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Lettuce Au Jus

A dish of lettuce stewed in stock and finished with a cornstarch‑thickened jus.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Lettuce Au Jus

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wash the heads of lettuce thoroughly without breaking them.

  2. Cut the lettuce to uniform length.

  3. Tie each head lightly together.

  4. Lay the heads side by side in a buttered pan.

  5. Add the sliced onion to the pan.

  6. Add the bay leaf to the pan.

Stew the lettuce

  1. Half-cover the lettuce with strong stock.

  2. Cover the pan tightly and stew gently or place it in a 300°F (150°C) oven.

  3. Open the pan occasionally.

  4. Add a little stock as it cooks away.

  5. Cook for about 2 hours.

  6. Add stock as needed.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Remove the strings from the lettuce.

  2. Arrange the heads on a flat dish.

  3. Return the pan to the stove.

  4. Add ½ cup of broth.

  5. Bring to a boil for a few minutes.

  6. Thicken the broth slightly with a pinch of cornstarch blended with a few drops of cold water. Stir.

  7. Boil for 3 minutes.

  8. Strain the gravy over the lettuce.

  9. Serve.

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. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Lettuce + buttertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Heads of lettuce
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender as they stew slowly in stock.
Strong stock
Provides the savoury liquid that cooks the lettuce and forms the base of the gravy.
Butter
Greases the pan so the lettuce does not stick during the initial cooking.
Onion
Adds aromatic flavour to the stock as the lettuce stews.
Cornstarch
Thickens the broth into a lightly bodied gravy that clings to the lettuce.

The step that matters

Thicken the broth with cornstarch. Cornstarch must be blended with cold water first so it does not clump, then boiled so its starch swells and thickens the gravy evenly.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion. 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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