Cobb Salad

Method

1. boil12 min
   cold start, then 10 min off heat, then ice bath
   eggs covered in cold water brought just to a boil, then killed the heat and covered — a rolling boil drives the whites tough and pushes iron and sulfur to the yolk surface, which is the grey-green ring. The ice bath stops that reaction and contracts the egg away from the shell so it peels clean, which matters here because a torn white will not dice.
2. fry10 min
   medium-low, single layer, cold pan start
   bacon laid in a cold pan and brought up slowly, so the fat renders out before the meat browns — bacon dropped into a hot pan seizes and stays chewy, and chewy bacon smears under the knife instead of shattering into the shards this salad needs. Drain on paper; it crisps further as it cools.
3. poach14 min
   bare simmer, then cool in the liquid
   chicken breast in salted water held below a shiver — visible bubbling squeezes the muscle fibers and forces out moisture. Cool it completely in its own liquid before cutting; warm chicken tears along the grain, cold chicken dices into clean cubes.
4. emulsify3 min
   whisking, oil added in a thread
   vinegar + lemon juice + mustard + worcestershire + garlic + half the salt + pepper, then olive oil poured in slowly — the mustard's mucilage holds the oil in suspension. Dumped in all at once the oil floats and the vinegar pools at the plate bottom, which soaks the greens and dresses nothing else.
5. chop10 min
   uniform quarter-inch dice
   chicken + eggs + tomato + avocado + bacon, each cut to the same small dice, and the lettuce and watercress shredded fine beneath them. Uniformity is the technique: every component must fit on one fork at once, or the salad becomes a sequence of separate bites and the point is lost. Seed the tomato first — its jelly is the one thing that will water down the dressing.
6. season2 min
   component by component
   remaining salt scattered over the tomato and avocado only, a few minutes ahead. Salting these two separately draws just enough moisture to concentrate them and keeps the avocado from tasting flat, while the bacon and blue cheese arrive already salty — season the whole bowl uniformly and those two rows go inedible.
7. top4 min
   room temperature, undressed
   chopped greens spread flat on a wide platter, then the diced components laid across in distinct parallel rows — chicken, bacon, egg, tomato, avocado, blue cheese — finished with minced chives. Do not toss. Bring the dressing to the table and pour it on there; dressed early, the avocado browns, the bacon softens, and the blue cheese dissolves into grey streaks.