American Steakhouses are not only known for their decadent steaks, desserts and side dishes. They are also wildly popular for their homemade dressings and sauces. How else could Ruth’s Chris get away with charging $14 for a half of a head of iceberg lettuce, were it not for the AMAZING Blue Cheese dressing?!
Am I right?
But in their defense, they DO make the best Blue Cheese Dressing on the planet. I credit the nutmeg, lemon juice & zest, white pepper and touch of Tabasco. Ingredients not, typically, found in a regular, old, run-of-the-mill blue cheese dressing. Don’t let the Tabasco put you off if you don’t like spicy, however. It really just adds a dimension to the dressing, without adding spice. But feel free to cut back on the amount (or eliminate it altogether), if you’re sensitive to spice.
It should be no secret, at this point, that I have a fondness for American Steakhouses. And with Ruth’s Chris, specifically. It is a company that I know and love well. I had the distinct pleasure of working at Ruth’s Chris Steak House corporation, for 10 years, when the Founder, Ruth Fertel was still largely involved with the company. This gave me the opportunity to work for her and she became one of my largest inspirations in the hospitality industry. I also socialized and dined with her, several times, and she was one of the most charming and funniest people I have met. Man, did she have the stories and she told them with as much passion as she ran her restaurants. All while smoking her cigarettes and drinking her whiskey.
At the restaurant, they serve the Wedge Salad simply. The quartered iceberg is set on a bed of mixed greens, topped with the dressing and sprinkled with crispy bacon and extra blue cheese crumbles. While the Main Event is definitely “The Dressing”, I do like to add a few more items to the salad.
Some great topping suggestions are: hardboiled egg, hearts of palm, cherry tomatoes, slivered red onion, homemade croutons, fresh avocado slices and candied pecans.
Make the salad the way that makes you happy! It’s your house, your rules!
Throw a Filet on the grill, open a bottle of Red and enjoy this salad with the Ruth’s Chris Barbequed Shrimp. That’s what I call a proper New Orleans steakhouse meal. For an added bonus, invite your friends to join and “impress” them with the frequent use of the word “Lagniappe”.
Ingredients
- DRESSING:
- 6 oz. premium crumbled blue cheese
- 1 cup mayonnaise (pref. Duke’s)
- 1 cup sour cream (full fat)
- ½ cup whole, cultured buttermilk
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 med-sized clove of garlic, grated
- 1 lemon, zested
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 2 tsp. Tabasco hot sauce
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ tsp. + 2 dashes ground white pepper
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 6 cranks ground pepper
- WEDGE SALAD:
- 1 head of iceberg lettuce, cleaned and quartered
- 2 cups of mixed greens
- 4 strips thick-cut bacon, cooked crispy
- 2 oz. blue cheese crumbles
- Optional:
- 8 Cherry tomatoes
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- 2 hardboiled eggs, diced
- ½ cup hearts of palm, sliced
- ¼ cup red onion, slivered
- ¼ cup candied pecans
- Homemade croutons
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, whisk all dressing ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Refrigerate 20-30 minutes before serving.
To plate the salad, build a bed of field greens on 4 salad plates. Top the greens with 1 quarter (wedge) of the iceberg lettuce per plate. Drizzle ample scoops of dressing over the iceberg. Top the salad with preferred toppings and Enjoy!
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
3 comments
Just found your channel on YouTube.
It’s wonderful!
Hello Mrs. Triple R, my husband and I too, did have many years in the high end restaurant buisness. We also have thought about creating a YouTube channel devoted to all of the recipies that we have created over the years for our family. Many of which we have recreated from restaurants that we too have loved from our travels around the world. However, not a trained chef, nor a James Beard award recipient, as your husband is though. How amazing for you both! My husband came across your recipe for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Blue Cheese Dressing. Well, THANK YOU! This is the first and only recipe that we have ever had be spot on and fantastic! We have tried so many and seriously gave up some time ago because so many YouTube recipes were simply not good. Not sure if the creators left ingredients out, or they are just not to our taste. So about your recipe, we are Canadian, so we used Gay Lea GOLD Premium 18% m.f. sour cream, when we travel to the USA we pick up DAISY and Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise in place of Duke’s, so I will buy that next grocery run to USA. This recipe turned out absolutely perfectly. We went all out and used Clawson Blue Stilton Cheese from England, the BEST, as well as a beautiful dry smoked thick cut bacon. We also make our own croutons from Dempster’s Ancient Grain bread that when baked creates a beautiful sweetness. I also slivered some red onion. Next time we may deep fry a slivered vidalia onion lightly battered in Uncle Buck’s chicken fry. Yum !! We added some sweet grape and cherry tomatoes. We added some slivered slices of cucumber. however we will not add that again. My youngest son (adult) with his girlfriend were our guests, and this dressing has now bumped my Balsamic Vinagrette into the number one spot of his absolute favourite. He took the rest home in a mason jar with pleasure. This appetizer was very filling, along with home made shrimp cocktail, followed by, beef tenderloin on the barbeque, pan seared scallops to accompany with baby portabella mushrooms fried in fresh made garlic butter, roasted baby red potatoes with olive oil and my blend of spices with vidalia onion eye lashes and asparagus. A lovely bottle of Australian Wakefield Cabernet Sauvignon. First time ever, no dessert. Life is too short, to not eat well, especially at home on a budget. So we just wanted to thank you for offering up this great recipe. Great job! Well done. Much appreciated. Keith and Linda Lee-Northrup.
LOVE hearing from you, Linda! Keep up the great cooking work! 😋