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LETTUCES, BRAISED (au Jus)
Choose six lettuces of even size, take off the outside leaves, trim, parboil them, let them cool, and press out the water, but preserve their shape. Lay them in a buttered saute-pan, or stewpan, season with salt and pepper, cover with slices of bacon, slices of onion, a few sprigs of parsley, and some savoury herbs. Moisten with stock. Close the lid tightly, and let them cook slowly for an hour and a quarter. Take out the lettuces, drain on a sieve, shape them neatly, and dish up, with a little thick brown stock strained over.
A French braise of whole lettuces, translated into a Victorian English kitchen. It works, but the timing belongs to a different era of vegetables.
- Choose the right lettuceThis wants firm, tight heads — romaine/cos, Little Gem, or dense butterhead. Loose modern leaf lettuces collapse to nothing; bagged salad is useless here.
- Parboil and squeezeTwo to three minutes in salted boiling water, then straight into cold water. Squeeze gently between the palms to expel water while keeping the head intact, then fold or tie each one into a neat cigar so it holds shape through the braise.
- An hour and a quarter is too longLong braising times of this sort are common in period vegetable cookery, and the lettuces available may well have been coarser than ours. Modern cos braises to tenderness in 25-35 minutes at a bare simmer; longer turns it to grey thread. Judge by feel, not the clock.
- Sauté-pan or stewpanAny wide, shallow lidded pan that holds the six heads in a single layer. A tight lid matters — the lettuces should steam in very little liquid, not swim.
- The bacon"Slices of bacon" is used here as a barding layer, and mild unsmoked streaky bacon or fat pork is the safer reading for a delicate vegetable; heavily smoked modern rashers will dominate it.
- Savoury herbsA bundle of aromatic herbs - thyme, bay and parsley stalks answer well. The phrase means mixed sweet or savoury herbs generally, not specifically the herb summer savory, though a sprig of it would not be out of place.
- Au jus and "thick brown stock"The recipe finishes with a separately made thick brown stock strained over, i.e. a brown veal or beef stock with body enough to coat. Reducing and straining the braising liquid is a reasonable modern substitute; if it is thin, tighten it with a little demi-glace or a knob of beurre manie.
- YieldSix heads serve six as a vegetable course or side, one head each. Serve hot, with the sauce spooned over rather than around.
Braised lettuce (laitues braisées) is a staple of classical French cookery, where lettuce was treated as a cooked vegetable long before it became chiefly a salad plant — the same tradition that gives us peas cooked with lettuce and lettuce soups. Cassell's, compiled in the late nineteenth century for English households running on French professional technique, gives the method: parboil, press, bard with bacon, braise in stock, glaze with a reduction.