Salade Lyonnaise (Warm Bacon and Egg Salad)
Salade Lyonnaise is an incredibly simple recipe that you'll find served as an appetizer across France. It's easy to make, combining simple ingredients (like eggs and bacon) into a delicious salad that is packed with flavor.
In many countries, salads are often served as an appetizer course. In many cases, this is little more than a lightly dressed green salad. However even something simple can also be taken up a step with just a few additions, as with this salad found in classic French cuisine.
What are the origins of salade Lyonnaise?
The exact origins of the salad are unclear, other than being from Lyon in east-central France.
It is considered a staple salad in "bouchons" in the city. A bouchon is a small bistro/eatery that typically serves dishes from Lyonnaise cuisine like sausages, duck pate, and this salad.
Bouchons are all about using local produce and ingredients. Rather than getting wildly creative, as with the modern farm-to-table trend, they tend to create more simple, traditional meals.
They have traditionally served tradespeople in the city, including silk workers that are a part of the city's history.
What is Lyonnaise cuisine?
Lyon prides itself as a center of cuisine and many chefs see it as the true gastronomic center of France.
Classic Lyonnaise dishes include coq au vin, saucisson de Lyon (a kind of sausage), and marrons glaces (candied chestnuts).
As these dishes suggest, many traditional Lyonnaise dishes are relatively humble, and many have emerged from ensuring nothing went to waste. (Such as dishes incorporating tripe.)
But the city is also highly regarded by leading chefs and has given the world people like Daniel Boulud.
Lyon's culinary traditions
Lyonnaise cuisine started in the 16th century when Catherine of Medici, Italy brought her chefs with her to France. There, she ordered them to cook with produce sourced locally around the country.
It was an important step in the evolution of cooking, as these trained chefs learned to incorporate different ingredients.
Located at the intersection of two large rivers (the Rhône and Saône), Lyon has always been at a crossroads of trade. This led the city to grow and provided a high level of customers needing to eat.
The trade also had an influence on the cuisine. Ingredients from far and wide passed through the city. This inspired local chefs to incorporate a broader range of ingredients in their cooking than in other areas in France.
For a long time, there was a definite difference between more working class food (which was known for making use of everything, with offal and tripe in many dishes) and more bourgeois cuisine.
In the 18th century, Lyon 'mothers' emerged and are often credited with creating the current culinary reputation. These were ladies who had previously served richer families, but then set up on their own. They combined humble ingredients with simple but elegant preparation.
It is this type of food that is now prized by people from all backgrounds in the city's unique bouchons.
What is in salade Lyonnaise?
This salad is a classic appetizer in the bouchons in Lyon, but you'll also find it around the country. It's just as at home in a high end restaurant as a corner bistro, and loved by all.
The salad is a simple combination of slightly bitter frisee greens, strips of smoky bacon ('lardons') and a simple mustard-vinegar dressing, using the warm bacon fat rendered from cooking it. It is then topped with a poached egg.
Some recipes also include toasted croutons, but these are not in all versions so can easily be left out. Whether included or not, the salad is a deliciously simple combination of slightly bitter, crisp greens, flavorful bacon and a punchy dressing.
The egg adds softness that mixes and mingles with everything else as you eat it.
What to serve with Lyonnaise salad?
While the bacon (and fat in the dressing) gives a richness, it's still a relatively light salad so it's perfect as either an appetizer course or as a a light lunch.
If serving it for lunch, it would be wonderful alongside a bowl of soup (try French onion soup) or a baguette and cheese. Why not pair it with a slice of quiche, like quiche Lorraine or quiche Florentine.
Whenever you choose to have it, it's easy to make and packed with flavor.
When you try it, you'll discover it's a classic for good reason.
Salade Lyonnaise (Warm Bacon and Egg Salad)
Salade Lyonnaise is a crisp salad with bacon, eggs, and a warm mustard vinaigrette. It is a wonderful recipe for an appetizer course or light lunch.
Ingredients
- 4 oz frisee (approx 4 cups - sometimes called curly endive)*
- 1 shallot
- 1 slice bread (Country style, slightly stale, if possible) (optional)
- 2 oz bacon (Slab bacon if possible or thick cut, good quality smoked bacon. Pancetta is also good.)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Break the frisee into roughly bite-sized pieces. Finely dice/mince the shallot.
- Remove the crusts from the bread, if using, and cut into small dice.
- Set a pan of water to boil to poach the eggs and put each egg in a small bowl.
- Cut the bacon into slices and fry over a medium-high heat until gently crisp. Remove the bacon from the skillet, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet, and set the bacon aside on a paper towel lined plate to drain any excess fat.
- Add the shallot to the pan of bacon fat and cook over medium heat for a couple minutes until softened. Remove the onion to a small bowl, along with around 1 tablespoon of the fat, leaving a little fat in the skillet.
- Toast the bread in the remaining fat until gently crisp on both sides.
- Meanwhile, add the red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard to the warm bacon fat and whisk gently to emulsify. You can either toss the frisee with the dressing then divide it between serving plates, or drizzle the dressing over the finished salad.
- Poach the eggs by adding the white vinegar to the boiling water. You can poach the eggs as you prefer, but some suggest swirling the water then add an egg to the middle of the swirl. Once it starts to set, add
the other egg. Poach them to around 2-3 minutes until the whites are white but the yolks are still soft. - Divide the frisee between two plates, top with the bacon pieces and add the croutons (if using) and egg on top. Drizzle over the dressing if not already mixed with the frisee, and serve.
Notes
*If you can't find frisee or find it a bit too bitter on it's own, you can also use other relatively bitter greens eg. red radicchio, escarole, arugula, or a bistro salad mix that typically includes frisee.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
½ recipeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 265
Caroline lived and traveled various places before settling in Cambridge, MA. She still fits in some travel with her family, but often settles for traveling through food instead. She shares her recipes at CarolinesCooking.com, where there's plenty of international inspiration using seasonal ingredients, as well as creative recipes for all to enjoy. Caroline is originally from Scotland, where she grew up hiking and skiing, both things she still loves to do when her two young boys give her a chance. You can follow along with her cooking adventures on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
