Pro Cooking Tip #3 - Fresh Crunchy Lettuce!

Welcome to this weeks, Pro Cooking Tips!

EL the Cook, introduces you to the basic of most great salads, lettuce!

With the world getting more conscious about its waistline, this leaf is the favorite of most dietitians, nutritionists & health-freaks! However for most of us, lettuce is just..Salad!

With the so many types available today, its hard to deny their versatility of lettuce in food. Most recently arugula, roquette & radicchio have been making their appearance in top chef's kitchens, because of their taste, flavor & texture!   

Characters: Broad leaves, Green/Purple, often grows in bunches/clusters.

Storage:  Lettuce should be stored in your fridge, at 4-8 degrees, lasting for 1 week.

Uses: Salads, Soups, Sandwiches & Wraps!

Types:  Here are 21 types of lettuce, from different parts of the world! 

Here are my top tips for lettuce!

     1) Storage :

• Lettuce should be stored in your fridge, if you store it with the stem, wrap it in cling film. If you store just the leaves, store in an air-tight container.
• Warning! Do not wash the leaves and store, this makes them soggy and spoil quicker.

          2) Washing :

• Wash your lettuce in a sieve, this helps drain the water quicker.
• Water retention between the leaves is the foremost cause for most salads, oozing water or diluting flavor of your dressing.
•  To avoid this wipe your lettuce leaves, in a paper towel or cloth.

•  You can also use a salad spinner like the one shown below, this thoroughly dries out your leaves! 

         

           3) Prep:

• Lettuce should NEVER be cut with a knife!

• Cutting with the knife causes, "rusting" of lettuce leaves and they turn brown quicker than when you tear them. This is because the metal edge of the knife bruises the leaf cells resulting in spewing of some chemicals which oxidize, like rust! 
• Always tear your lettuce, they retain their crunch and color!

         DID YOU KNOW?

• Lettuce is mildly narcotic! These properties are attributed to a chemical called lactucarium or "lettuce opium" which is secreted by the stems!

So live healthy! 

Remember, Lettuce is like a good conversation, it must be fresh, crisp & so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it!