How to Make a Salad That Looks and Tastes Like it Came From The Cheesecake Factory
The Cheesecake Factory sign
It's no surprise that restaurant food almost always tastes much better than anything you can make at home. What might be more surprising? With just a few cheffy tips and tricks, the food you make in your home kitchen can feel a little more restaurant-y.
Considering this, you bet we had our notebooks out (and cameras on) when we recently had the chance to go behind the scenes to see how the newest additions to The Cheesecake Factory's menu were made. Vice President of Restaurant Kitchen Operations Chef Jay Hinson and his crew generously walked us through the new dishes, including the Sesame Ginger Chicken, the Italian Sausage and Fresh Mushroom Rigatoni and the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad, which is sure to be a new fan favorite.
We love a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, of course, but we're also big fans of the restaurant's salads. They're always perfectly plated, have lots of fun mix-ins and toppings and are perfectly dressed. As we watched the ahi tuna salad come together we began to understand how and why the restaurant's salads are so good—and we now have a good idea of how to take our at-home salads to the next level. To help you do the same, here's what you need to know.
Related: We Tasted and Rated 10 of the Cheesecake Factory’s Most Popular Cheesecakes
How to Make a Salad Like They Do at The Cheesecake Factory
Each Cheesecake Factory salad is different, of course, but watching the ahi tuna salad come together helped us understand some basic building blocks of a restaurant-worthy salad. It also helped us truly appreciate the time and care the chefs behind the scenes put in to make sure guests have beautiful, tasty food.
• You're gonna need a bigger bowl. To make sure you have enough room to toss the lettuce and the dressing, you need a pretty big bowl. When you start to make your salad, you probably need to go back and grab the next larger size. Trust us on this one.
• Season first. Add your prepped greens to your (large) bowl and season lightly with salt and pepper and any other seasonings you're feeling at the moment. This will help ensure that the greens are seasoned instead of just relying on the dressing.
• Dress it the right way. If we could pull out one essential tip, this would be it. When the chef made the ahi tuna salad, she used a small ladle and lightly poured the dressing down the sides of the bowl instead of dumping it on top of the lettuce or adding the lettuce to the dressing.
"It's important to add the dressing to the lettuce, instead of the lettuce being added to the dressing," says Hinson. "That way every piece of lettuce picks up that delicious honey-mustard vinaigrette. It's a different technique we use."
• Your Hands Are Your Best Utensil. This tip might not be for everyone, but we noticed that the chef tossed the greens with the dressing using her (gloved) hands. Salad greens are tender and can bruise easily and it was obvious when watching her that using your hands for the job was much gentler than using tongs.
• Make a volcano. Now it's time for the build. For this salad, the chef piled the dressed greens in the middle of a larger plate in a shape that resembled a volcano. For a true Cheesecake Factory looks, you have to have some height.
• Add the toppings. The toppings were arranged around the sides of the lettuce volcano in small piles, which looks great and helps you customize your salad as you like it. For the ahi tun salad, there were avocado slices, sliced radishes, chopped bell peppers, sliced cucumbers, halved cherry tomatoes and steamed edamame.
• Add the protein. After the veggies were in place, it was time for the protein. The sliced ahi tuna went right on top.
• Don't forget the crunch. The tuna was topped with a dramatic tower of fried wonton strips, but you can go a bit more casual at home. Toasted nuts, croutons or something like fried onions (like the ones you put on green bean casserole) are all good choices.
• Bonus points. If you want to really be cheffy, be sure to take a look at the finished dish and wipe up any spills on the plate with a paper towel. Then stand back and admire your work!
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