Lettuce Lemon Salad

A three-ingredient sweet-sour dressing with no oil at all, which makes it lighter and sharper than anything a modern vinaigrette recipe will give you. The proportions as written are very sweet; taste before you dress the leaves.

• Scale itTwo tablespoons each of lemon juice, sugar and water makes enough for a head of romaine or two heads of butter lettuce. Serves four as a side salad.
• Dissolve the sugar properlyGranulated sugar dissolves slowly in cold liquid, and if you stop stirring too soon the last of it settles and the final spoonfuls turn syrupy. Warming the water slightly, or using superfine sugar, speeds things up; stir until the mixture is clear.
• Adjust the balanceEqual sugar to lemon juice reads as a lemonade dressing to most palates today. Half the sugar, or less, gives something closer to a modern lemon dressing, and a pinch of salt sharpens it considerably.
• Crisp lettuce means dry lettuceAn oil-free dressing has nothing to cling with, so any water left on the leaves dilutes it straight off. Wash, spin or towel dry, then chill the leaves before dressing.
• Dress at the tableAcid and sugar wilt tender lettuce faster than an emulsified dressing does. Combine only as the salad goes out, and never let it stand.
• Lemon juiceFresh juice only here; bottled juice carries a dull, slightly cooked note that nothing in this recipe can hide.