Grilled Steak Wedge Salad

Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

Why grill iceberg lettuce rather than serving it raw?

Grilling iceberg for 30–60 seconds per cut face over direct high heat does two things that raw iceberg can't match: it develops Maillard browning on the outer leaves, adding a subtle smokiness and char flavor, and it slightly wilts the outermost layer while leaving the interior cold and crisp once chilled. The contrast between the charred outer edge and the cold, crunchy core is the recipe's defining textural element. Raw iceberg has no char flavor and no temperature contrast — it's simply cold and crunchy throughout. Chilling immediately after grilling is the critical step that preserves the interior crunch; a warm wedge collapses entirely.

Why pull the strip steak at 125°F rather than cooking to a higher temperature?

This recipe serves the steak diced over a cold salad, not plated as a standalone steak. The diced steak will continue cooking slightly from residual heat during the 5-minute rest and will cool down further as it sits on the chilled lettuce at serving time. Pulling at 125°F (rare-to-medium-rare) produces a finished steak temperature closer to 130–132°F after the rest, which is the medium-rare range. If you pull at 135°F for a standard medium-rare steak, by the time it's rested and diced over cold lettuce, it's pushing medium — which reduces the juiciness and the visual appeal of the pink interior that makes a steak salad look appealing.

What does Meat Church Blanco add to the lettuce, and can I substitute it?

Blanco is a light, salt-forward all-purpose seasoning with a mild garlic and herb character — on lettuce, it adds a subtle savory note that prevents the grilled wedge from tasting like plain char. The light dusting interacts with the duck fat coating to create a thin seasoned crust on the grilled surface that holds up to the blue cheese dressing without dissolving. Any fine-grained all-purpose seasoning with a salt-garlic base works as a substitute, but the key is a light hand — iceberg is delicate and over-seasoning before grilling creates an overpowering result that competes with the blue cheese dressing.

Why use sour cream as the blue cheese dressing base rather than just buttermilk and mayo?

Traditional steakhouse blue cheese dressing uses mayonnaise and buttermilk as the primary base — the result is thinner and more pourable. Sour cream as the dominant base (1 cup vs. ⅓ cup mayo) produces a thicker, creamier dressing with a mild dairy tang from the sour cream's lactic acid that complements the blue cheese without the sharper vinegar edge of a mayo-heavy version. The sour cream base also holds its consistency better when spooned over a cold wedge salad — a thinner mayo-buttermilk dressing runs off immediately, while the sour cream version stays where it lands. The buttermilk (2 tbsp) loosens the sour cream base to pourable consistency.

Can I cook this Indoors?

We rate this a 4 out of 5 for cooking indoors. Great in the kitchen, better on the grill. A cast iron grill pan on high heat produces an excellent sear on both the steak and the lettuce wedges — the key is getting the pan ripping hot before anything goes in, so the contact is brief and the char develops in seconds rather than steaming. The GrillGrates add visual grill marks and a more defined char character than a smooth skillet, but the flavor difference is modest. The blue cheese dressing and assembly are entirely kitchen-native.

Recipe Highlights & Insights

• The brief-grill-then-chill technique for the iceberg wedges is the most important technique detail in the recipe and the one most likely to be skipped by someone reading casually. The sequence matters: grill over direct high heat with the lid open (about 30 seconds per face, enough for visible grill marks and slight wilting), then immediately refrigerate. The chilling step is what restores the interior crispness that the heat slightly relaxed, and it's what creates the hot-outside/cold-inside temperature contrast that defines this preparation. A wedge that goes directly from the grill to the plate without chilling will be warm, limp, and unpleasant under blue cheese dressing.

   

• GrillGrates installed over the firebox of the YS640s are what enable the 450°F direct sear this recipe requires. The YS640s runs most of its cooking surface on indirect convection heat; the GrillGrates create a concentrated radiant-heat zone directly above the fire box where temperatures are significantly higher than the grill's set point. The steak needs that direct-heat environment to develop sear in the short cook time without overcooking past 125°F. Without GrillGrates or a comparable direct-heat setup, the steak will cook through on the grill's indirect heat at 450°F but won't develop the same exterior crust in the same time window.

   

• Lone Star Brisket Rub used both on the steak and as the seasoning in the blue cheese dressing is a deliberate flavor continuity choice. The same seasoning profile — pepper-forward with garlic and salt — appears in both the protein and the dressing, which creates a cohesive flavor thread through the dish rather than the steak and dressing tasting like separate flavor systems. At the dressing stage, a small amount to taste is used as a finishing salt — it's not a heavy seasoning application but a subtle alignment between the two dominant components of the salad.

   

• At 430 calories per 7 oz serving across 6 servings from one strip steak, this is a calorie-efficient presentation of premium beef — one Creekstone Farms strip steak yields six dressed wedge salad portions, making the per-serving beef cost reasonable for a dish that reads as special occasion. The 33g fat reflects the blue cheese dressing (sour cream, mayo, blue cheese crumbles) and the steak's natural fat, while the 26g protein confirms a meaningful beef portion per serving. The 9g carbs are almost entirely from the tomato and onion toppings, making this one of the lower-carbohydrate entree salads in the ATBBQ catalog.

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