That's torn it! -- Torn lettuce?

Phred said:

torn within wide limits; but, just in case there *is* something of an
expectation among diners of a "torn lettuce" standard, I thought I'd
better ask here.

Only an expectation among those whose sphincter is clenched clear up
to their eyebrows or have so much money and are so bored with life
they make it a point to concern themselves about that sort of thing.

nb

Wayne Boatwright wrote on 20 Sep 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting. When I tear head lettuce I tend to break it into chunks,
perhaps 1 x 1-/12 inches. I tear leaf lettuces in somewhat larger
pieces. IMHO, pieces as small as you cut are too small and would be
especially small if torn rather than cut. Many people find torn
lettuce more esthetically pleasing.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Not all people are annoying. Some are dead.

I remember Vincent Price making a Salad on Carson's The Tonight Show...I
think I remember him saying torn lettuce bleeds/bruises less.

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

Phred said:

G'day mates,

My "traditional" salad (i.e. the only one I ever make for myself)
consists of chopped lettuce (strips about... lemme see, better
translate... 3/8" to 1/2" wide by 1/2" to 1" long, cut with a knife)
and the other usual ingredients for a tossed salad (chopped tomato and
onion, grated carrot, diced spuds, sometimes chopped hard boiled eggs,
and so on). So when someone says to use "torn lettuce" I'm left
wondering how much it should be torn.

I tear Bibb/Butter lettuce, but I chop Romaine.

Quoted message said:

The question arose with that recent recipe for New Orleans Grapefruit
Salad posted by Victor a couple of weeks back. It says to use "1 head
iceberg lettuce, washed, trimmed, and torn". (The fragments are then
used as a bed for the grapefruit segments on individual serving
plates.)

Good grief.... chop head lettuce! Why pretend it's la-tee-dah stuff?

Quoted message said:

I realise it probably doesn't matter a tinker's damn how much it's
torn within wide limits; but, just in case there *is* something of an
expectation among diners of a "torn lettuce" standard,

I can't understand the mind set that allows people to eat head lettuce
and requires it to be torn. Head lettuce is flavored cardboard, so
cut it.

Quoted message said:

I thought I'd
better ask here. (And I checked the FAQ, Vic, but it has neither
"torn" nor "lettuce" on the page. ;-)

It's a subject that is interesting only to you and me. LOL! To be
perfectly honest, I gauge the culinary state of affairs in areas I
visit by their salad. They can fool you with the main dish, if you
picked it well.... but house salads are supposed to appeal to the
masses. If the salad is composed with head lettuce, I pass judgment
and it's not a good one.

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 08:59:35p, Mr Libido Incognito wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright wrote on 20 Sep 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting. When I tear head lettuce I tend to break it into chunks,
perhaps 1 x 1-/12 inches. I tear leaf lettuces in somewhat larger
pieces. IMHO, pieces as small as you cut are too small and would be
especially small if torn rather than cut. Many people find torn
lettuce more esthetically pleasing.

Quoted message said:

I remember Vincent Price making a Salad on Carson's The Tonight Show...I
think I remember him saying torn lettuce bleeds/bruises less.

I used to have Mary and Vincent Price's Come into the Kitchen Cook Book (lost
in a fire). I enjoyed some of those recipes.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Not all people are annoying. Some are dead.

Speaking of Vincent Price - enjoy this spoken word excerpt entitled
"How To Cook Small Boys"

http://www.aprilwinchell.com/multimedia/

scroll down to the "Too Weird To Classify" section near the bottom.
There's a ton of other frighteningly bad stuff here too.

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 09:11:45p, sf wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Phred said:

G'day mates,

My "traditional" salad (i.e. the only one I ever make for myself)
consists of chopped lettuce (strips about... lemme see, better
translate... 3/8" to 1/2" wide by 1/2" to 1" long, cut with a knife)
and the other usual ingredients for a tossed salad (chopped tomato and
onion, grated carrot, diced spuds, sometimes chopped hard boiled eggs,
and so on). So when someone says to use "torn lettuce" I'm left
wondering how much it should be torn.

I tear Bibb/Butter lettuce, but I chop Romaine.

Quoted message said:

The question arose with that recent recipe for New Orleans Grapefruit
Salad posted by Victor a couple of weeks back. It says to use "1 head
iceberg lettuce, washed, trimmed, and torn". (The fragments are then
used as a bed for the grapefruit segments on individual serving
plates.)

Good grief.... chop head lettuce! Why pretend it's la-tee-dah stuff?

I really prefer it torn into chunks. I just don't like the way it looks
when it's cut. Only exception is when I make a "chopped salad" where all
the ingredients are cut in smallish chunks.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I realise it probably doesn't matter a tinker's damn how much it's
torn within wide limits; but, just in case there *is* something of an
expectation among diners of a "torn lettuce" standard,

I can't understand the mind set that allows people to eat head lettuce
and requires it to be torn. Head lettuce is flavored cardboard, so
cut it.

True, head lettuce is rather tasteless, but it's a good foil for a very
good dressing.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I thought I'd
better ask here. (And I checked the FAQ, Vic, but it has neither
"torn" nor "lettuce" on the page. ;-)

It's a subject that is interesting only to you and me. LOL! To be
perfectly honest, I gauge the culinary state of affairs in areas I
visit by their salad. They can fool you with the main dish, if you
picked it well.... but house salads are supposed to appeal to the
masses. If the salad is composed with head lettuce, I pass judgment
and it's not a good one.

I don't mind a small amount of head lettuce added to a salad of mixed
greens, as it does provide a bit of crispness that most lettuce don't have.
OTOH, if the salad is predominantly head lettuce I don't much care for it.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Not all people are annoying. Some are dead.

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 09:16:07p, morgul the friendly drelb wrote in
rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Speaking of Vincent Price - enjoy this spoken word excerpt entitled
"How To Cook Small Boys"

http://www.aprilwinchell.com/multimedia/

scroll down to the "Too Weird To Classify" section near the bottom.
There's a ton of other frighteningly bad stuff here too.

Great page! Thanks!

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Not all people are annoying. Some are dead.

Wayne Boatwright said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting.

Horse pucky! While "tearing" gives illusion the salad is the latest
trendy organic/free range/whatever greens, the fact is most salads are
crisped in ice water and dried just prior to serving. Any salad green
can be cut, shot, or mandolined and preserved for 2-3 days in ice
water with little or no degradation and most wouldn't have a clue.
This is common practice.

nb

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 10:23:44p, notbob wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting.

Horse pucky! While "tearing" gives illusion the salad is the latest
trendy organic/free range/whatever greens, the fact is most salads are
crisped in ice water and dried just prior to serving. Any salad green
can be cut, shot, or mandolined and preserved for 2-3 days in ice
water with little or no degradation and most wouldn't have a clue.
This is common practice.

nb

I said "supposedly"! :-)

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Not all people are annoying. Some are dead.

Wayne Boatwright said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting.

More than 'supposedly' and easily shown by experimentation. Take two
pieces of lettuce, cut one in half, tear the other in half. Put them
down on your cutting board and go away. Come back in half an hour and
look closely at the edges of each piece. The torn edges will be less
wilted and less discolored than the cut edges.

Whether the difference matters is up to you.

Quoted message said:

[snip] Many people find torn lettuce more esthetically pleasing.

I do, but again, it's a personal thing. -aem

Wayne replied to sf:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't understand the mind set that allows people to eat head lettuce
and requires it to be torn. Head lettuce is flavored cardboard, so
cut it.

True, head lettuce is rather tasteless, but it's a good foil for a very
good dressing.

Iceberg lettuce is low in calories and high in potassium. It's also got a
pleasant texture and a delicate sweetness and fragrance which are often
overlooked by LETTUCE SNOBS LIKE YOU! :-)

To answer Phred's original post, I concur with Wayne's practice of tearing
lettuce (of all varieties) unless I'm making a chopped salad.

Most replies have ignored what I thought was the point of Phred's post: If
you tear the lettuce, how large are the torn pieces? My answer is that I
tear the lettuce into pieces which I think can be easily eaten with a salad
fork. That works out to no dimension being larger than about two-and-a-half
inches or smaller than one inch. But that's just me.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger said:

Most replies have ignored what I thought was the point of Phred's post: If
you tear the lettuce, how large are the torn pieces? My answer is that I
tear the lettuce into pieces which I think can be easily eaten with a salad
fork. That works out to no dimension being larger than about two-and-a-half
inches or smaller than one inch. But that's just me.

Bob

I'm with ya on the no smaller than 1 inch size. I HATE it when people
chop their food into miniscule pieces. My MIL does this with
everything, my sister and nieceas do it with fruit salad and potato
salad. Ick! Give me big pieces! If I want them smaller, I will cut
them myself!

-L.

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 07:44:26p, Phred wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

G'day mates,

My "traditional" salad (i.e. the only one I ever make for myself)
consists of chopped lettuce (strips about... lemme see, better
translate... 3/8" to 1/2" wide by 1/2" to 1" long, cut with a knife)
and the other usual ingredients for a tossed salad (chopped tomato and
onion, grated carrot, diced spuds, sometimes chopped hard boiled eggs,
and so on). So when someone says to use "torn lettuce" I'm left
wondering how much it should be torn.

The question arose with that recent recipe for New Orleans Grapefruit
Salad posted by Victor a couple of weeks back. It says to use "1 head
iceberg lettuce, washed, trimmed, and torn". (The fragments are then
used as a bed for the grapefruit segments on individual serving
plates.)

I realise it probably doesn't matter a tinker's damn how much it's
torn within wide limits; but, just in case there *is* something of an
expectation among diners of a "torn lettuce" standard, I thought I'd
better ask here. (And I checked the FAQ, Vic, but it has neither
"torn" nor "lettuce" on the page. ;-)

Cheers, Phred.

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting. When I tear head lettuce I tend to break it into chunks, perhaps
1 x 1-/12 inches. I tear leaf lettuces in somewhat larger pieces. IMHO,
pieces as small as you cut are too small and would be especially small if
torn rather than cut. Many people find torn lettuce more esthetically
pleasing.

Well, my ex-sister-in-law, who fancied herself as a great chef, used to
take me to task every time I chopped lettuce. She was in the catering
business and had been on several "gourmet" cooking courses. She said
that it bruises the lettuce if you cut it with a knife, so I suppose
that's true.....

However, as to the getting it to the right size when tearing.... I tend
to go for "bite-sized". I am sure that really helped 🙂

Like your new sig, Wayne, BTW. heh heh

--
Cheers
Cathy(xyz)

In article said:

Wayne replied to sf:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't understand the mind set that allows people to eat head lettuce
and requires it to be torn. Head lettuce is flavored cardboard, so
cut it.

True, head lettuce is rather tasteless, but it's a good foil for a very
good dressing.

Iceberg lettuce is low in calories and high in potassium. It's also got a
pleasant texture and a delicate sweetness and fragrance which are often
overlooked by LETTUCE SNOBS LIKE YOU! :-)

To answer Phred's original post, I concur with Wayne's practice of tearing
lettuce (of all varieties) unless I'm making a chopped salad.

Most replies have ignored what I thought was the point of Phred's post: If
you tear the lettuce, how large are the torn pieces? My answer is that I
tear the lettuce into pieces which I think can be easily eaten with a salad
fork. That works out to no dimension being larger than about two-and-a-half
inches or smaller than one inch. But that's just me.

Onya, Bob! I should have thought more about it myself -- clearly an
American recipe would call for pieces small enough to eat with a fork
without the aid of a knife, so that would set an upper limit. Around
here, Iceberg is the only type commonly available, so I'm afraid I'll
have to give the more exclusive salad clubs a miss. ;-)

[Thanks too, to all you others who have expressed advice or opinions.]

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

Wayne Boatwright <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 07:44:26p, Phred wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

G'day mates,

My "traditional" salad (i.e. the only one I ever make for myself)
consists of chopped lettuce (strips about... lemme see, better
translate... 3/8" to 1/2" wide by 1/2" to 1" long, cut with a knife)
and the other usual ingredients for a tossed salad (chopped tomato
and onion, grated carrot, diced spuds, sometimes chopped hard boiled
eggs, and so on). So when someone says to use "torn lettuce" I'm
left wondering how much it should be torn.

The question arose with that recent recipe for New Orleans Grapefruit
Salad posted by Victor a couple of weeks back. It says to use "1
head iceberg lettuce, washed, trimmed, and torn". (The fragments are
then used as a bed for the grapefruit segments on individual serving
plates.)

I realise it probably doesn't matter a tinker's damn how much it's
torn within wide limits; but, just in case there *is* something of an
expectation among diners of a "torn lettuce" standard, I thought I'd
better ask here. (And I checked the FAQ, Vic, but it has neither
"torn" nor "lettuce" on the page. ;-)

Cheers, Phred.

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting. When I tear head lettuce I tend to break it into chunks,
perhaps 1 x 1-/12 inches. I tear leaf lettuces in somewhat larger
pieces. IMHO, pieces as small as you cut are too small and would be
especially small if torn rather than cut. Many people find torn
lettuce more esthetically pleasing.

I always tear lettuce for this reason Wayne. The size depends on the type
of lettuce and the dressing I intend to use. I don't really care one way or
another as long as the salad is edible 😉

Michael

--
Send email to dog30 at charter dot net

Wayne Boatwright <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 07:44:26p, Phred wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

G'day mates,

My "traditional" salad (i.e. the only one I ever make for myself)
consists of chopped lettuce (strips about... lemme see, better
translate... 3/8" to 1/2" wide by 1/2" to 1" long, cut with a knife)
and the other usual ingredients for a tossed salad (chopped tomato
and onion, grated carrot, diced spuds, sometimes chopped hard boiled
eggs, and so on). So when someone says to use "torn lettuce" I'm
left wondering how much it should be torn.

The question arose with that recent recipe for New Orleans Grapefruit
Salad posted by Victor a couple of weeks back. It says to use "1
head iceberg lettuce, washed, trimmed, and torn". (The fragments are
then used as a bed for the grapefruit segments on individual serving
plates.)

I realise it probably doesn't matter a tinker's damn how much it's
torn within wide limits; but, just in case there *is* something of an
expectation among diners of a "torn lettuce" standard, I thought I'd
better ask here. (And I checked the FAQ, Vic, but it has neither
"torn" nor "lettuce" on the page. ;-)

Cheers, Phred.

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting. When I tear head lettuce I tend to break it into chunks,
perhaps 1 x 1-/12 inches. I tear leaf lettuces in somewhat larger
pieces. IMHO, pieces as small as you cut are too small and would be
especially small if torn rather than cut. Many people find torn
lettuce more esthetically pleasing.

I always tear lettuce for this reason Wayne. The size depends on the type
of lettuce and the dressing I intend to use. I don't really care one way or
another as long as the salad is edible 😉

Michael

--
Send email to dog30 at charter dot net

"Wayne Boatwright" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 10:23:44p, notbob wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting.

Horse pucky! While "tearing" gives illusion the salad is the latest
trendy organic/free range/whatever greens, the fact is most salads are
crisped in ice water and dried just prior to serving. Any salad green
can be cut, shot, or mandolined and preserved for 2-3 days in ice
water with little or no degradation and most wouldn't have a clue.
This is common practice.

nb

I said "supposedly"! :-)

Heheheheh, yup - ya gotta sneak as many qualifiers as possible in huh?
',;~}~

Shaun aRe

"Wayne Boatwright" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue 20 Sep 2005 10:23:44p, notbob wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

Supposedly, tearing lettuce reduces oxidation of the edges and [censored]
wilting.

Horse pucky! While "tearing" gives illusion the salad is the latest
trendy organic/free range/whatever greens, the fact is most salads are
crisped in ice water and dried just prior to serving. Any salad green
can be cut, shot, or mandolined and preserved for 2-3 days in ice
water with little or no degradation and most wouldn't have a clue.
This is common practice.

nb

I said "supposedly"! :-)

Heheheheh, yup - ya gotta sneak as many qualifiers as possible in huh?
',;~}~

Shaun aRe

"Wayne Boatwright" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I don't mind a small amount of head lettuce added to a salad of mixed
greens, as it does provide a bit of crispness that most lettuce don't

have.

Quoted message said:

OTOH, if the salad is predominantly head lettuce I don't much care for it.

By 'head lettuce', are you referring to say, iceberg and the like? I
personally really enjoy iceberg lettuce - I just love the texture and
juiciness of it myself! If a salad consisted of little else, then of course
I'd turn y nose up at it, but as a component in a good mixed salad I find it
priceless.

Shaun aRe