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Fried Lettuce

A dish of lettuce and onions sautéed with eggs and butter, served warm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,562 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Lettuce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine chopped lettuce and onions with beaten eggs.

  2. Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into the pan and cook until set, then flip and cook the other side.

  2. Serve warm, with vinegar if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the lettuce and onions together and set into a firm, sliceable cake when cooked.
Lettuce
Provides the bulk of the dish and its moisture, which steams out as it cooks.
Butter
Fat for the pan that keeps the mixture from sticking and adds richness and browning.
Onions
Add savory aroma and a mild sweetness as they cook.

The step that matters

Cook until set before flipping. Flipping too early, before the eggs have firmed, makes the mixture break apart. Egg proteins set with heat, so letting the base firm up holds the piece together.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, egg, butter, vinegar):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, egg, butter, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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