- Leaf lettuce
- Onions
- Hot grease
- Salt and pepper
Each Spring I look forward to the first kilt lettuce of the season. Various names are used for the traditional Appalachian dish: killed lettuce, kill lettuce, wilted lettuce, lettuce and onions, killed salad, or the word “kilt” used here. Kilt lettuce should be served immediately after making. The dish uses fresh leaf lettuce from the garden or branch lettuce that grows wild along the creek. The way Granny taught me was to begin by picking and washing leaves of lettuce, making sure to dry off as much water as possible. Sometimes I wash mine early in the morning and leave it drying on a towel in the fridge. Cut up several green onions, including tops, and mix with torn lettuce in a bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour hot bacon or streaked meat (salt pork) grease over mixture. Be prepared for lots of hissing and popping when the grease hits the lettuce. Toss and serve quickly. It doesn’t take much grease; a little goes a long way.
Tip: Kilt Lettuce goes wonderfully with cornbread and soup beans.
TP
—Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food written by Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley.
Miss Cindy’s family made kilt lettuce slightly different than we do. She said her Dad taught her to make it like this:
“Cook a few slices of bacon and crumble it in a bowl on top of the torn lettuce and cut green onions (cut onions including the tops). Add salt and pepper. Heat the remaining bacon grease and pour it on the greens then add vinegar or lemon juice to the hot pan and swirl it then pour it on the greens. Toss the bowl contents to mix and eat immediately…with cornbread. The lettuce is so fragile that it doesn’t take much grease to wilt it and the lemon/vinegar is hot so it helps to wilt it as well.”
We’ve already enjoyed our first mess of kilt lettuce this spring. My it was so good! The lettuce was some we planted more than a month ago in a cold frame we tried for the first time.
The harsh March wind blew the top off and we never did put it back on, but the lettuce has thrived in the bed.
Our planting of Jericho lettuce has not faired as well and we have replanted it in the hopes that it will do better this go round.
You can find a copy of Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food here.
Last night’s video: Unusual Grocery Trip.
Tipper
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In the spring my dad would go out and fine spring dandelions. My Grandmother and Mom would fry bacon till crispy, add vinegar and sugar to the pan and pour it over the dandelions. They would also add
cut up boiled potatoes and hard boiled eggs. It was absolutely delicious.
C McCann
First and foremost, thank you for sharing your food, family and cultural traditions with us. Most things you make and share, I’ve been eating my whole life. Maybe ’cause my MawMaw lived in Tennessee during the Depression and learned to cook some there from her husband and family local to the area, the Gatlins. As for the Kilt lettuce, I just made and tried it a few days ago and my my, what a scrumptious little side dish it was to pintos, fresh cucumbers from the garden… I used fresh ripped red Russian kale and Nasturtium leaves and flowers from the garden. I know you’ve said you didn’t care for Nasturtiums because they were spicy but they were excellent in the Kilt lettuce. Kilt lettuce is something I never had tried before. Maybe ’cause I never did see my MawMaw eat a piece of lettuce in my entire life of knowing her. We’re going to have it with supper tonight with more fresh cucumbers I just picked from the garden and fresh garden green onions and maybe some more Nasturtiums. Then, we’ll go wild berry picking and work off the big ole supper before we settle in for the night. Thanks again Tipper. Lots of love from Southeast Texas
I have never tried to plant lettuce. It is not the same as fresh but I have tried this using store bought spinach and romaine and that is good to me so I am sure fresh lettuce would be delicious! I made your strawberry shortcake from your cookbook yesterday after church for dessert with lunch. I stacked it and layered it with fresh whipped cream and strawberries in between the layers. The cakes were really easy and they turned out really good, which is great because I am not a very good baker. I flubbed up on the whipped egg whites but it still worked out. We liked it so much that while it is still strawberry season I want to make it again. Thank you for all of the recipes!
Your Lettuce brings back so many memories of growing up. Mom added vinegar and a little sugar to the Hot Bacon Grease but I don’t think there is a bad way to have lettuce from the garden!
My grandma made this in the spring usually with watercress and the vinegar added to the lettuce. I was at the farmers market Saturday and saw some really nice red leaf lettuce. I had that for dinner with some fried cornbread. It is one of the few things I still eat from my childhood but I do enjoy it.
I have never had Kilt lettuce but will definitely try it this year. My Dad used to pour hot bacon grease over fresh sliced garden tomatoes and it was delicious!
Watching you make the *kilt* lettuce made me so hungry for it. We always called it *wilted* lettuce but made it the same way you do.Sometimes we would have radishes with it…so good!
I’ve never had Kilt Lettuce, but it sounds good. I need to try it and I think I’d like Miss Cindy’s version of the recipe because it actually has bacon and vinegar in it. Both recipes sounds delicious!
Growing up, my family always cut up a hard boiled egg in the wilted lettuce.
We always called it killed lettuce or lettuce and onions. It was picked, looked, and washed in a dishpan and served with soup beans, fried taters, and cornbread. Sometimes I get a hankering for lettuce and onions in the winter when lettuce can only be found at the grocery store. I have been lucky enough to find some that look like giant Black Seeded Simpson leaves. They are a little tough and don’t wilt as easily, but they work to satisfy the craving.
Could mix in dandelion greens (A member of the lettuce family) with this recipe. We were looking at some in the church yard last night and they are ready now, at least here anyway. I sampled some and, as usual, dandelion tends to be more bitter than garden lettuce. Makes me wonder when and how dandelions got spread all over because they are not native. If one dared take the risk, they could be grown and used as one kind of lettuce and – unlike garden lettuce – would maybe last better in hot weather
Our family always had this too except we called it Wilted Greens. We brown a small amount of cornmeal in the bacon grease before pouring it over the greens. We also made this using Water Cress. Sooo good!
I have never ate kilt lettuce. What type of garden lettuce would be best for this?
For Cheryl Miller Brown, try to look up this morning’s In Touch Ministries “A Special People”. This is today’s devotional by Dr. Charles Stanley. I am sorry, I do not know enough about the technology needed to post the website.
Kilt lettuce sounds like it would be very good for the digestive system indeed! It sounds like it would provide an excellent cleansing of the “pipes” for certain and if you just look at you Pressleys and Wilson’s-you all look very healthy indeed with the prettiest, flawless, perfect complexions I ever saw! Your daughters are just beautiful! Whatever you’re doing to keep up your health, by all means keep it up! I have severe digestive issues from over vaxx Hep B and if I ate that kilt lettuce, the Lord only knows what could happen…it looks like I’ve found the perfect homestead atop a mountain in VA between Wytheville and Abingdon… I believe this is it and I’m super excited. Hopefully I can get sold out and bought in and moved by winter…pray for peace of mind for me and the new property please. I love yall and wish you a beautiful and peaceful, happy day!
Mom called in it wilted lettuce and added the crumbled bacon fried for the grease. We didn’t have it very often but it sure was delicious when we did.
Mamaw always put the vinegar with the bacon grease, too, so that’s how I do it. Except my daughter found a recipe she wanted us to try which includes a very small amount of sugar, as well. Everyone seems to like that recipe best, so that’s how we make it. And we add the crumbled, crispy bacon if we have it. After cutting a mess of lettuce on Saturday, she said “You know what we should have…?” And I figured it was wilted lettuce. But she wants me to make Korean beef lettuce wraps so I’m doing it for supper tonight & they’re coming over after my grandson gets out of school, to eat with us.
My family called it scalded lettuce but I guess we didn’t know any better.
God bless you Ed
We called it wilted lettuce. So good!
Your ways of cooking are so much like my mom, Mamaw, and great- grandmother. Actually, I’ve never known anyone to cook so much like us. My mom always planted a salad garden alongside our big garden. She couldn’t wait for the first batch of “good cooked lettuce.” She did hers exactly like you. Thank you for reminding me of those sweet memories.
My late Mother made kilt lettuce with bacon grease and served it with soup beans with fat back, fried taters, a cake of corn bread and nana pudding for dessert. That was a feast for sure. My late daddy said it was a meal fit for a king!!
does that lettuce have a Milky sap? does it taste bitter? I googled wild lettuce, I’ve seen a similar plant in the field, if it tastes better I don’t think I want it, thank you and God bless you
Norman, I’m using lettuce we grew. Hopefully someone who knows more about wild lettuce will chime in in 🙂
Norman, look up branch lettuce (Micranthes micranthidifolia). It’s is also called bear lettuce.
The milky sap stuff is what I call milk thistle. It is used in herbal remedies but to just straight out eat it would take more of a man than I am.
okay, God bless you thank you and God bless you
somebody help me identify this lettuce, I’d like to look over by the creek and see if I’ve got any, thank you and God bless you, my granny used to get something out of the field called creases, it was the same recipe, I think the lettuce is different, God bless you,
My mama and I enjoyed kilt lettuce whenever the green leaf variety was available in the summertime. She added a little white vinegar to counter the richness of the hot bacon grease. We always had cornbread with it too. Thanks for bringing back those memories.
I’m looking forward to trying this when my lettuce is ready to harvest!