A Salad to Die For?

At Dijon, in Ithaca, there is a salad to die for. (See the review of Dijon on Cooking with Ideas, here.) That salad involves frisee, bacon lardons, blue cheese, and a poached egg. Initially, my reaction to the whole idea was very clear. Yuck! But then I tried it. And I have been making it at home, with and without bacon. (Even on occasion, I have added candied walnuts. Hmmm.) Never with croutons, though those seem to be there in some versions I have read about. Turns out this sort of salad has a fashionable, and very traditional name: Salad Lyonnaise. I can feel my arteries hardening.

Lardons? Ok, I think of these as high-falutin' bacon bits. They take some patience and are best when you use truly thick cut bacon. Not quite technically bacon, though. (For details, click here and here.) And best when salty.

Poached eggs? For directions on how to poach eggs, click here. Careful about the salmonella risk.

Frisee? I prefer the little bundled baby frisee plants. Yep, beautiful greenish yellow, not terribly prickly. Perfect. But what is frisee? Click here and find an answer.

No recipe I have found uses blue cheese, despite the restaurant where I first encountered this. I do -- because, frankly, everything is better with blue cheese. I have used a strong blue -- salty and very distinct in taste -- and, on occasion, a milder one called Billy Blue (a goat blue). Either works. They are just different.

And, finally, putting it all together. Check out these recipes from www.epicurious.com : Frisee Salad with Lardons and Poached Eggs; Frisee Salad with Poached Eggs; Salad with Canadian Bacon and Poached Eggs; and a Warm Frisee Salad with red Wine Sauce.

An undying need to see a video on this sort of salad and how to make one? Click here. Does it look like this when I make it? No. Is it worth watching? Yes.