Burns My Bacon: Cold Lettuce on Warm Sandwiches

fried egg hoagie

Exhibit A: Fried egg and provolone cheese hoagie with tomato, onions and…iceberg lettuce from Atlantic City’s White House Sub Shop.

Hot sandwiches should contain only ingredients that can taste good while hot or when turning limp from the warmth. I think spinach, arugula or a mesclun mix works well in warm sandwiches because they maintain their dignity when wilted. Iceberg lettuce, however, just turns soggy and gross. Iceberg lettuce is used for crunch and crunch alone.

There’s no real flavor living in those leaves, so when you put iceberg lettuce in a warm sandwich that dissolves its crunch, it leaves the lettuce totally useless. Iceberg then only takes up space which could otherwise be filled with warm sandwich-friendly ingredients, such as roasted red peppers, mushrooms and pickles.

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7 comments

  • Terri December 28, 2010  

    Get rid of the lettuce, spread the bread with a little bacon jam – yes, bacon jam… and it would be awesome.

  • BS December 28, 2010  

    UGH. Topping a beautiful hot meat sandwich with iceberg lettuce is an absolute food sin. If you don’t have anything nice to top it with, don’t top it with anything at all!

  • erica December 28, 2010  

    i’m imagining a big pot full of bacon being boiled down to a paste…

  • Terri December 28, 2010  
  • erica December 29, 2010  

    oh i was being silly. i’m a vegetarian, but thank you.

  • Movezig January 24, 2011  

    You must be a complete idiot. Are you from freaking England? Is your idea of good food beans for breakfast and a black sausage?

    Cold lettuce, cold tomato, you dumb shit. Cold mayo NOT WARM. Fuck you might as well eat melted ice cream you non taste bud having moron. How the fuck do you even write a food blog with taste so bad? Shit next thing you know you will be talking about leaving the ketchup out of the fridge and putting your oranges in the microwave.

  • Westcoast January 25, 2011  

    coo coo 🙂

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