The Life of Lou Ruppert

I was going to write more about the Mac Trojan, but I think we’ve heard enough about that for now. Maybe I’ll include a short writeup of what else I’ve learned, after my presentation tomorrow afternoon.

Today I want to write about my favorite salad. I first had this salad in Lyon, France, back in 2004. I guess that makes sense, because it’s called Salade Lyonnaise. I make an American version of it that I adapted myself from memory. You can’t buy lardons over here, for instance, but you can get thick bacon and rip it up. Each restaurant seems to have its own variation on it anyway, so mine is probably close enough to authentic. Here’s how it goes:

Salad Lyonnaise Louis
(dinner plate sized portion for one hungry guy)

• Double handful of spring mix salad greens.
• Two slabs of thick bacon
• One egg
• A handful of garlic cheese croutons
• One clove of garlic
• A teaspoon of lime juice
• Two teaspoons of olive oil
• Pepper, to taste

1. What I like to do is take all of the ingredients out of the fridge when I come home, and turn the frying pan on.
2. While it’s getting hot enough to cook the bacon, I throw most of the lettuce onto the plate.
3. Then I throw the bacon in the pan.
4. While the bacon is frying, I crush the garlic into a tiny container with a lid.
5. Then I pour the lime juice and the olive oil onto the crushed clove of garlic and shake it up really well.
6. I pour most of it onto the lettuce and grind a bit of pepper onto it.
7. Then the bacon is ready and I take it out to drain.
8. Pour off the fat and throw the egg in the pan to fry.
9. You want the yoke still runny, so the best way I’ve found to do that is to fry it with the lid on. You could poach the egg too, which is supposed to be more authentic, but why waste a good hot pan?
10. While the egg cooks, tear up the bacon onto the salad and add the croutons.
11. When the egg is finished, put it on top of the salad.
12. Throw a bit more lettuce around the salad, and put a bit more dressing on it.

Voila! Pret à presenter! To eat the salad, you break the yolk of the egg with your fork and kind of mix it into the salad.

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