Wilted Leaf Salad

[2LaneCruzer]

This is one of my favorites; even if you are not a salad fan, you will probably like this one.

Wilted Leaf Lettuce Salad


Ingredients

2 or 3 eggs, boiled and sliced

Bowl of fresh leaf lettuce, washed and drained in colander. It's best to pick the young lettuce out of the garden, but the tender leaf lettuce from the store will work also.

1/4 cup sugar (approximate)

4 slices smoked bacon

Several fresh green onions and radishes

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

Boil your eggs, cool them and slice.

Fry the bacon crispy and remove the skillet from the burner.

Drain, cool and crumble the bacon, and set aside the bacon drippings.

Slice the onions and radishes.

Remove the drained lettuce from the colander to a large salad bowl, and sprinkle with sugar;

Mix the vinegar and water and add to the bacon drippings. Heat to boiling, and immediately pour over the lettuce to wilt.

Add the eggs, onions, radishes, bacon bits and salt and pepper to taste. Toss and serve immediately.

(Note: you will probably want to adjust the sugar/vinegar to your own taste)

This is my particular favorite. It does require a bit of art, but you should be able to get it right after a couple of times. Make sure the vinegar/bacon drippings get very hot, and are poured over immediately. The lettuce should be as fresh and tender as possible. I have never eaten a bad batch.

After a hard day in the yard, just open up a cool beer, put a thick rib eye on the grill and get ready for a meal fit for a king. Time the steak, a platter of fried okra and the wilted leaf salad to come off about the same time? It doesn't get much better than this. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

 

[Bird]

Is that an Oklahoma thing? My mother used to make something very similar when I was a kid growing up in southern Oklahoma; haven't had such in many, many years now. And yep, it was quite tasty.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I'm pretty sure it's a regional thing; Oklahoma and East Texas for sure. The only times I have ever eaten it, it was prepared by my family. I would like to know if others are familiar with it or not.

I did find a few references that indicate that it is an old, or vintage recipe, probably of German/Polish origin and not limited to this area of the country. Maybe it's simply fallen out of style because it takes a bit more time and effort and because it's not perceived as healthy. I found this quote from an NYT Question and answer column:

Q. When I was a child one of my favorite foods was called wilted lettuce. Can you give me a recipe?

A. Wilted lettuce is a salad on which many of us dined as children. I do not believe it is a regional creation, but I found a recipe in ''The New England Yankee Cook Book'' by Imogene Wolcott (1939).

It calls for three shredded bunches of garden lettuce. You cook four slices of lean bacon until crisp and remove from the skillet, reserving the fat. Crumble the bacon and set it aside. Add a quarter cup of vinegar, salt and pepper to the fat, simmer and pour over the lettuce.

Add a sliced hard-cooked egg and toss. Sprinkle with the bacon bits and serve.

 

[3Ts]

I've heard of "Wilted lettuce salad" but have never had one, I'll have to try it.

On another note, does anyone have a good pasta salad recipe? I've been trying ones I find on the internet and am still looking.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Sounds good, my mom used to make it.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I've heard of "Wilted lettuce salad" but have never had one, I'll have to try it.

On another note, does anyone have a good pasta salad recipe? I've been trying ones I find on the internet and am still looking.

I'm not a pasta fan, so I can't speak from experience...but we have a lot of "local" cook books, like the Stillwater Elks cook book, that have tried and true recipes. This one has a "pasta salad" and an "Italian pasta salad" recipe. You might check and see if you or friends have something similar...or, if you think it would help, I could copy and post one or both for you.

Speaking of cookbooks, it would be nice if all these recipes posted in the past and the future, were compiled into a down loadable TBN cookbook. I'm not trying to make more work for the administrators; just wanted to plant the idea. Hmmm?

 

[rgr33]

I have had a wilted spinach salad, very similar, and very tasty

 

[oosik]

I love ANY type of spinach salad. Tried growing it in the garden. The "animals" ate it before I could even pick it. Kind of like the chipmunks and our strawberries - GRRRR.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I love ANY type of spinach salad. Tried growing it in the garden. The "animals" ate it before I could even pick it. Kind of like the chipmunks and our strawberries - GRRRR.

Try Swiss Chard. It grows prolifically, can be eaten like lettuce, and when cooked is almost like Spinach. The flavor is a bit milder than Spinach, and it doesn't cook up like Spinach...meaning a gallon of Spinach when cooked, gives you about a pint of greens. Swiss Chard not so much.