Kilt Lettuce
Updated Dec. 11, 2024
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½pound slab bacon, thickly sliced and then cut into ½-inch pieces, or 5 thick-cut slices bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1small yellow onion, halved and cut into ¼-inch slices
- ¼cup apple cider vinegar
- 1tablespoon honey
- 1head iceberg lettuce (preferably a few days old or left on the counter for a day), coarsely chopped
- Salt and black pepper
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
269 calories; 21 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 526 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large, high-sided stainless steel skillet or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels, leaving the rendered fat in the pan.
- Step 2
Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully and slowly pour in the vinegar, scraping to release any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the honey. Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 30 seconds.
- Step 3
Stir in the bacon, remove the pan from the heat and add the lettuce. Let stand for 3 to 4 minutes to wilt, then toss to coat (some of the lettuce will retain its “bite”). Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
Private Notes
Comments
I have eaten kilt lettuce all my life but never from old lettuce. Living in the North Carolina mountains we highly anticipated those first leaves of fresh lettuce in the spring. We cut up spring onions with the lettuce and killed it with bacon grease or more likely fatback grease but never with store bought iceberg lettuce. Sometimes we could find wild branch lettuce which worked very well.
Romaine? Should be leaf lettuce straight from the garden. Wilted lettuce salad - first taste of spring in East Tennessee. Or killed salad, kilt is what bagpipers wear! Anyhow, always a favorite.
Kilt lettuce is made from fresh lettuce, straight from the garden. It is wilted by the hot bacon grease. Not from old wilted lettuce.
It’s October near the Great Lakes and I had all the ingredients in my kitchen, but the aging iceberg lettuce just looked too pathetic. Outside in my garden I still had some Green Wave mustard greens growing. Bushels of it! It has more delicate leaves than some other leafy greens, but is still mustard. Raw, it is very spicy, but cooked it is mild and sweet. It vaguely resembles a lettuce, but spicy enough raw that the rabbits won’t eat it. I substituted a generous amount of the Green Wave mustard greens and used it instead of the tired iceberg. I tore the leaves with my hands and included the ribs and stems. This particular variety of greens cooks fast, and can turn to mush, so I watched carefully. The well-cooked leaves were like cooked lettuce, the ribs juicy. Some less-cooked leaves still had a mustardy bite, but the rest was sweet, and so good in this recipe! The bacon, apple cider vinegar and honey just made the cooked greens irresistible! This will be my go-to recipe now for eating my garden-fresh greens.
followed the recipe to a T and it was so gross lol
In Northern Ohio we used endive. Delish.