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Chopped Salad · American-inspired

Grinder Salad

A chopped salad of shredded iceberg, salami, ham, provolone, tomato, and pepperoncini in an oregano, red wine vinegar, and pepperoncini-brine dressing.

Prep
30 min
Total
30 min
Servings
4 (about 10 cups, four as a main-course salad or six as a side)

For the salad

  • 1 lb / 450g iceberg lettuce, about 1 small head, cored, cut into 1 cm (½ in) ribbons, then chopped crosswise into pieces about 2.5 cm (1 in) long
  • 7 oz / 200g grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 oz / 60g red onion, sliced very thin, then roughly chopped
  • 12, stems removed, juice from the jar reserved jarred pepperoncini, slice 9 into rings and leave 3 whole for the top
  • 4 oz / 115g sliced salami
  • 4 oz / 115g sliced deli ham
  • 4 oz / 115g sliced provolone
  • ¼ cup sliced black olives (optional)

For the dressing

  • 6 tbsp / 90ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp / 30ml red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp / 30ml pepperoncini brine, from the jar
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 small clove garlic, grated
  • to taste black pepper

Make the dressing

  1. In a small bowl, whisk the red wine vinegar, pepperoncini brine, oregano, garlic, and a few grinds of pepper. Whisk in the olive oil.
  2. Stir in the chopped red onion and leave it for 10 minutes while you cut everything else.

Cut and combine

  1. Wash the lettuce if it needs it and dry it thoroughly. Cut it as described in the ingredients.
  2. Stack the salami, ham, and provolone slices a few at a time. Cut the stacks into 1 cm (½ in) strips, then across into 1 cm (½ in) pieces.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, tomatoes, sliced pepperoncini, salami, ham, provolone, and olives, if using. If you're not serving right away, cover the bowl and refrigerate it undressed.

Dress and serve

  1. Just before serving, pour the dressing, with the onion, over the salad. Toss with tongs until everything is coated.
  2. Taste and add black pepper or a splash of vinegar if you want it sharper. It rarely needs salt. Pile it onto a platter or tray, top with the 3 whole pepperoncini, and serve.

A sandwich in a bowl only works as a salad if it can be eaten with a fork. Long strands of lettuce and big folded slices of meat can't, so this version is cut small and even, and the lettuce is the biggest thing in the bowl. The meat and cheese season it instead of burying it.

Lettuce first

Iceberg is the right base here. It's very crisp, and it stands up to an assertive dressing and a lot of chopping. Romaine works, though the bite is a little softer. Whichever you choose, dry it well, because wet leaves water down the dressing.

Cut for a fork

Cut the lettuce into ribbons and then across, so no piece is longer than about 2.5 cm (1 in). The salami, ham, and provolone go in as small squares of about 1 cm (½ in), which gets some of each into every forkful. Stacking the slices a few at a time makes that quick.

The dressing

The brine from the pepperoncini jar stands in for some of the vinegar, and it brings tang and salt with it, so taste before you add any salt. Oregano and garlic do the rest. The ratio is three parts oil to two parts acid, which is sharper than a mild vinaigrette and deliberate: lettuce, cured meat, and cheese need a dressing with an edge.

Red onion rests in the dressing while you cut. Ten minutes in the vinegar and brine takes the raw edge off, so a few slices don't take over a forkful.

Dress it last

Toss the salad just before it goes to the table. Dressed iceberg starts losing its crunch quickly, and the crunch is most of the point. Everything else can be cut ahead.

What's essential, what's optional

The lettuce, the dressing, and the salami and provolone are the core. The ham is optional, as are the olives. If you leave out the meat entirely, it is a different salad and not a better one. For a vegetable-only chopped salad built on the same small, even cuts, see the Turkish Shepherd's Salad. Leave out the pepperoncini and you lose the dressing's backbone. For a composed platter with ham and Swiss cut into matchsticks instead, see the 1905-Style Salad.

Keeping it

Cut ingredients keep best undressed, covered, and cold, for up to a day. Once it's dressed, get leftovers into the refrigerator within two hours (one hour above 90°F/32°C) and eat them by the next day. They will be softer.