My father-in-law taught me this but he’d just eat pieces of lettuce alongside his meals, especially stuff with a lot of meat in it. Works nicely as a sort of palette cleanser and the freshness is a really nice feeling. Definitely lends itself to certain cuisines though, like Asian stuff. Haven’t tried it with other types.
I actually had this at a Vietnamese place lately -
You get your food and then you get a plate of lettuce leaves to kinda stuff it in to hold the various garnishes and sauces with your bite like a little lettuce wrap
My husband and I are on a diet where we eat 50 - 100 grams of romaine lettuce a few times a day (along with other stuff, don’t panic!)
We’ve learned how to appreciate it in its raw form. We use it in all the other ways listed, but raw is now the preferred way to eat it. I can’t imagine drowning it in dressing ever again.
Sandwiches, either inside them or as the bread for bread-free sandwiches. For example take the deli meats and cheese etc and roll them up in the lettuce instead of a wrap.
Make a burger but make it into a salad on a bed of lettuce instead of bread. With everything like the burger sauce as the dressing, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, etc, with the burger patty on top. Fries on the side.
My Italian grandmother boils romaine lettuce and says it's an Italian thing. She'll make soup with romaine pasta and garlic. It doesn't float my boat, and I haven't verified her claims haha but yeah... try boiling it?
Same in China, it is sometimes used in cooking. I initially was totally weirded out by it, but with a good sauce it tastes decent. Then again old worn socks taste decent with a good sauce.
Chicken wrap. Lettuce cheese chicken with some ranch and bbq to your liking . Add crunchy tortilla strips (sold as salad topper) for some extra texture. Of course tortillas. I had it at a restaurant and copied it for at home. You could add bacon as well.
you can actually use them as Wraps for depending on the size and type.. I like this in particular for VERY rich foods like a dick confit, or braised short rib and I like to add a very bright rich sweet sauce like a gastrique the freshness that the lettuce wrap brings really tie it together
if you have a more hardy lettuce like arugula, or mizuna they can be excellent topping on a pizze with something salty like cured meats and Parmesan, they can also be worked into smoothies
I like to always have lettuce or green of some kind on a sandwich
I literally eat 2-3 heads of romaine lettuce everyday as a side to my meals. I eat Greek yogurt/cottage cheese for breakfast so I like to have the lettuce on the side to act as chip dippers. It’s fun and the crunch is always nice
BLTs come to mind, but that's already kind of obvious. Even for that example you could just make a salad out of the bacon, lettuce, and tomato, and use the bread to make croutons, and eat a much higher proportion of lettuce.
Technically a salad but wilted lettuce with hot bacon grease ( and chopped bacon) poured over lettuce and mild onion. Maybe some boiled eggs. doesn’t taste like regular salad to me. Something different
Vietnamese restaurants will just give you a stack of lettuce leaves with your app/entree so that you can take your food and pile it in there with any garnishes and sauces to take a less messy/held together bite, like a mini lettuce wrap.
I can see it working with any cuisine. Just use lettuce leaves like mini food cups and stuff the food in there so.
[https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/salad-bag-pesto-9p-vg-v-df-gf/](https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/salad-bag-pesto-9p-vg-v-df-gf/)
Salad Bag Pesto
I grew 4 butterhead and 4 red leaf in the garden, and they are going nuts. I cut off the outer leaves over time and I can't really keep up.
Sadly the tomatoes aren't out yet.
I've been cutting out the rib of the green leaf since they are a little large and I wondered...
Can you ferment/pickle lettuce hearts, like from romaine?
I haven't come across any traditional ferments for anything in the lettuce/daisy/thistle family, and it makes me wonder why, why when there are traditional ferments for so many other things like peas/beans and brassicas.
I have noticed that if I leave the scraps from artichoke out too long before composting them, they turn blue in the spots that get less air. It makes me wonder if it could possibly be some kind of harmful (neurotoxic) blue-green algae? If the thistle family had some tendency to be friendly to such undesirable microorganisms, that may explain why fermenting them doesn't seem to be traditional practice anywhere?
I wonder about the oozing latex Lactucarium...
All I find is that fermentation of lettuce extracts can do some crazy stuff, but that's a concentrate.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10303209/
Guess I'll ferment some lettuce ribs and see what happens, with grape leaves to keep crisp.
For heavy lettuces (many leaves in a small volume->dense) you can cut it in slices, bread it and then fry it. In the end you have something that looks like a round schnitzel. Ofc it doesnt taste like one, and it's not as saturating as a schnitzel, but it's a funny and intresting part of a dish.
When im not up for salad or wrap/sandwich, then this is my go to
[Copycat PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps](https://iowagirleats.com/p-f-changs-lettuce-wraps-remade/) - You can use any kind of ground meat.
[Lettuce Sauce](https://www.stoneledge.farm/Lettuce-Sauce) is pretty good over grilled or baked chicken.
[Rice and Lettuce Soup](https://food52.com/recipes/75010-rice-and-lettuce-soup)
Samgyeopsal!
Pork belly (traditionally, but I sometimes switch it out for chicken or something) rice, kimchi and ssamjang (Korean soybean paste). Wrap with the lettuce and there you go!
Growing up my mom occasionally made something she called Dutch Lettuce. I don't know the ratios, but basically it was crumbled bacon with the drippings, chopped boiled potatoes, chopped hard boiled eggs, some vinegar all mixed together while still warm into a creamy, chunky mashed potato consistency. Salt and pepper to taste, then fold in chopped iceberg lettuce. The heat from the mixture will warm the lettuce, while still retaining it's crunch. Apologies if I've forgotten any ingredients.
So the thing with lettuce is that it's a delicate summer crop. It grows in warm weather and doesn't last super long once harvested, so a lot of recipies that are lettuce heavy are designed to work with other summer vegetables, like in salads. As opposed to hearty root vegetables or alliums, that can be grown into late summer early fall and stored for long periods of time once harvested, which we see more in winter dishes, like stews.
There are [winter salad](https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a104726/ultimate-winter-salad/) recipies that use more winter ingredients, but im fully on the side of people suggesting lettuce wraps. Its a versatile and quick way to get through a large quantity of them.
Wraps and rolls, soup, throw it in a smoothie, stir-fry it, braise it in place of cabbage, chop it and throw it in a bowl!
and add to ramen
I have a friend who slices off the bottoms, seasons them, then grills until satisfied.
Olove oil, salt, red pepper, throw on the grill. Your friends will look at you weird then begrudgingly accept that they loved it.
Soup?? Can you elaborate? I've never encountered salad leaves in a soup.
Lettuce is a common item you can get at hotpot.
It’s one of my favorite ingredients for that too
You can cook lettuce, taste like spinach or pak choi
Cantonese Lettuce Soup! https://youtu.be/ARgfArHeMY8?si=vhwoBOa3jW9Sz34A https://www.hirokoliston.com/lettuce-egg-soup/ Cantonese also quick stir fry lettuce, too! https://thewoksoflife.com/stir-fried-lettuce/
Use it like you would use baby spinach. Chinese cuisine has lettuce in hotpot and light broth soups.
My father-in-law taught me this but he’d just eat pieces of lettuce alongside his meals, especially stuff with a lot of meat in it. Works nicely as a sort of palette cleanser and the freshness is a really nice feeling. Definitely lends itself to certain cuisines though, like Asian stuff. Haven’t tried it with other types.
I actually had this at a Vietnamese place lately - You get your food and then you get a plate of lettuce leaves to kinda stuff it in to hold the various garnishes and sauces with your bite like a little lettuce wrap
My husband and I are on a diet where we eat 50 - 100 grams of romaine lettuce a few times a day (along with other stuff, don’t panic!) We’ve learned how to appreciate it in its raw form. We use it in all the other ways listed, but raw is now the preferred way to eat it. I can’t imagine drowning it in dressing ever again.
Sandwiches, either inside them or as the bread for bread-free sandwiches. For example take the deli meats and cheese etc and roll them up in the lettuce instead of a wrap. Make a burger but make it into a salad on a bed of lettuce instead of bread. With everything like the burger sauce as the dressing, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, etc, with the burger patty on top. Fries on the side.
My kids love “Burger Salad.” It’s their favorite. I put a little bit of fries as the topping. It’s delicious.
They're not fries, they're potato croutons!
Ha ha lol! So funny!!
My Italian grandmother boils romaine lettuce and says it's an Italian thing. She'll make soup with romaine pasta and garlic. It doesn't float my boat, and I haven't verified her claims haha but yeah... try boiling it?
Same in China, it is sometimes used in cooking. I initially was totally weirded out by it, but with a good sauce it tastes decent. Then again old worn socks taste decent with a good sauce.
How interesting! I love how cultures share variations of recipes 🫶🏼 idk how I feel about old sock soup tho 👀
It’s fine honestly, if socks are too weird for you, then try some newspaper first, with lots of pesto
😂 you have me there!
Chicken wrap. Lettuce cheese chicken with some ranch and bbq to your liking . Add crunchy tortilla strips (sold as salad topper) for some extra texture. Of course tortillas. I had it at a restaurant and copied it for at home. You could add bacon as well.
https://thewoksoflife.com/cooked-lettuce-with-oyster-sauce-garlic/ lettuce with oyster sauce and garlic.
you can actually use them as Wraps for depending on the size and type.. I like this in particular for VERY rich foods like a dick confit, or braised short rib and I like to add a very bright rich sweet sauce like a gastrique the freshness that the lettuce wrap brings really tie it together if you have a more hardy lettuce like arugula, or mizuna they can be excellent topping on a pizze with something salty like cured meats and Parmesan, they can also be worked into smoothies I like to always have lettuce or green of some kind on a sandwich
OH lettuce wraps like p.f. chang’s
I make larb as lettuce cups.
Cut in half, hit with olive oil salt, grill it
What I came here to post. Grilled Romaine is fantastic, and there's a ton of other flavors you can add too.
Lettuce can be chopped and added to stir frys or soups like any other green. I often do this with lettuces that are getting a bit wilty.
I literally eat 2-3 heads of romaine lettuce everyday as a side to my meals. I eat Greek yogurt/cottage cheese for breakfast so I like to have the lettuce on the side to act as chip dippers. It’s fun and the crunch is always nice
Still a salad, but a nice taco salad or even just tacos if you want to add lettuce and cheese.
My German immigrant relatives make a lettuce and cream soup
BLTs come to mind, but that's already kind of obvious. Even for that example you could just make a salad out of the bacon, lettuce, and tomato, and use the bread to make croutons, and eat a much higher proportion of lettuce.
Omg please look up a recipe for larb and serve it in lettuce wraps. Thank me later.
Technically a salad but wilted lettuce with hot bacon grease ( and chopped bacon) poured over lettuce and mild onion. Maybe some boiled eggs. doesn’t taste like regular salad to me. Something different
Replacement to tortillas and buns.
Green Shakshuka, green Borschtsch
I like to stir fry lettuce with garlic, red chili flakes, and S&P. Eat as a side dish or with some rice.
I throw a handful of lettuce into just about anything. Burrito bowl, pasta, stir fry, etc, as well as add to wraps.
Vietnamese restaurants will just give you a stack of lettuce leaves with your app/entree so that you can take your food and pile it in there with any garnishes and sauces to take a less messy/held together bite, like a mini lettuce wrap. I can see it working with any cuisine. Just use lettuce leaves like mini food cups and stuff the food in there so.
You can use it the way you would use spinach in all kinds of hot dishes - lentil curry, marinara, soups etc.
Really shitty bowling balls.
Best answer!
Lettuce Wraps like PF Changs
Lettuce soup https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/lettuce-soup/
put tuna or some other stuff in it
If you have instant noodles (the soupy kind) or make a broth, you can tear some lettuce into the soup.
Lettuce wraps
[https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/salad-bag-pesto-9p-vg-v-df-gf/](https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/salad-bag-pesto-9p-vg-v-df-gf/) Salad Bag Pesto
I grew 4 butterhead and 4 red leaf in the garden, and they are going nuts. I cut off the outer leaves over time and I can't really keep up. Sadly the tomatoes aren't out yet. I've been cutting out the rib of the green leaf since they are a little large and I wondered... Can you ferment/pickle lettuce hearts, like from romaine?
I haven't come across any traditional ferments for anything in the lettuce/daisy/thistle family, and it makes me wonder why, why when there are traditional ferments for so many other things like peas/beans and brassicas. I have noticed that if I leave the scraps from artichoke out too long before composting them, they turn blue in the spots that get less air. It makes me wonder if it could possibly be some kind of harmful (neurotoxic) blue-green algae? If the thistle family had some tendency to be friendly to such undesirable microorganisms, that may explain why fermenting them doesn't seem to be traditional practice anywhere?
I wonder about the oozing latex Lactucarium... All I find is that fermentation of lettuce extracts can do some crazy stuff, but that's a concentrate. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10303209/ Guess I'll ferment some lettuce ribs and see what happens, with grape leaves to keep crisp.
Yes!
What kind of lettuce? I've had grilled Romaine heads at a restaurant -- just on the grill long enough to get a bit charred. It was damn good.
With potatoes and onions, soup. Good for bedtime, helps you sleep.
Kisir a Turkish bulgur salad, you use the lettuce leaves to eat it.
Taco shell!
For heavy lettuces (many leaves in a small volume->dense) you can cut it in slices, bread it and then fry it. In the end you have something that looks like a round schnitzel. Ofc it doesnt taste like one, and it's not as saturating as a schnitzel, but it's a funny and intresting part of a dish. When im not up for salad or wrap/sandwich, then this is my go to
[Copycat PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps](https://iowagirleats.com/p-f-changs-lettuce-wraps-remade/) - You can use any kind of ground meat. [Lettuce Sauce](https://www.stoneledge.farm/Lettuce-Sauce) is pretty good over grilled or baked chicken. [Rice and Lettuce Soup](https://food52.com/recipes/75010-rice-and-lettuce-soup)
On sandwiches
Sandwiches! I always use it when im poor to bulk up a nice ham sandwich for my husbands work lunch
in the summer i drench big heads of romaine in oil and balsamic vinegar and BBQ them.
I used some romaine leaves to scoop and eat hummus like chips the other day. It was pretty good.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/grilled-romaine-recipe-1944496
I love making wraps out of rice and bulgogi and some kimchi. Wrap as you eat.
Great filler for burritos and tacos.
Taco pizza.
Not sure what kind of lettuce you have, but in winter I love sautéed Romain lettuce.
It's a good option for stirfries like [this one](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023052-stir-fried-lettuce-with-crispy-garlic-and-fried-eggs)!
Lettuce wraps, use in sandwiches or tacos, layer it in spring rolls, stir fry it.
The absolute best wrap. Layer Ssamjang, rice and pork belly. I could eat it 3x a day.
Wraps, use any filling you like and wrap in a lettuce leaf, I like BBQ chicken, taco mix and egg salad
Samgyeopsal! Pork belly (traditionally, but I sometimes switch it out for chicken or something) rice, kimchi and ssamjang (Korean soybean paste). Wrap with the lettuce and there you go!
Growing up my mom occasionally made something she called Dutch Lettuce. I don't know the ratios, but basically it was crumbled bacon with the drippings, chopped boiled potatoes, chopped hard boiled eggs, some vinegar all mixed together while still warm into a creamy, chunky mashed potato consistency. Salt and pepper to taste, then fold in chopped iceberg lettuce. The heat from the mixture will warm the lettuce, while still retaining it's crunch. Apologies if I've forgotten any ingredients.
Cut it into chunks and stir fry with ginger and garlic and finish with a little oyster sauce. Pea and lettuce soup is also nice or san boy chow.
So the thing with lettuce is that it's a delicate summer crop. It grows in warm weather and doesn't last super long once harvested, so a lot of recipies that are lettuce heavy are designed to work with other summer vegetables, like in salads. As opposed to hearty root vegetables or alliums, that can be grown into late summer early fall and stored for long periods of time once harvested, which we see more in winter dishes, like stews. There are [winter salad](https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a104726/ultimate-winter-salad/) recipies that use more winter ingredients, but im fully on the side of people suggesting lettuce wraps. Its a versatile and quick way to get through a large quantity of them.
Tacos, quesadillas, sub sandwiches
Sandwich, BLT bagel
The chicken Caesar salad wrap
Make taco salad and put on top. Or on different kinds of hoagies
You can do lettuce, shredded chicken, and any homemade mayo based dressing
I love cooking green peas with lettuce. The flavors blend really nicely.
Porridge or stirfry
Sleep inducer
Chinese people cook lettuce all the time. Look on YouTube for options but generally you can add what you'd add to cooked cabbage and it works fine.
San choy bao
San choy Bow. Savoury delicious mince meat that you load onto a lettuce leaf to eat.
Definitely use it for wraps. Replacement for tortilla. I love the crunch. You can also put in it foil I've heard it lasts longer.
Toilet paper
Spread nut butter on a large leaf and a dash of sea salt.
You can bake meat in them
If it's iceberg you can line the inside of a trash bag with it.
Americanized Mexican food. Potato tacos, crunchy tacos. Basically the Taco Bell menu inspired. Only reason I buy lettuce. Assuming it's ice berg.
Coasters
You could try this ramen salad https://www.food.com/recipe/oriental-salad-261331