300974 Wed Oct 19 11:17:35 -0700 2005 31 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1675959 What happened to salads with Iceberg or Romaine?(besides Caesar) I am growing weary of the ubiquitous mixed green salads with an olive oil-based dressing. I find them too bitter, for one thing, and uninspired. I like the crunch of iceberg, and it stands up to anything. What am I missing? Wed Oct 19 11:17:35 -0700 2005 0 Madame Bowery 1 1675962 i love a wedge of iceberg with a good bleu cheese dressing Wed Oct 19 11:29:03 -0700 2005 1675959 0 mark 1 1675966 Here's a lively little thread discussing iceberg... Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/300559#1671085 Wed Oct 19 11:58:26 -0700 2005 1675959 0 petradish 1 1675967 youre not missing anything. iceberg is delicious cut into wedges with blue cheese dressing. i love romaine too and right now in nyc you can get beautiful dark green heads of it for .99. also try finely shredding iceberg/romaine and adding it to your tuna salad. Wed Oct 19 12:08:54 -0700 2005 1675959 0 furryabdul 1 1675970 I agree that iceberg wedges are great w/ bleu cheese, but I would add also w/ walnuts and tomatos, and if you eat pork - bacon. I've seen this on many restaurant menus. Luna Park has an iceberg wedge salad w/ ceasar salad dressing so I guess that's the ceasar iceberg salad you were talking about, but they also have a butter lettuce salad which is also a chunk of the lettuce w/ this "goddess" dressing - both pretty good. Wed Oct 19 12:24:07 -0700 2005 1675959 0 WaterIsGood 1 1675973 I agree 100% I won't eat a mixed greens (I call it mixed weeds) salad anymore. I either leave it, or let my better half eat it. Wed Oct 19 12:29:26 -0700 2005 1675959 0 humin 1 1675977 I like it all, but it depends on the meal. And as for the wedge with blue cheese, don't forget the old childhood favorite Russian or 1000 Island. Wed Oct 19 13:41:00 -0700 2005 1675959 0 Candy 1 1675978 I abhor iceberg, though I've only had it in nasty "family steakhouse" salads, so I need to have a really good iceberg experience and then I might have a different opinion. On the other hand, ROMAINE I love! It is really light years away from iceberg in terms of both flavor and nutrition. I've made a zillion steak salads this summer with the classic combo of blue cheese crumbles and RARE sliced skirt steak. Yum. Andrea Link: http://tenacity.net Wed Oct 19 13:46:30 -0700 2005 1675959 0 Miss Tenacity 1 1675981 I absolutelt detest iceberg lettuce. No flavour and no nutritional value. If i want some crunch in my salad ill use red cabbage or romaine. Romaine is very different from iceberg IMO. Ice berg is like cheap filler to me. Yuck The mixed greens on the other hand i usually like though i like them unmixed as well. One of the best salads in the world is a simply arugala parmesan extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Wed Oct 19 14:36:44 -0700 2005 1675959 0 MV 1 1675991 I can't believe I am admitting this but, in my non-chowish Midwestern family when I was growing up, "salad" was iceberg lettuce, Miracle Whip (!!!!), and fake bacon bits. Fortunately I was able to recover from this and move on with my eating life, but iceberg salad still doesn't really work for me, though I still use it regularly on sandwiches. Mixed greens tend to be tastier at times of the year during which cold-weather crops such as lettuce thrive. After a summer of nasty, bitter salads (except of course tomato salads), we are just this week enjoying the return of delicious salad mix at our market. Wed Oct 19 16:20:48 -0700 2005 1675959 0 LindaMc 1 1675998 Hi Madame - I'm totally with you on the iceberg. As long as it's fresh and chilled, I really like it. There's a little company out of Cartage, MO. named Ott's that makes the best dresssing in the world to pour over a wedge. It's like French, but ever so much better. Worth a try if you can find it. Bob Wed Oct 19 17:35:13 -0700 2005 1675959 0 Sony Bob 1 1675999 When I was a kid, romaine was for salads and iceberg was for sandwiches. In fact, my favorite sandwich was lettuce and mayonnaise. However, years of dieting during which lunch was always a huge salad of iceberg and romaine left me with a distinct reluctance to use them now. I was very happy when other kinds of lettuce became readily available (especially already washed!). If you want to maybe broaden your horizons just a little bit, but still avoid those pesky mixed greens, why not try butter lettuce? It has some crunch, but its leaves are tender; it has more flavor than iceberg, with no bitterness whatsoever. Wed Oct 19 17:41:35 -0700 2005 1675959 0 LT from LF 1 1676000 i read an excellent discussion between madhur jaffrey and maya angelou and this is what they had to say: MJ: I didn't look good until I was in my 20s. I threw my glasses in the Atlantic ocean when I was crossing from England to America. I must have been 22 or 23 and I remember other things I saw on the boat: one was Bermuda shorts, which I thought were the ugliest things I'd ever seen, the other was iceberg lettuce, which I thought was the best thing I'd ever eaten. Then I went to America where all these food writers were tearing iceberg lettuce to shreds and saying, "People who eat it are the pits." All these food writers saying exactly the same thing. From then on I thought, "I know what I like - and I like iceberg lettuce." MA: I agree. But that doesn't mean I don't like romaine . . . I somehow knew early on that I would not live my life at someone else's whim, out of somebody else's ignorance. My tastebuds are mine and if I'd like to have champagne with a steak then that's what I want. My question since I was a young person was: Who makes the rules? Was it with me in mind? And if it wasn't, I didn't want it. Wed Oct 19 19:18:24 -0700 2005 1675959 0 arifa 2 1676009 Thank you for that! Isn't this as we should all live our lives? To hell with the with "them" so to speak! I love romaine! Thu Oct 20 00:03:59 -0700 2005 1676000 0 DT 1 1676003 The late and deeply lamented James Beard once wrote that if iceberg lettuce were hard to grow and difficult to ship, and thus expensive, it would be extolled to the heavens by every gourmet on the planet. I wouldn't go THAT far (Jim did kinda go over the top a lot), but I sure do like some iceberg in a sandwich, in my salad, underneath my potato salad or whatever. Not to mention the big wedge with whatever sinfully rich dressing you want to put on it. Wed Oct 19 21:32:07 -0700 2005 1675959 0 Will Owen 1 1676011 I find the 'baby' leaf lettuces to have the unplesant mouth-feel of wet paper, and if they've been stressed for water, bitterness as well. No texture! For better nutrition, I favor the butterhead types, so tender and almost nutty. 'Buttercrunch' Tiny Tim;' 'Marveilles' (de 4 seasons) is a reddish buttercrunch. It has good texture and a buttery softness to go along with a great, never bitter, flavor. It's expensive to buy, but soooo easy to grow, even in a pot for apartment dwellers. Try it for more nutrition than iceberg (which can't be beat for that great crunch. Gotta have "Crunch with your Lunch!") tj Thu Oct 20 00:29:16 -0700 2005 1675959 0 toodie jane 1 1676017 i love romaine for salads. iceberg makes the best wrap for certain appetizer dishes like thai minced pork. mmm. Thu Oct 20 04:19:19 -0700 2005 1675959 0 hobokeg 1 1676031 I like iceberg, especially served as a wedge with a good blue cheese dressing. The allure of field greens has waned for me--they're too often tasteless. If the fireld greens are delicious, I like them with a light vinaigrette. Thu Oct 20 11:19:09 -0700 2005 1675959 0 fishfork 1 1676037 Iceberg is my favorite, great on sandwiches and salads. I think the yuppies have taken over and are imatating each other, the blind following the blind! Thu Oct 20 12:19:38 -0700 2005 1675959 0 malibumike 2 1676040 a bologna sandwich on white bread, lots of mayo, & ICEBERG LETTUCE! :) Thu Oct 20 12:36:11 -0700 2005 1676037 0 furryabdul 3 1676043 And a big glass of chocolately Ovaltine! Thu Oct 20 12:49:32 -0700 2005 1676040 0 Striver 3 1676057 Not mayo, Miracle Whip. And a big ole glass of orange Tang! Thu Oct 20 14:43:32 -0700 2005 1676040 0 Ellen 3 1676061 And dont forget the Velveta Cheese, real classy! Thu Oct 20 16:03:30 -0700 2005 1676040 0 malibumike 4 1676062 naw no velveta with iceberg. velveta does however make an awesome grilled cheese. yum! Thu Oct 20 16:14:26 -0700 2005 1676061 0 furryabdul 5 1676071 When I was a teenager, they served a velveeta-like cheese shredded as a topping for the tacos in my High School cafeteria. As a "diet" lunch, I would have shredded iceburg lettuce topped with grated velveeta-esque cheese and chopped tomatoes. No dressing. I loved it! Thu Oct 20 19:47:02 -0700 2005 1676062 0 DanaB 1 1676074 I have a question for those of you who eat the iceberg wedge salad. This may be a totally stupid question, but here it goes: Do you ever find that the leaves in the wedge aren't clean? I imagine it's hard to wash the lettuce if you don't take it apart. Do bugs and/or dirt ever get stuck in there? Thu Oct 20 20:03:11 -0700 2005 1675959 0 arifa 2 1676076 Dirt and insects? Generally, not possible because of the way the leaves grow and mature wrapped around each other, like a head of cabbage. There is a whole ruffly skirt of outer deep green leaves that is trimmed before packing in the field that act to protect, too. That's where all the vitamins are. But those leaves are very fragile and don't ship well; also repositories for chemical sprays in non organically-grown iceberg. If you can find locally grown iceberg untrimmed at a farmer's market, but it with the lucoius outer leaves on. You'll love them! I've never seen soil or insects (not likely with chemically treated grocery store iceberg!!)inside. Thu Oct 20 21:02:07 -0700 2005 1676074 0 toodie jane 1 1676117 I don't think that it is correct to lump Romaine and Iceberg lettuce together. Romaine has a good amount of flavor and nutrition, while Iceberg is essentially devoid of both. I have almost totally given up on the packaged baby greens, due to the spoilage factor. Instead, I buy heads of Romaine or Green Leaf/Red Leaf lettuce, and wrap them in a paper towel after purchase. (Also be sure to remove the constricting band around the head)This way, I can extend the life of the head of lettuce for several days. But, as to your original question--I love Romaine lettuce. As to the Iceberg--Yuck! Even my dog turns up his nose at this stuff. Fri Oct 21 18:25:04 -0700 2005 1675959 0 JB 2 1676131 Well, I love it, and so does my cat. She once got into a salad I'd made for lunch with big fat sardines laid over a bowl of mostly iceberg. When I saw what she was up to and chased her off, I found she had pushed the sardines aside so that she could get to the lettuce! Sat Oct 22 00:29:22 -0700 2005 1676117 0 Will Owen 3 1676135 Dogs and cats like cold crunchy things, oddly enough. Every dog I've ever had enjoyed a cold slice of watermelon, even if he/she'd just had dinner. Maybe they're complaining that they don't like the taste of the water we're feeding them. I'd like to give a dog some tap water, Evian, and a slice of watermelon and see what happens. How's that for "general topics"? Sat Oct 22 03:29:02 -0700 2005 1676131 0 nooodles 3 1676638 now that's a cat after my own heart! i dont bother with bagged greens either because too many times when i get home and open them they have that nasty 'off' smell of vegetables about to spoil. try this salad. iceberg lettuce topped with a canned peach/pear/pineapple slice and a nice dollop of mayonaise. yum! :) Thu Oct 27 13:00:09 -0700 2005 1676131 0 furryabdul 1 1676383 I like them both. I'm just not a fan of bitter greens so my favorite salads involve those two lettuces. Tue Oct 25 21:47:19 -0700 2005 1675959 0 BookGirl