Salade lyonnaise
The salad of Lyon's bouchons rests on one trick: the dressing is made in the bacon pan. Vinegar poured onto hot fat loses some of its harshness, lifts everything caught on the base, and produces a vinaigrette with a flavour you cannot assemble cold. It goes over mildly bitter frisée, which wilts slightly on contact — and that is the intention.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Croutons 8 min
- Bacon 8 min
- Poached eggs 6 min
- Pan dressing 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneFry croutons in oil with garlic
Fry cubes of stale bread in the oil with a crushed garlic clove until golden and hard through the middle, not just on the surface. A soft crouton quickly goes soggy under the dressing. Drain on paper and discard the garlic.
Ingredients: 1 pcs frisée · 150 g bacon · 100 g bread · 1 clove garlic · 2 tbsp olive oil
Render the bacon and keep the fat
Fry the lardons from a cold pan, slowly, until the fat renders and they crisp. Lift out the bacon but leave every drop of fat in the pan — it is the base of the dressing and has no substitute.
Ingredients: 1 pcs frisée · 150 g bacon · 100 g bread · 1 clove garlic · 2 tbsp olive oil
The bacon comes out, the fat stays in the pan.Poach the eggs
Bring water with vinegar to a boil, lower the heat until it stops boiling and merely trembles, swirl a vortex with a spoon and slide in an egg from a cup; add the second alongside. Cook for 3 minutes, lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper. Boiling water shreds the white — it has to be still.
Ingredients: 2 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp vinegar
Trembling water, never boiling, or the white shreds.Build the dressing in the bacon fat
Add the shallot to the hot fat, fry 30 seconds, then take the pan off the heat and pour in the vinegar — it will erupt in steam. Scrape the base, whisk in the mustard and oil. Some of the vinegar evaporates and its bite softens.
Ingredients: 1 pcs shallot · 3 tbsp red wine vinegar · 1 tsp Dijon mustard · 1 tbsp olive oil · ½ tsp pepper
Vinegar onto hot fat, then scrape the base.Dress the leaves while it is hot
Put the frisée in a bowl and pour over the hot dressing straight from the pan, tossing. The leaves should wilt and soften slightly — not an accident but the aim: raw frisée is stiff and bitter, wilted it turns mellow.
Ingredients: 1 pcs frisée · 150 g bacon · 100 g bread · 1 clove garlic · 2 tbsp olive oil
Assemble and break the yolk at the table
Divide the leaves between plates, scatter the bacon and croutons, and set the egg on top. Season with pepper. The person eating breaks the yolk — once it runs, it becomes the second half of the dressing and pulls everything together.
Ingredients: 1 pcs frisée · 150 g bacon · 100 g bread · 1 clove garlic · 2 tbsp olive oil
Before you start
Poach the eggs ahead
Poached eggs can be made in advance and held in cold water in the fridge for up to two days. Reheat for about 45 seconds in hot water — the standard restaurant trick.
Instead of frisée
You need a sturdy, slightly bitter leaf: escarole, chicory or radicchio. Butterhead will not survive a hot dressing — it collapses at once.
Egg freshness
The fresher the egg, the thicker the white and the tighter the poach. An old egg disperses in the water whatever your technique — vinegar and a vortex help but cannot fix a poor ingredient.
