interesting suggestions (think I better fry up some bacon for tonight's version!) and 3 people who posted to say how they hated wedge salad....hmmmm? Debbie downer anyone?....*wink*

Ruthanna... I need to know about that Aunt Flora's Man Pleasin' Dressing.....and how you make your chopped salad.
I have tried to make something similar to ones I have had......but it never works....all I know is lettuce, onions cooked pasta....ditalini or tiny shells, bacon, egg, dressing (?) and blue cheese crumbles. But it never really works.

Actually, Lindac, you got 5 yeas and 4 nays (5 if you count Elery), so it's nearly equal and most of the nays were actually about the way it was served, which is interesting to me. I didn't think that many people besides me had a problem with salad that's too "big" to eat conveniently.

And, I will point out that you do not hesitate to tell people that you won't eat/don't like/wouldn't serve an item and everyone takes that in stride since you often mention that you know everything. You knew you were going to get varying opinions so why would you be critical of that?

Annie

Wedge salads have been very popular around here the last few years. Most often serve with blue cheese dressing but often with a ranch or 10000 island dressing.

I make it on a regular basis, as we enjoy it. Must haves for us include bacon, tomatoes, hard boiled egg and if I ask, everyone wants my homemade 1000 Island dressing on it.

Nancy

Linda, I'm away from my recipes with just my iPad so won't be able to post the ones you requested until later this week.

Whether you call it a silk purse or a sow's ear, let's face it, it's still iceberg lettuce on a plate. I happen to like the crispness and yes the taste of iceberg but not overly fond of it by itself. If it's in a chunk, torn, cut or shredded, I'd still want to eat it in a similar way. Dressing would vary depending on the mood, bacon, egg, onion, carrot, probably radishes, occasionally something like sunflower seeds, possibly some ham, pepperoni, salami, turkey, chicken and/or cheese. Maybe some strawberries, apples or pears. Some like olives or cucumbers with their salad. Occasionally, a taco salad with salsa, chips and "taco meat". Iceberg holds up well to a taco salad application where others wouldn't.

I don't know if the rumor is true about using metal utensils on lettuce. (Any opinions?) If it comes in a wedge it needs to be cut up or you pick it up and eat it similarly to eating pizza except the toppings don't stay on as well. Sort of a kit form or DIY salad. If that's how you like it, do it. Nothing to get defensive over. Fajitas are another "kit form" dish.

There's a difference between using a metal knife to cut lettuce (supposedly makes the cut edges brown faster, don't know if it's true), but who ever in the world said you can't eat lettuce with a normal metal knife and fork??????

I love a wedge salad now and again. To me it's very retro and brings back good memories of my Mom serving especially " fancy" dinners. That and tiny, tiny shrimp in a glass dish smothered in seafood sauce.

I like mine with a wedge or two of tomato , a wedge or two of hard boiled egg, crumbled bacon with bleu cheese or thousand island dressing.

Here's my great-aunt Flora's dressing recipe as she wrote it. It's what was known as French Dressing in her era.

MAN-PLEASING DRESSING

1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. grated onion

Put in bowl and beat with egg beater until well mixed. Pour into pint jar and let stand overnight. Stir up before serving.

I have mentioned before that we have a family cookbook with the story of each of each recipe. I thought I'd include the story for this one.

AUNT BERTIE'S CHOPPED SALAD

Mix together in large bowl:
1 head iceberg lettuce, cored and chopped into 3/4 inch chunks
A handful of celery leaves and fresh parsley, chopped (don't omit)

On top, add but don't mix:
1/2 small or 1/4 large red onion, chopped
Tomatoes cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Sliced black and green olives

Sprinkle on top:
Garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper and celery seed, plus about a teaspoon of white sugar

Make dressing:
1 part red wine vinegar, 1 part olive oil, 1 part Crisco oil

Pour over salad right before serving and toss thoroughly.

THE STORY: Aunt Bertie and Uncle Carl had a small trailer (the term 'mobile home' hadn't yet come into use) in a trailer park on the end of Long Beach Island. When I was about 5, they bought a brand new trailer, which had room to sleep more than the 3 or 4 that the old one did. (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's trailer in the 1954 movie "The Long, Long Trailer" is the exact same model, only a different color.) So we'd usually go down for a week in the summer and sometimes my mom and I would stay an extra week with Jodi and Aunt Bertie while our dads returned to work that week.

We'd eat fried freshly caught fish nearly every night, along with corn on the cob and sliced Jersey tomatoes. Even though there was a stove and oven, they'd have 2 or 3 electric frying pans going outside on the concrete patio. Other nights, my mom would make a chicken "vacation casserole" in the frying pans or Aunt Bertie would make a big pot of spaghetti and a tossed salad. Her salad was so delicious and of course, was best in summer with the Jersey tomatoes but she'd make it in winter too - always in a giant stainless steel bowl.

Oh my!! Was this the north end of Long Beach Island? by the light house?...back when the lift bridge at Manahawken was the only way to get on the island?....nostalgia vibes shaking the house!!!

My mother believed that a knife would blacken lettuce....and some people had a plastic "lettuce knife" when plastic became available. My grandmother ( and also me....and my daughter too) bang the head on the side of the sink to remove the core and break up the leaves..except when making a wedge salad. I believe the origin of the myth was when knives were all carbon steel and most showed some rust.....they thought lettuce got rusty from the knife. Actually any time you expose a cut edge of the lettuce it will brown rapidly....rather like an apple.

I am on a wedge salad kick....the one last night with the bacon, tomato and the extra blue cheese was wonderful!

I still see those plastic knives for lettuce, although Grandma always told me that lettuce should never be cut, it should only be torn by hand, because the edges wouldn't discolor as quickly.

Is that true? Probably not, but I've always torn lettuce by hand anyway, one of those ingrained habits that I do by reflex without thinking of why.

Why? Well, because Grandma said so, that's why. (grin) She also banged the stem of the lettuce head to remove the "core" but she used the heel of her hand and gave it a good whack.

Iceburg lettuce was actually a big deal, mostly reserved for company, because we grew leaf lettuces in the garden and that's what we ate. I still remember the lettuce getting bitter and milky in the heat of summer, we'd stop eating it then and Grandma would plant a fall crop.

Iceburg, though, was used for lining the plate, topped with peaches and cottage cheese when the "ladies" were at the house for a PTA meeting or a church committee or for a special occasion, topped with some cold shrimp and cocktail sauce.

Annie

Well, you learn something new every day. I had never heard or nor seen wedge salad!

Most of the time I serve with blue cheese dressing but lately we have been using a Creamy Dill dressing.....and by the way HELLO...its been a very long time :)

Back atcha, Eileen!!
How do you make that creamy dill dressing?

For those unfamiliar with a wedge salad....there are lots of pics on the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: wedge salad

Chefs must love wedge salads, so easy to make ! I even had a wedge version of a caesar once, with long sticks of romaine piled high, dressing drizzled on top of it, I was not amused by this, lol.

I agree with Annie, chopped salads are the way to go.
Thick creamy dressings seem the norm for wedges, since it does not run off so much like vinaigrette would.

Most here know that I'm not a big salad fan. BUT, I actually like a wedge salad.

Like Sharon, I think of it as "retro". I'd be happy to eat Ruthanna's and Nancy's. Or Linda's with a blue cheese or Caesar dressing.

Mitch, One of my favourite ways to serve a caesar is with spears.

Your presentation is superb as always, Ann, your spears are separated, not piled up. I've had a caesar made of endive spears once, grab and munch.

So. you eat that with your fingers? What about the dressing, doesn't it get messy? Or do you cut it up with a knife and if so, how do you keep it from getting all over the table?

Nope, I'll pass on salads that look pretty but are complicated or inconvenient to actually eat.

Annie

"So you eat that with your fingers?" Annie, you can use your fingers if you want to. But I prefer to eat my salads with a fork and if needed a knife.

It isn't that unusual to have to cut some salad ingredients with a knife. In fact, I would prefer a salad that I have to cut than one where the ingredients are chopped into tiny pieces. Personal preference.

Thanks Mitch. Yes the spears have been separated. Although I have had grilled Romaine salads with just the hearts and the spears still attached. Best eaten with a knife and fork.

~Ann

I think most things are best served with a knife and fork, baked potato, broccoli spears, asparagus, whole braised carrots (sorry, Ann!) pancakes and sausage......

I may be odd....but I prefer my meat to be served in larger pieces and cut each piece as I want to eat it, rather than have it arrive at my place all cut up ready to eat....like you might do for a toddler.

On another note, my Chicago kids have decided that Caesar dressing is the new Ranch in that it serves as a dip for most food. They prefer to dip a leaf of romaine into the dressing rather than cut it up or have a Caesar salad served the usual way.

All the salads pictured here look divine. I prefer salads that I have to cut - I like the crunch of slicing through very fresh lettuce, which alway makes a salad tastes fresher to me - maybe because I eat it slower and really savor each bit. I've never thought of this as inconvenient, but I guess I like complicated salads ;)

Sue

I wouldn't mind cutting a wedge salad, or one like Ann's. But it does bother me when it's a regular salad and the leaves are so big I have to cut them. Wedge salads can be fun. I'm not usually big on iceberg lettuce but it has it's place- lettuce wraps, shredded on tacos, etc. I'm huge on texture and I think for some reason when it's in wedge form it just makes it taste better- maybe because you get the softer, darker greens at the same time as you do the crisper ones. I don't know. I just love food.

I love wedge salad too! and like Chase mentioned, it takes me back several decades....

"I love a wedge salad now and again. To me it's very retro and brings back good memories of my Mom serving especially " fancy" dinners. That and tiny, tiny shrimp in a glass dish smothered in seafood sauce.

I like mine with a wedge or two of tomato , a wedge or two of hard boiled egg, crumbled bacon with bleu cheese or thousand island dressing."

Mine has to be with Thousand Island or Bleu Cheese... fab memories of great times!

Alexa

I was curious about how retro wedge salads were so pulled out my 1925 Heinz Book of Salads. No mention of The Wedge but one of the first of the 100 salad recipes is "hearts of lettuce" salad, which is described as a head of lettuce cut into sections (usually quarters) and served topped with Roquefort or thousand island dressing.

The instructions said to first remove the outer leaves to use for lining the plates for salads like chicken salad, cut the lettuce head, soak the sections in icy cold water until chilled and then drain and place in a towel to dry.

I began to think about days of iceboxes and early refrigeration. Lettuce must have been low on the priority list for chilling, behind items like milk and meat.

Linda, we were on the southern end of LBI. Do you remember the Lucy Evelyn and Morrison's seafood restaurant? We used to attend Sunday morning Mass in the movie theater!

Yes.....although we most often stayed near the light house at Love ladies and Harvey Cedars, I sure remember the Lucy Evelyn....and eating raw clams out of the bay, and going down to the place where the fishing boats came in and buying the lobster that accidentally got into the pound nets.
Didn't go to Morrison's often.....it was expensive and a ways away from where we stayed.

hearts of lettuce....wedge....all the same...but think the term "wedge salad" became popular in the 50's.
The college I went to had a trust fund to provide lettuce at 2 meals a day for every student....I remember sometimes a platter with lettuce wedges being passed.

Ann T, there is no way I could cut up that salad on a plate and not make a mess although it does look lovely. And most restaurant salads are piled up high enough in the bowl that they can't be cut without scattering them about the table. I even remember a past thread complaining about food prep when pieces were too large to eat and many people said the same thing.

I always manage to get a piece that isn't quite cut through or is too crunchy to "fold", like the ribs on that romaine and I end up with a drop of salad dressing on the front of my shirt or a piece of lettuce in the corner of my mouth or something else totally inelegant and no way to gracefully resolve it.

Since I'm completely apathetic about lettuce anyway (I don't love it, don't hate it, just don't really care) it's not worth the trouble to me to mess with it if it's inconvenient, messy or if I'm just not sure it was well cleaned. I even break the stems off baby spinach because I always end up with one of those stupid little stems sticking out of the corner of my mouth or something.

And croutons, those are impossible. They are so big any more that they are at least two bites. You can't bite them in half and put the other half back on the salad and if you try to cut them you send a shard of dried bread like a missle across the table at your dinner partners.

You know, I'd resolved that I needed to eat more salad, now I've just talked myself right back out of it!

Annie

I've never thought much about using a knife with a salad. If I need it I use it, I don't find it at all awkward our annoying. Many of the salads I prepare require a knife. For example I never cut tomatoes in less than 1/4's or maybe 1/8's if they are large when making a tossed salad.

Now needing a knife for soup would annoy me !

LOL, Annie, I've got this image of you doing the black and white "before" portion of a Salad Shooter infomercial, salad flying all over the place! I don't have any difficulty using a knife for salad either, but oversized croutons are a PITA, I'll give you that! Add to the list uncut cherry or grape tomatoes.

Still, neither of those are as annoying to me as leaving the tails on shrimp that are not meant to be eaten by hand, unless they're U12 or larger and you're only dealing with a few. But evidently I'm the only one bothered by that and now I'm going too far off topic.

Back to the original question - I think any dressing would do, though I'd lean towards a creamy one for a wedge.

What's annoying is those waiters and waitresses that try
to take your salad away before you are done. I'm one who
likes to eat their salad with the main course, so I just
pick at it until the main course comes. AND if you tell
the wait person that you want to eat your salad with the
entre, they look at you like you're a weirdo, (I am, but they don't have to look at me like they know).

Did anyone else catch Lindac's college experience?? A trust fund to provide lettuce at 2 meals a day?

I'd love to hear more about the history of that.

seagrass

Did anyone else catch Lindac's college experience?? A trust fund to provide lettuce at 2 meals a day?

I'd love to hear more about the history of that.

seagrass

Oops...still on a learning curve with my iPad

Me too, Seagrass. But back to using a knife with your salad....that's okay with me except when the salad bowl (usually round) is piled so high that when you try to cut something you invariably scatter it on the table.

FOAS, a few years ago DH and I went out to eat in the spring or summer when fresh tomatoes were available and the salad had whole cherry tomatoes. When I started to cut one, it was like a tomato explosion! The seeds went everywhere...I had on a snow white blouse with a collar and every so often Bob would say Jude you've got tomatoes on your neck, collar or whatever. Fortunately no one was seated that close to us but from then on I always pierce my tomato with a fork (aimed away from me, of course LOL) before I try to cut it with a knife.

I worked in a nice cafeteria when I was in high school and the wedge salad (I just remember it being called head letuce salad) was one of the more popular ones and most people wanted roquefort or thousand island dressing. Never remember bleu cheese as a choice. I think french dressing was the only other choice. I don't remember when I last saw roquefort dressing on a menu as a choice.

Interesting thread and brings back memories. Thank you, LindaC.

jude

I searched the web and can't find any corroboration for my statement. but I remember.
It was the 50's and 2 meals a day there was lettuce on the table....always. never slaw or shredded carrots or that pea and hardboiled eggs and cheese that were popular in the day....only lettuce. Occasionally the bowl would contain some spinach leaves and lots of us picked them out if we had the opportunity. Sometimes it was a b owl of broken up lettuce, sometimes a platter of wedges, sometimes a couple of leaves with a canned peach half.
The word was that a former student left an endowment to be used for daily lettuce for the students.
The school is Mount Holyoke, in case someone is better at Googling than I am.
I have always loved ice berg lettuce. When I was in 7th grade I would eat a white bread, mayo and lettuce sandwich for lunch most days. My mother was horrified!!

Think I'll put a hard boiled egg and bacon on my wedge for dinner...I'm on a roll!! But a couple of months ago it was Greek salad....glad that's over....I get a deal on Blue Cheese but not Feta!

I can't ever remember eating iceberg lettuce growing up. My parents always planted a very big garden and we had leaf lettuce. I have yet to replicate the delicate flavor of the leaf lettuce and butter sandwiches my grandmother would secretly share with me when I was was young.

Since going through chemo, I cannot tolerate iceberg lettuce (amongst other things - sadly, chipotle chilis are another). So my go-to is romaine. Recently I've been finding these nice Little Gem lettuces that work so well. I used to buy them when we were living in the Netherlands and now they're reliably available here.

Eating a salad with a knife and fork doesn't bother me at all. I don't like everything pre-masticated. Sometimes the chopped salads are so chopped I feel like asking for a spoon.

seagrass

Do high school cafeterias even serve salads anymore? I can't remember ever seeing them, but I certainly wouldn't have been looking for them at the time.

Yep, Seagrass, I often eat my salad with a spoon. I do love iceberg, as well as a lot of other greens. Sometimes I will chop a whole lotta "stuff" really small (typically several kinds of lettuce, mushrooms, garlic, green onion, radishes, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs), salt it generously, mix it all up and let it set for at least 20 minutes. It wilts and gets "juicy". Then I add red wine or balsamic vinegar and a bit of olive oil and sit down with my spoon and ooh and aah over every bite. I don't usually like my salads cold, either. That started when I had a very sensitive tooth a few years back and I have been known to zap my salad for about 15 seconds before eating it. I found out that I actually like most things tepid, or at least room temperature. I think the flavors come through better that way.

The public school in my town serves salads....not every day....but a raw veggie or a cooked veggie or fruit is on the menu every lunch. Sometimes romaine salad, sometimes broccoli and carrots with dip sometimes cauliflower and broccoli with dip....and in the elementary schools there is always a baggie of raw carrots and/or an apple available.

ynnej, our small town school has an "ala carte" menu, and that always includes the salad bar. That consists of lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers, grated carrots, sometimes tomatoes. Croutons and sunflower seeds round out the selections. there was always a bowl of fresh fruit on the end, mostly apples, bananas and oranges. it comes separately from the main menu and so can be purchased separately.

Ashley usually got a salad and an order of bread sticks for her lunch all the way through high school, if she didn't carry a lunch from home. The rest of the cafeteria food was disgusting and neither of my girls would eat it.

Annie

Yes, Donna Loomis, hubs and I both like our salads warmish. Chilled plates, eeewww for us!

Glad to hear that about the veggies in schools.

Yep....they are "on the menu" and on the plates....but eaten?? Other than the carrots, not by many.

I agree, LindaC, the salads are available, but the kids with money to pay for anything other than the basic lunch will usually spend it on cookies and ice cream rather than the salad and fruit. Even more likely was that those kids would skip lunch altogether and buy the sports drinks and soft drinks available in the machines in the hall.

Annie

My experience is elementary kids.....
There is no opportunity to "buy" other food....just eat or bring a lunch.

This was 5th grade and up. 60% or so of the district's kids were eligible for free lunch, and that lunch met the federal guidelines but it included vegetables, not the "salad bar". For an additional amount they could buy "ala carte", which included the salad, fresh fruit, ice cream, cookies, chips, etc. There were also machines in the halls that had things like Gatorade and soft drinks. Those machines are even in the elementary school so if the kids want to buy soft drinks with their lunch and their parents give them the money to do so, they may.

I think it's a bad idea to promote that type of habit at that age, but I guess I'm not surprised when the habit carries right through to the high school.

Annie

In my neck of the woods , in grade school, you either bring your lunch or walk home for lunch. Absolutely no such thing as a school lunch, except of course for pizza day our hot dog day, put on by the PTA.

At least I can always say I knew what I packed her for lunch .... but lord knows what she ate. Trading was big!

Growing up in the 60s in Chicagoland, we always had iceberg lettuce in the fridge. I don't think I ever even tried another type of lettuce until I was grown and out of the house. I remember: the wedge with thousand island or blue cheese dressing, 7 layer salad (yum! iceberg lettuce merely a vehicle for lots of other stuff like mayo, bacon, cheese--what's not to love?), and a little pile of iceberg lettuce with a canned peach and dollop of mayo on top. (Gosh, I just had a memory: there was something else that was spicy, reddish, canned, and was sometimes served sliced on lettuce: spiced apple ring or something? I didn't like it). I never remember having just a plain tossed salad.

Yep....spiced apple ring....and half a pear, half a peach, 2 halves of an apricot, a round of pineapple with a cherry in the middle...all canned, of course, served on a bed of ice berg lettuce.
And that awful square of Jello salad....always on a lettuce leaf.

Oh, yes. Jello with mini marshmallows or mandarin oranges in it. I don't think I really ate a vegetable (except potatoes and corn) until I was out on my own. This is not to condemn my poor mother. Like many she thrived on opening cans and wasn't interested in cooking. The wedge salad fit in perfectly with this plan.

Sharon, my small school had 3 rooms, Kindergarten though 8th grade. We didn't have a cafeteria, or a gym, and the PTA moms brought hot plates in on Wednesdays and that was "hot dog day". For 25 cents we could buy a hot dog and a cookie, homemade by someone's Mom. Milk was delivered to the school, it was 3 cents for chocolate, 2 cents for white milk. I didn't learn about school lunches until high school.

When my girls started school, we lived two blocks from the schools, the Elementary, Middle School and High School are all in the same "complex". Closed campus and no one was allowed to leave school grounds, they'd get in trouble for walking home for lunch!

Yes, I remember the pineapple ring with a maraschino cherry in the middle. Grandma used to cut a banana into 3 sections, use a toothpick to put the maraschino cherry one top and stick it in a pineapple ring. Voila! A candle. On a leaf of iceburg. LOL Didn't make me like bananas either. She also made some kind of a bunny out of a pear half, raisin eyes, something for ears and a marshmallow tail. Interestingly enough, I remember the lettuce leaf as being more for presentation, we were never encouraged to actually eat the stuff.

Living on a farm we ate vegetables and we ate a lot of them. I like nearly all vegetables, but I've never learned to like lettuce, I merely tolerate it. That is probably why I like Woodie's 7 layer salad, there's so much other "stuff"! Well, that and I put the lettuce on the bottom, so I can avoid it. (grin)

annie