Philip Kauth, PhD, assistant curator, and Steffen Mirsky, horticultural technician, make up the Seed Savers Exchange Evaluation Team. The Eval Team is the division of the Preservation Department that keeps detailed records of more characteristics than most people know an individual variety can have. Their work helps us differentiate between the varieties in our collection and describe them clearly in the Yearbook.

Step up to the Plate is a blog series in which the evaluation professionals profile a variety that stands out to their distinguished senses each month. This month's installment comes from the mind of Philip Kauth.

FIelds of plenty (of lettuce) here at Heritage Farm

June 2015: Lettuce 732 'Paris White Cos'

According to William Woys Weaver’s 1997 book Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History, the lettuce we know as 732 ‘Paris White Cos’ was "sold in this country as early as 1802 by Bernard M’Mahon of Philadelphia. M’Mahon sold it under the name White Cos." Weaver describes the lettuce as “a heavy drinker and will never develop its famous crispness unless it is kept well-watered, none of which seemed out of the ordinary to me. But Weaver goes on, “This is also one of the popular lettuces that was used for stewing..." Yes, you read that correctly. Stewed lettuce. It sounded slimy to me, but intriguing nevertheless.

One of the wonderful benefits of working at Seed Savers Exchange is trying out recipes that call for varieties in the collection as ingredients. When Tor Janson, SSE’s collection curator, scheduled lettuce 732 ‘Paris White Cos’ (Cos, by the way, is the historic name for a romaine lettuce.) to be one of the 72 lettuce varieties we would grow out for evaluation this year, he came across this recipe in Weaver’s book.

Weaver adapts his recipe from Baron Brisse’s 366 Menus (1886). Brisse suggests a two-hour cook time, but Weaver says 30 minutes is plenty and instead of boiling, as Brisse instructs, Weaver recommends “sweating” the lettuce with very little water.

Laitues au jus (Stewed Lettuce) according to Brisse:

Clean, blanch, and trim your lettuces, tie them in bunches, putting two or three together, simmer for two hours in a saucepan with stock, a bouquet of herbs, chopped onions, salt, and pepper, line the saucepan with buttered paper. When cooked untie the lettuces and serve with their own sauce, which must be reduced and passed through a tammy.

Tor asked the eval team if we would be willing to try a stewed lettuce recipe. Always up for an interesting vegetable dish, I said yes. But the lettuce according to Baron Brisse seemed more braised to me than stewed, so I found a more complete recipe for braised lettuce and amended it. I also made a second batch using a different recipe I concocted myself. Many SSE staffers were skeptical of braised lettuce, but after they tasted it, they were converted. The recipes were simple, and one can amend them in numerous ways. Any type of hardy bib or romaine lettuce would work well for braising.

Recipe 1

Ingredients

1 head of lettuce cut into quarters
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup broth (I used water)
1 clove garlic minced (I like garlic so used 2)
Salt and pepper to taste
As Brisse calls for onions and herbs I used an onion and my favorite herb mix called Bouquet Garni from Penzey’s Spices

Instructions

Wash the lettuce and cut into quarters. Heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add spices. Add lettuce quarters cut side down. Sauté about 10 minutes. Turn lettuce over and add liquid (water or broth) and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe 2

Ingredients

1 head of lettuce cut into quarters
2 tablespoons olive oil
Herbs
½ cup broth (I used water)
A few splashes of red wine vinegar

Instructions

Wash the lettuce and cut into quarters. Heat olive oil over medium heat, add spices, and sauté for a few minutes. Add lettuce quarters cut side down. Sauté about 10 minutes. Turn lettuce over and add liquid (water or broth) and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Lettuce at Heritage Farm, Lush and Ready for braising

Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization located in Decorah, Iowa, with a mission to conserve and promote America's culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants.