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1930s-present - Bob Cobb and Brown Derby restaurant cooks in Hollywood
The Cobb salad is closely tied to the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood and Bob Cobb in the 1930s. Its rows of chopped ingredients made it a California restaurant icon: hearty enough for a meal, bright with avocado and tomato, and theatrical enough for Hollywood.
Difficulty
Easy
Prep time
30 minutes
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
30 minutes
Servings
4 servings
Region
Hollywood, California, and American restaurants
Era introduced
1930s-present
Introduced by
Bob Cobb and Brown Derby restaurant cooks in Hollywood
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Cobb salad is sometimes described as a leftovers salad, but its lasting power comes from design. Chopped greens form a base, then chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, tomato, chives, and Roquefort or blue cheese are arranged in stripes or sections and dressed with vinaigrette. Its Hollywood origin story has variations, but the Brown Derby connection is the anchor.
Drafted with Cobb salad origin context from Epicurious (https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cobb-salad-11049), Brown Derby history context from Kitchen Project (https://kitchenproject.com/history/CobbSalad.htm), and California Wines recipe context (https://discovercaliforniawines.com/recipes/cobb-salad/).
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