French or Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lettuce
Wash each leaf of lettuce in a stream of water.
Tear off any bruised or brown portions and check for insects.
Drain the lettuce on a fresh towel.
Tear the lettuce into pieces, discarding most of the stalk.
Dress and serve
Place the lettuce in a deep bowl and pour over the dressing.
Toss with a wooden salad spoon and fork until well coated.
Serve immediately.
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
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Forms the crisp, leafy base of the salad and holds the dressing.
- French dressing or mayonnaise dressing
- Adds fat and acidity or richness that coats the leaves and carries flavour.
The step that matters
Drain the lettuce thoroughly before dressing. Water left on the leaves dilutes the dressing and stops it clinging, so the salad turns watery and flat. Drying the leaves lets the dressing coat them evenly.
“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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