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Stewed Lettuce
Take 4 good-sized lettuces, trim away the outer leaves and the bitter stalks; wash the lettuces carefully, and boil them in plenty of salted water until they are tender. Lift them into a colander, and squeeze the water from them; chop them slightly, and put them into a clean saucepan with a little pepper and salt, and a small piece of butter. Dredge a little flour on them, pour over them 3 tablespoonfuls of good gravy, or 1/4 cupful of cream and omit the lemon juice, and simmer gently for a quarter of an hour, stirring all the time. Squeeze 1 dessert-spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice upon them, and serve as hot as possible, with fried sippets round the dish. Time, altogether, three-quarters of an hour. Endive may be dressed as the above.
A Victorian way with lettuce that treats it as a cooked green rather than a salad. The whole thing hangs on getting the water out before the butter goes in.
- Which lettuceUse firm cos/romaine or a dense butterhead — anything with substance to the rib. Modern loose-leaf and bagged salad mixes collapse to nothing and turn slimy.
- Squeeze harder than feels rightThis is the hinge. Lettuce is around 95 percent water, and any left behind will thin the butter and gravy into a grey puddle. Press the drained leaves firmly in the colander, or wring them in a clean towel.
- Boiling time"Until tender" means 3 to 5 minutes for romaine, not the long boil the total time of three-quarters of an hour might suggest. Most of that time is trimming, washing and the final simmer.
- "Good gravy"Here this means well-flavoured meat stock or the strained juices from a roast, not thickened packet gravy. Concentrated beef or chicken stock works; 3 tablespoons is a coating, not a sauce.
- Cream versionThe line about cream is an alternative to the gravy — a quarter cup, with the acid left out so it does not split. Choose one route or the other.
- Dessert-spoonfulRoughly 2 teaspoons, midway between a teaspoon and a tablespoon in the old English scale.
- The fifteen-minute simmerFifteen minutes of constant stirring is more than the vegetable needs. Five to eight minutes over low heat is enough to bind the flour and gravy; longer only dulls the colour.
- SippetsSmall triangles or fingers of bread fried in butter until crisp, arranged round the edge of the dish. Fry them last so they are still crisp when the dish reaches the table.
- YieldFour lettuces cook down dramatically — expect four modest side servings.