Your favourite lettuce or other salad leaves

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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Maidstone, Kent, UK
For some it may be a case of availability. I know that Yorky, for example, is limited by what's on sale in Thailand. Here in the UK there is quite a lot of choice. Tell us what your favourite salad leaves are.
 
I love them all!
Depends very much on which ones I use. I love mixed baby greens with a salad and with things like burrata and goat´s cheese. I wouldn´t dream of making a Caesar salad with anything else than Cos/Romaine lettuce. I´m happy to chomp my way through a mixed red/green raddichio salad, with little more than olive oil and white wine vinegar. A plateful of rocket is a beautiful thing. And those deliciously delicate "butter" lettuces are divine. I use Iceberg lettuce (which I don´t think has much flavour at all) for grilling and love the crispiness and bitterness of curly endive.
 
I like the mixed greens or sometimes it’s called Spring mix. Dandelion, rocket, endive, etc..i find it has enough taste that I can eat it with vinegarette and not have to add too much other stuff.
 
If I could have only one lettuce, it would probably be romaine. MrsT would likely say butter lettuce.

For sandwiches, iceberg is fine, nice and crunchy. I like mature red and green leaf lettuces (that’s what’s in the fridge right now), but I don’t care for baby lettuces much. I like something I can bite into and not feel like I’m eating grass.

I don’t like the bitter stuff and will pick it out of a salad if possible.

On lettuces like romaine and iceberg, how do people feel about the center rib/spine? I love it, it’s the crunchiest bit, but MrsT always wants me to trim it out. I compromise by splitting the leaf down the middle, to at least divide it up. 99% of our salads here are chopped, so it’s tolerable to her that way.
 
TastyReuben said:
If I could have only one lettuce, it would probably be romaine. MrsT would likely say butter lettuce.

For sandwiches, iceberg is fine, nice and crunchy. I like mature red and green leaf lettuces (that’s what’s in the fridge right now), but I don’t care for baby lettuces much. I like some I can bite into and not feel like I’m eating grass.

I don’t like the bitter stuff and will pick it out of a salad if possible.

On lettuces like romaine and iceberg, how do people feel about the center rib/spine? I love it, it’s the crunchiest bit, but MrsT always wants me to trim it out. I compromise by splitting the leaf down the middle, to at least divide it up. 99% of our salads here are chopped, so it’s tolerable to her that way.
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I agree on butter lettuce with MrsT, though the choice is also easily made because it and iceberg lettuce in small quantities are the only ones I can still eat.

Before this surgery, I would also love friséé lettuce and romaine. Even more so when combined.

I am not very fond of rocket, it's tough and the flavor dominates the dish in my eyes.
 
Butter lettuce has been mentioned a few times here but its not a recognised variety in the UK (far as I know). What we do have is the cheapest of all lettuces which combines tenderness with some crispness - the good old 'round lettuce'. It retails for less than 50p (70 cents) and keeps very well. Is it the same?

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TastyReuben said:
On lettuces like romaine and iceberg, how do people feel about the center rib/spine? I love it, it’s the crunchiest bit, but MrsT always wants me to trim it out. I compromise by splitting the leaf down the middle, to at least divide it up. 99% of our salads here are chopped, so it’s tolerable to her that way.
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My youngest and I used to munch on the ribs while we made salads together when she was a teenager. Often if she was at sports practice or a game and I was home cooking dinner, I would save them for her for when she got home, she loved pouring a bit of red wine vinegar and salt on them and eating them as a snack.

Rocklobster said:
I like the mixed greens or sometimes it’s called Spring mix. Dandelion, rocket, endive, etc..i find it has enough taste that I can eat it with vinegarette and not have to add too much other stuff.
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I like "mesclun" mix which is about the same I think, a mix of different greens.
karadekoolaid said:
I use Iceberg lettuce (which I don´t think has much flavour at all) for grilling and love the crispiness and bitterness of curly endive.
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We don't grill much, so I have never tried iceberg grilled. I agree, iceberg is bland. The only thing it really has going for it (in my opinion) is the crunch, but I can get that from Romaine so why bother?
 
Morning Glory said:
Butter lettuce has been mentioned a few times here but its not a recognised variety in the UK (far as I know). What we do have is the cheapest of all lettuces which combines tenderness with some crispness - the good old 'round lettuce'. It retails for less than 50p (70 cents) and keeps very well. Is it the same?

View attachment 81496
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That lettuce looks nice, it doesn't look like our "round" lettuce, which is iceberg. That looks like what I have seen labeled as Boston or Bibb lettuce, I think also butter lettuce.
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JAS_OH1 said:
That lettuce looks nice, it doesn't look like our "round" lettuce, which is iceberg. That looks like what I have seen labeled as Boston or Bibb lettuce, I think also butter lettuce.
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No its definitely not iceberg. We have that here too. The 'round lettuce' in the UK is softer and looser leaved but crisp as you get to the base of the leaf. Maybe it is the same as your butter lettuce.
 
Morning Glory said:
No its definitely not iceberg. We have that here too. The 'round lettuce' in the UK is softer and looser leaved but crisp as you get to the base of the leaf. Maybe it is the same as your butter lettuce.
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Appears to be so from your description. We just don't call it round lettuce, even though it is round shaped, LOL.
 
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