Steakhouse Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A proper wedge-salad dressing built the restaurant way: a hand-whisked egg-yolk emulsion enriched with sour cream and buttermilk, then loaded with two kinds of blue cheese — half mashed into the base for deep funk, half folded in as cold, distinct crumbles. It clings to a lettuce wedge, pools around a ribeye, and never goes thin or grainy.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature (pasteurized if you prefer)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola
• 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup buttermilk, plus more to loosen

• 6 oz blue cheese, well chilled (Roquefort, Stilton, or a firm domestic blue)
• 1 small clove garlic, grated on a rasp
• 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
• 1/2 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Divide the blue cheese: crumble 3 oz into rough 1/2-inch chunks, spread on a plate, and refrigerate — these stay chunky. Put the other 3 oz in a small bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften.
2. Set a medium bowl on a damp kitchen towel so it can't spin. Add the egg yolk, Dijon, 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice, and the vinegar. Whisk hard for 20 seconds until the mixture is smooth, pale, and slightly foamy.
3. Start the emulsion: add the oil literally drop by drop at first, whisking constantly, until the mixture visibly thickens and turns glossy — about the first 2 tablespoons of oil, over 1 to 2 minutes. Rushing this is the only way this recipe fails.
4. Once thick, pour the remaining oil in a slow, thin stream, whisking the whole time, until you have a stiff, mayonnaise-like base, 2 to 3 minutes more. If it ever looks slick or broken, stop adding oil and whisk in 1 teaspoon of cold water to bring it back together.
5. Whisk in the sour cream, then the buttermilk, in two additions each — the base will relax into a pourable dressing. Add the grated garlic, onion powder, black pepper, Worcestershire, and the remaining 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
6. Add the softened 3 oz of blue cheese and mash it against the side of the bowl with a fork, then whisk vigorously for 30 seconds. You want it fully dissolved into the base so the dressing tastes blue all the way through, with no white streaks.
7. Fold in the cold crumbled blue cheese and the chives with a rubber spatula, using no more than 8 or 10 gentle strokes so the chunks stay intact. Season with salt — start with 1/4 teaspoon, since blue cheese is already salty.
8. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, ideally 4, to let the funk bloom and the dressing set. Taste again cold and adjust salt, pepper, and lemon; whisk in buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time if you want it thinner for drizzling.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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