Why it works: Lettuce and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 976 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Braised Lettuce with Gravy
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the lettuce
Trim and wash the lettuce in several waters.
Parboil the lettuce in salted water, then drain and cool.
Press the lettuce to remove excess moisture and season well.
Wrap each head in four slices of fat salt pork and tie together.
Braise
Line a pan with thin slices of carrots and onions, then place the wrapped lettuce inside.
Moisten with fat veal or soup stock, cover the pan, and cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 2 hours.
After cooking, drain the lettuce and remove the strings and pork.
Fold the lettuce into a triangular shape and arrange in a sauté pan.
Make the gravy and serve
Skim the fat from the cooking stock, strain, and reduce to two-thirds.
Add a little meat extract and butter, pour over the lettuce, and heat without boiling.
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.
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Lettuce + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together976 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + vealtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,930 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender through slow braising.
- Fat salt pork
- Bastes the lettuce with fat as it cooks, adding savoury flavour and moisture.
- Fat veal or soup stock
- Provides the cooking liquid that gently braises the lettuce and later forms the base of the gravy.
- Carrots
- Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid and flavours the gravy.
- Onions
- Adds aroma and savoury depth to the braising liquid and gravy.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth texture to the finished gravy.
The step that matters
Heat the gravy without boiling. Once butter is added, a gentle heat keeps the gravy smooth and emulsified. Boiling can split the fat out of the sauce and make it greasy and grainy.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, carrot, onion, veal, meat, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, carrot, onion, veal, meat, butter. 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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