Chinese chicken salad

Shredded chicken, cabbage and lettuce with crisp fried noodles or wonton strips, toasted almonds or sesame and a gingery soy and sesame dressing: a Southern California restaurant staple and one of the few big salads that is better a few hours after dressing. Madame Wu's Garden in Santa Monica is the name most often attached to it, though recipes for Chinese chicken salad were printed decades earlier and her role is disputed. Cabbage is why it packs so well, since it softens slightly rather than wilting, so dress everything but the crunchy toppings in the morning. A shop-bought roast chicken brings the work down to about twenty minutes, mostly shredding and whisking. Fry the crisp toppings fresh; stale ones taste of old oil.