RCP: Stir-fried Iceberg Lettuce

[Jenise]

Here's an interesting idea that's totally new to me: a hot Chinese dish involving iceberg lettuce! Interesting idea I'd love to try, being an iceberg fan myself. The not-so-secret would be to barely cook it--the two minutes suggested by the recipe almost sounds like too much time.

120-ice-queen-stir-fry300.jpg

Stir-Fried Iceberg Lettuce
(Shoon Chow Saang Choy)

SERVES 4

This fragrant stir-fry, a version of one in The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen (Simon & Schuster, 1999) by Grace Young, is a popular Chinese New Year dish.

1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. rice wine or dry sherry
3⁄4 tsp. sugar
1⁄2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 1⁄2 tbsp. peanut oil
4 scallions, cut on the diagonal
into 1" pieces
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1⁄2 medium head iceberg lettuce, cored,
outermost leaves
discarded, inner leaves torn into 4"-wide pieces
Kosher salt, to taste

1. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine or sherry, sugar, and pepper; set sauce aside.

2. Heat a 12" skillet over high heat. Add peanut oil, half of the scallions, and garlic and cook until garlic is golden, about 5 seconds. Add lettuce; cook, stirring occasionally, until lettuce softens slightly, about 1 minute. Drizzle in sauce and cook until lettuce is just coated with the sauce, about 1 minute. Season with salt, divide between 4 bowls, and garnish with remaining scallions.

I've always put iceberg at the very bottom of the ladder in the world of wonderful salad greens, though it does make for a pretty good wrapper. Am I being too much of a snob (which I admit I am)?

I've always put iceberg at the very bottom of the ladder in the world of wonderful salad greens, though it does make for a pretty good wrapper.

I have also considered it to be at the bottom. But I think it may be temporarily trendy. On business trips over the past couple of years I have seen it on some otherwise upscale restaurant menus. It is usually listed as something like, "Traditional Wedge Salad". Probably a comfort food for many that reminds them of childhood or dinner in the dorms.

If nothing else it is nutritionally suspect. Perhaps some enterprising grower can come up with a heritage/heirloom variety.

[Jenise]

I'm here to defend iceberg. Love it. Yes, nutrionally speaking it's bound to have the least value of any as it has the higher water content and least color, but does it taste good? Well, the heads you get at the super market especially during the hot growing months have little flavor, but the fresh small looser heads of spring (where fewer leaves have to share the same nutrient supply) and freshly picked heads of summer are considerably sweeter, and the crunch and shape of iceberg can do things no other lettuces can.

A salad we call garden salad has, at a minimum, iceberg, diced tomatoes, and green onions and,optionally, parsley, celery, bell pepper, curly endive, and cucumber (any or all) and is tossed with white vinegar, neutral oil, salt, two pinches of sugar and a lot of black pepper. It's best if left to meld up for 5-10 minutes before serving. It's sounds so simple, but the combined flavor is complex and I get more requests for that recipe than any other salad I make and in which the mild flavor of iceberg is crucial to carrying all the flavors brought into it by the other vegetables. Ditto a salad of iceberg, lots of parsley, and diced avocado dressed with oil, vinegar, salt and fresh garlic. Also, a salad I call guacmole salad for lack of a better name in which fork-smashed avocado is diluted with mayo (yes, here's one place I liked it), a bit of vinegar, and assertive quantities of oregano, garlic salt and black pepper. Again, the blandness and crunch of iceberg are crucial here.

Anyway, I digressed, but the principals of what makes iceberg so right for the garden salad above is exactly what would make it interesting in this recipe.

I'm here to defend iceberg.

You present an excellent case, though I'm not sure I'll bite. BTW, regarding your dislike of mayonnaise - do you ever make your own?

Perhaps you should see a therapist about your egg and mayo aversions.

I've seen this dish made with cabbage before, but not iceberg lettuce.

I like iceberg wedge salads, but otherwise I prefer salad greens with more flavor.

-Paul W.

Perhaps you should see a therapist about your egg and mayo aversions.

Hey, hey, leave my Sister Soul Mate alone! Mayo.... ack! ack!

Welcome back Cynthia.

[Jenise]

CYNTHIA!!!!

(big hug)

Thanks, kids.

I'm not back back, but I have a house guest until tomorrow who is helping manage my major time drain of the past few months. Hopefully, after August 17th or so I'll be able to get my life back.

I'm not back back, but I have a house guest until tomorrow who is helping manage my major time drain of the past few months.

Glad to hear you finally got some help with managing Stuart.

[Jenise]

Thanks, kids.

I'm not back back, but I have a house guest until tomorrow who is helping manage my major time drain of the past few months. Hopefully, after August 17th or so I'll be able to get my life back.

We will SOOOO look forward to it. We love you, and have missed you greatly.

[David M. Bueker]

Really thrilled to see you Cynthia.

Just a comment. You may consider iceberg lettuce as the poor relation of salad greens, but I just looked it up to make sure, and it's still the most popular lettuce in the U.S.
Some of its alleged 'detriments' are IMO some of its assets, the "neutral" taste makes it perfect for taking on any preferred flavor and the 'crunch factor' beats all the rivals.
Then again I think all lettuce is boring LOL!

You may consider iceberg lettuce as the poor relation of salad greens, but I just looked it up to make sure, and it's still the most popular lettuce in the U.S.

That would certainly explain why it is served on delicacies like Mc Donalds Big Macs and Burger King Whoppers. Two of the most popular sandwiches in the U.S. should really contain the most popular lettuce.

[Jenise]

That would certainly explain why it is served on delicacies like Mc Donalds Big Macs and Burger King Whoppers. Two of the most popular sandwiches in the U.S. should really contain the most popular lettuce.

They also contain beef patties. Doesn't make beef patties wrong now, does it?

I would never eat a Mc Donalds or Burger King beef pattie but that is just my preference.

That would certainly explain why it is served on delicacies like Mc Donalds Big Macs and Burger King Whoppers. Two of the most popular sandwiches in the U.S. should really contain the most popular lettuce.

They also contain beef patties. Doesn't make beef patties wrong now, does it?

But while we're at it LOL, let's throw mustard, ketchup, onions and cheese under the bus also!

But while we're at it LOL, let's throw mustard, ketchup, onions and cheese under the bus also!

The kinds that are served on a Big Mac? I'll gladly throw those under the bus!

Iceberg lettuce is the zucchini of leafy stuff. Bland filler that adds bulk but no flavour or interest, unless you rate crunch at the top of your totem.

As for made to order mayo, great stuff. Had dinner of duck confit and frites with home made mayo last night - must be the Belgian in me.

Mayo has one of the greatest ranges of any food stuff. The difference between my own mayo, made with Dijon and egg yolk only, and the CIJ (crap in a jar) stuff is HUGE. It is sort of like the difference between a fine unpasteurized French cheese and a box of Velveeta.

Jenise, eggs CAN be the ingredients for some of the most interesting dishes around - you miss out by having an egg phobia, but I'm sure you realize that.

James Beard liked iceberg lettuce.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks, kids.

What the others said! Yippeeeee!!

James Beard liked iceberg lettuce.

James Beard liked a few things that aren't to my taste.....

If I want crunch in my salad, I can get it with Romaine or red and get more taste with it.