What's wrong with using spin dryer to dry lettuce?

Question

I love lettuce salad. I eat it very often. I bought a spin dryer, which I find very handy and I use it all the time.

But recently I heard Gordon Ramsay saying that you should bever use spin dryer, that it will destroy the lettuce.

Is that true? How is it destroying lettuce. I don't see any difference between spin-dryed and unspined lettuce.

Asked by Fczbkk

Answer

I think the thing boils down to how much you need to get from the lettuce. If you demand the best of the best performance for your salad, you want to blot it dry with paper towels, so that the texture is best preserved and the appearance is undisturbed. For my purpose, in my kitchen, a salad spinner saves money (the paper towels), time (MY TIME), and allows me to do something more interesting than blotting it dry, and the time saved can be used to better decorate the dishes i love better than the salad.

In essence, there is nothing wrong with any method of cooking if you enjoy the result, and it doesn't involve health problems. Spinning it dry is fine for me, and if you accept the result, there is little to hesitate using one.

Thomas keller also told us that after those vegetables release the flavors in the soup we should discard it, and replace it with fresh cooked vegetables into the soup with better colors, better flavor for better presentation, in my kitchen, I am not serving a Michelin 3-star soup to my family, and thus it is fine having those vegetable in the soup for some more fibres in our diet.

It is a matter of fine dining, it is not a matter of home kitchen. Insist if you have to, but relax if you actually can. :)

Answered by bubu

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How can you prevent lettuce from becoming bitter?

Question

I've been buying good lettuce recently and have been storing them in the fridge in a water bath. This way the lettuce stays in good shape and I prepare some salads. After about a week, however, the lettuce becomes inedible because of the bitter taste.

Do you know why this happens or any way to prevent the bitterness?

Answer

I think the key here is that you've been buying oversized lettuces. Bitterness of lettuce plants is not something under your control. When the lettuce matures (on the plant), it eventually starts flowering (called "bolting") as a way to perpetuate its genes. Once this sets in, the leaves turn bitter due to the production of certain chemicals, and acts as a defense mechanism against insects.

The process of bolting is irreversible and if it has commenced in the plant, it will continue on in the cut lettuce head (perhaps at a diminished rate). Big lettuce heads are invariably more mature than the smaller ones, which is why you experience a higher occurrence of them turning bitter. You could try the other suggestions here, but I cannot say for/against any of them as I haven't heard of any of them being used to control bitterness.

My advice would be to buy small to medium sized lettuces. Young leaves are tender and less likely to turn bitter. One might be tempted to buy the biggest lettuce on the shelf so as to "maximize" the leaves/dollar, but in the end, you have to decide whether the bitterness is really worth it.

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how to store lettuce

Question

what is the best way to store letuce in the fridge?

• should I store it in a air thight bag on in an open bag?
• should I wash and cut it first?
• should it be stored wet or patted dry?

thanks

Answer

It depends on what type of lettuce it is -- part of the issue is that if the lettuce is touching plastic, it will rot quicker, so I wrap it in paper towels, then bag it (but not sealed), and keep it in my crisper.

For whole heads of lettuce (iceburg, butter, red leaf, etc), I just wrap the whole thing in dry paper towels, then shove it back into the bag from the grocery store or farmer's market. I then pull off leaves as I need it, and re-wrap it. It stores for well over a week this way.

For mescalin mixes, arugula, or other individual leaves, I'll wash them, dry them, then unroll enough paper towels to spread the leaves on, then roll up the whole thing, and bag the roll (again, not sealed), and keep it in my crisper. I can probably get a week out of it this way.

(all times assume you're not buying from a store where it's been sitting on the shelf too long before you buy it; I get my lettuce when I can from the local farmer's market)

So, to answer the specific questions:

• keep the bag open; you don't want moisture to condense inside the bag, as it'll make the lettuce rot faster.
• I get better storage time with heads of letuce keeping them whole. If you're going to be eating it all within 2-3 days, it probably doesn't matter, and for loose lettuce, I find it more convenient to wash it as I re-pack it anyway.
• You never want to store lettuce wet ... you might be able to store it completely submerged, but damp will lead to it rotting faster.

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