o many stories abound about the invention of the cobb salad, that reader Anne Marie Moreo of Davenport, Florida, wrote in asking for a little clarification. And no wonder. Some of these tales come with enough movie stars to lay claim to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But what's interesting is that in a city known for obsessively chronicling the rise of anyone — or anything — remotely famous, no one seemed to have recorded the salad's debut. Eventually, however, I found an account by Sally Wright Cobb, daughter of Robert H. Cobb, in her book The Brown Derby Restaurant: A Hollywood Legend. Here it is, supposedly as told to Sally Cobb by the salad's inventor himself:

"One night in 1937, Bob Cobb, then owner of the Brown Derby, prowled hungrily in his restaurant's kitchen for a snack. Opening the huge refrigerator, he pulled out this and that: a head of lettuce, an avocado, some romaine, watercress, tomatoes, some cold breast of chicken, a hard-boiled egg, chives, cheese and some old-fashioned French dressing. He started chopping. Added some crisp bacon — swiped from a busy chef.

"The cobb salad was born. It was so good, Sid Grauman (of Grauman's Chinese Theatre), who was with cobb that midnight, asked the next day for a 'cobb salad.' It was so good that it was put on the menu.

"Cobb's midnight invention became an overnight sensation with Derby customers, people like movie mogul Jack Warner, who regularly dispatched his chauffeur to pick up a carton of the mouth-watering salad."

Warner, no doubt, got special service — even in a restaurant that catered to pampered celebrities — since he was said to be a silent partner in the Brown Derby restaurants.

Whether an accurate account or just an apocryphal tale — the Caesar salad was said to have been created in the same way — it makes no matter. The cobb salad, like its "Roman" cousin, is interesting because it is a relatively recent creation, and has completely changed the way we think about salads. It ushered in an era of salads as complete meals, unlike the simple side salads to which Americans were formerly accustomed. Other composed salads, such as the Greek salad and chef's salad, fit neatly into that category, too.

 

Cobb Salad Serves 4 to 6

1/2 head (about 4 cups) iceberg lettuce

1 bunch watercress

1 small bunch (about 2 1/2 cups) chicory

1/2 head (about 2 1/2 cups) romaine lettuce

2 medium tomatoes, peeled

6 strips bacon, fried crisp

2 chicken breasts, boiled

3 eggs, hard-cooked

1 avocado

1/2 cup Roquefort cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons chives, chopped

About 1 cup Original Cobb Salad Dressing (below)

1. Cut iceberg lettuce, half of the watercress, the chicory, and romaine in fine pieces and arrange in a large salad bowl. 2. Cut tomatoes, bacon, chicken, peeled eggs, and avocado in small pieces and arrange, along with the crumbled Roquefort cheese, in strips on the greens. 3. Sprinkle chives over the salad and garnish with the remaining watercress. 4. Just before serving mix the salad with the Original Cobb Salad dressing.

Original Cobb Salad Dressing Makes 1 1/2 cups

1/4 cup water (optional; see note below)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon dry English mustard

1 small garlic clove, finely minced

1/4 cup full-flavored olive oil

3/4 cup salad oil

1. Blend all ingredients together, except oils. Add olive and salad oils. Mix well. 2. Blend well again before mixing with salad. Note: The water is used to adjust the dressing's viscosity.

The cobb salad is like most "classic" recipes: They're neither traditional nor fixed. We think of them as a generalized style more than a precise formula. While the concept of authenticity is much discussed, sometimes heatedly, in food circles, it's ultimately meaningless; every dish is constantly changing. Cooks add whatever they have on hand, is in season, or just seems like a good idea at the time. They remove ingredients for health, aesthetic, or economic reasons. Corporations tinker with them for marketing purposes, to connect with what are perceived to be current food fashions. In recent years, for example, Caesar salads have been topped with chicken, steak, or any number of other ingredients, and the cobb salad has been subject to the same treatment. Not too long ago, I noticed that Fresh City, a New England alternative fast-food franchise, is offering cobb salad wraps. What would Jack Warner think of that?

References
Cobb, Sally Wright and Mark Willems. The Brown Derby Restaurant: A Hollywood Legend. New York: Rizzoli, c1996.