French · Authentic-ish French
Salade Lyonnaise
182 kcal a serving, against 478 for the traditional version. That is 296 kcal off, or 62%, with 13.1g of protein. Serves 4. 25 minutes.
What the traditional version is
A mountain of bitter frisee lettuce drowned in a warm vinaigrette. That dressing is built from heavily rendered lardons, sharp dijon mustard and a heavy pour of olive oil. Large chunks of white bread are fried in a frying pan full of butter until deeply golden and saturated with dairy. A soft poached egg sits on top of the pile, ready to break and mix its rich yolk into the pork fat.
What changed, and what each change costs
60g of olive oil and 50g of butter down to absolutely zero
The original adds a massive glug of olive oil to the rendered bacon fat to bulk out the dressing. It also demands you fry the bread in a huge block of butter to make traditional croutons. I bake the croutons completely dry and build the dressing using only the fat that melts out of the pork.
What it costs you. The croutons are shatteringly crunchy rather than rich and greasy. The dressing coats the leaves thinly instead of drowning them in a heavy slick of oil, which means the frisee stays crisp for longer.
200g of lardons down to 80g
You absolutely need the lardons because their rendered fat literally is the dressing. But you simply don't need half a packet per person to achieve that flavour. 80g gives up just enough hot fat to build the vinaigrette and leaves a few crispy bits for texture.
What it costs you. You'll spend the entire meal hunting for the few remaining pieces of salty pork hidden in the lettuce. The meat becomes a garnish rather than the main event.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 478 | 182 |
| Protein | 19.9g | 13.1g |
| Fat | 34.9g | 7.3g |
| Saturated fat | 11.5g | 2.3g |
| Carbohydrate | 21.6g | 15.4g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 4.2g | 7.2g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish French prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. gluten, eggs, mustard, sulphites.
The method is in the book
This is a sharp, aggressive and deeply savoury dish. Nobody is going to mistake it for a delicate starter. I fully admit the original is better if you want a heavy, comforting bowl of fat to put you to sleep. Because there's no added oil, my dressing is much sharper and punches through the bitter leaves perfectly. The dry croutons soak up the runny yolk exactly as they should, giving you a brilliant crunch without the grease.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish French, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback