Lettuce : Food Facts & Trivia - Food Reference Lettuce Quotes This vegetable is widely popular throughout the world and is readily available in supermarkets year round with hundreds of varieties to choose from. Iceberg used to dominate the selections but other varieties are now moving to the forefront. Most domestic varieties are from California and imported lettuce typically arrives from Europe. HISTORY The lettuce that we see today, actually started out as a weed around the Mediterranean basin. Served in dishes for more than 4500 years, lettuce has certainly made its mark in history with tomb painting in Egypt and identification of different types of lettuces by various Greek scholars. Christopher Columbus introduced lettuce to the new world and from there, lettuce in the United States began cultivating. BENEFITS Most dark greens are good sources of Vitamin C, beta-carotene, iron, calcium, folate, and dietary fiber. The rule of thumb is, usually, the darker the greens, the more nutritious the leaf. TYPES There are four main types of lettuce and under each type there are different varieties. Butterhead (includes Boston and Bibb) Loose heads, grassy green leaves, butter texture, mild flavor.

Good examples are Boston lettuce, which looks like a blooming rose, and Bibb lettuce that has a small cup-shaped appearance. Crisphead The least nutritious of the salad greens, this pale green lettuce takes on the cabbage appearance with its leaves more tightly packed together. An example is the Iceberg lettuce. It’s known for the crispy texture and very mild flavor. Looseleaf This variety doesn’t grow to form lettuce heads, but is instead the leaves are joined at the stem. Good examples of this variety include: oak leaf, red leaf, and green leaf. Romaine or Cos This lettuce has gained tremendous popularity in the past decade as the key ingredient in Caesar salads. It has a loaf-like shape with darker outer leaves. It’s strong taste and crispy texture has been favored by those who like Iceberg lettuce. VARIETIES Arugula (rocket or roquette) This variety used to be hard find, but can now be found at many supermarkets. This variety is characterized by small, flat leaves with long stems, quite similar looking to dandelion leaves, and a peppery taste. This lettuce is usually paired with other varieties to balance out the taste.

Belgian endive or French endive This leaf is a family member of chicory and escarole, with tightly packed leaves and bullet-like shape. Creamy yellow or white in color, slightly bitter in taste, but crisp in texture. Chicory or curly endive This leaf is slightly bitter, with darker outer leaves and paler or even yellow leaves towards the center. The leaves itself are ragged edged on long thin stems. Escarole Another member of the chicory family, this lettuce has broad wavy leaves and a milder taste than chicory. Mâche or lamb’s lettuce or field salad With a fingerlike shape, velvety feel, and mild taste, this variety is usually sold bunched together with its roots, at an expensive price due to its delicate and perishable nature. Raddicchio This variety looks like red cabbage, but it’s actually a chicory family member. This leaf is typically used for an accent in salads because of its steep cost as most radicchio lettuce arrives from Italy. SELECTION AND STORAGE Lettuce is a delicate vegetable and great care should be taken when selecting and storing. Most lettuce is showcased on ice or in refrigeration.

When selecting your leaves, be sure that they are fresh and crisp, with no signs of wilting, slim, or dark spots or edges. Remember when selecting your lettuce that the darker outer leaves are the most nutritious. Lettuce tends to keep well in plastic bags in the crisper section of the refrigerator. Iceberg lettuce keeps the best, lasting around two weeks, while Romaine, ten days, and butterheads types and endives lasts approximately four days. The very delicate greens don’t last very long, so it’s best to buy only as much as you need at one time and use immediately. Salad greens should not be stored near fruits that produce ethylene gases (like apples) as this will increase brown spots on the lettuce leaves and increase spoilage. Greens that are bought in bunches should be checked for insects. Those leaves that have roots should be placed in a glass of water with a bag over the leaves and then placed in the refrigerator. PREPARATION Generally lettuce is eaten raw, so consider removing any browned, slimy, or wilted leaves. For all lettuce types, you should thoroughly wash and ‘dry’ the leaves to remove any dirt or lingering insects.

If you eat lettuce often, it’s wise to invest in a salad spinner. Simply rinse the leaves and place in the spinner to remove the excess water. In addition to their most common use in salads, you can also braise, steam, sauté and even grill certain lettuce varieties to create a wonderful and different taste treat. Try halving a head of radicchio or romaine lengthwise, and brush on some extra virgin olive oil, and grill until they soften and just begin to brown-absolutely delicious. Make Lettuce Part of Your 5 A Day Plan Here are some easy ways to include lettuce into your meals: Add lettuce to ALL your sandwiches. Try a different mix of lettuce like European or baby greens for a tasty twist to your usual salad. Grilling tonight? Why not try spritzing some extra virgin olive oil onto romaine or radicchio leaves and grill until slightly soft — these make an excellent hors d'oeuvre. Get creative, include any variety of lettuce into meals as plate liners you can eat! The Green Giants of Lettuce - What are the healthiest types of lettuce? | HowStuffWorks What are the healthiest types of lettuce?

Prev Next HowStuffWorks.com Food scientists use sophisticated equipment to determine levels of vitamins, fat, sugar, protein and other nutrients in food. Luckily, you don't have to live next door to one of these experts to compare one lettuce to another. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains a database -- the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference -- that makes it possible to find all of the key nutrients in various foods. The table shows the results for the four main types of lettuce: As the USDA database and our abbreviated table make clear, not all lettuces are created equal. Iceberg lettuce, which is by far the most popular lettuce in the United States, delivers the least nutritional bang for the buck. Although it has more fiber than some lettuces, it's a bit of a dud when it comes to vitamin and mineral content. And it's high in sugar, which is a major source of calories. Up Next Where did the 2,000-calorie diet come from? Romaine lettuce is a better choice. Romaine has less sugar and more fiber. But it really excels in the vitamin and mineral departments.

It's an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of folate and vitamin A. It also provides 10 times more beta carotene than iceberg lettuce and almost as much as spinach. All of this combines to make romaine one of the healthiest of all the lettuces. Green-leaf lettuce is a solid runner-up. It's low in fat and sugar and high in protein. It also delivers decent amounts of calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese and vitamins C, A and K. Red-leaf and butterhead lettuces aren't slouches either, as they surpass iceberg varieties in almost every nutrient category and have the highest amount of iron of all lettuces. So if you really want to stay strong to the finish, stick with romaine and the other dark green leafy lettuces while cutting back on the crispheads. And don't forget to spice things up with the more exotic members of the family, such as arugula, curly endive, escarole and radicchio.

Lettuce | Agricultural Marketing Resource Center Revised, May, 2015 Introduction Lettuce is categorized as two types: head (iceberg) and leaf, which includes romaine, butterhead, and leaf types. Lettuce has been grown in the United States since colonial times. In the early 1900s, the ice shipping industry developed in the western states, expanding the range and popularity of lettuce. Today, in terms of pound per person, head and leaf lettuce combined made lettuce the third most consumed fresh vegetable in the United States, behind tomatoes and potatoes. In 2014, consumption was 14.1 pounds and 10.8 pounds per person for head and leaf/romaine lettuce, respectively. Head lettuce consumption was up slightly in 2014 compared to 2013, however, overall it is lower than all other years since 1980. Leaf and romaine consumption was slightly lower in 2014 than the previous five years. (USDA ERS Yearbook Data, 2014) Marketing All lettuce is marketed as a fresh product.

Today, almost all head lettuce is field-packed for bulk sale or for transport to a salad processing plant. Estimates suggest that about one-fourth of all iceberg lettuce is now destined for processing into prepackage salads. Production Lettuce is a cool-season crop that grows best with moderate daytime temperatures (73oF) and cool nights (45oF). Lettuce varieties are selected for specific planting periods and disease resistance. Lettuce is produce year round in the U.S. Although lettuce is produced in many states, California and Arizona dominate U.S. production. California accounted for 71 percent of U.S. head lettuce production in 2013, followed by Arizona producing nearly 29 percent. These states also produce over 98 percent of the leaf lettuce in the U.S. According to the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture, lettuce was produced on 323,359 acres, up 3% since 2007. The number of farms producing lettuce on 5 acres or less increased 38% between 2007 and 2012.

The 3-year yield average (2007-2009) in California was 20 tons per acre for iceberg, 15 tons per acre for romaine and 12 tons per acre for leaf lettuce. Lettuce production in the U.S. in 2014 totaled 3,881 million pounds with 12% of domestic production exported. An additional 169.7 million pounds were imported. The value of U.S. lettuce production in 2013 totaled nearly $1.5 billion, making lettuce the leading vegetable crop in terms of value. Prices The 2013 season average U.S. prices were $26.90 per cwt for head lettuce and $34.73 for leaf/romaine lettuce. The current, on-going drought in California is likely to have a major impact on the state’s production with potential implications on U.S. supplies and prices now and in the future. Financials: Based on most recent production and price averages, the estimated gross value per acre is approximately $9,400 for head and romaine lettuce and $8,000 for leaf lettuce.

The cost of lettuce production varies depending on the location. It is labor-intensive, especially for harvest and post-harvest handling and packaging. Partially Funded by USDA Rural Development ...and justice for all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964. The names, words, symbols, and graphics representing Iowa State University are trademarks and copyrights of the university, protected by trademark and copyright laws of the U.S. and other countries.

WEB DEVELOPMENT BY Lettuce - Vegetable Directory - Watch Your Garden Grow - University of Illinois Extension University of Illinois Extension Alert: Making Pesticide Applications in School/Community Gardens Lettuce Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70Â°F. It should be planted in early spring or late summer. At high temperatures, growth is stunted, the leaves may be bitter and the seedstalk forms and elongates rapidly. Some types and varieties of lettuce withstand heat better than others. There are five distinct types of lettuce: leaf (also called loose-leaf lettuce), Cos or romaine, crisphead, butterhead and stem (also called asparagus lettuce). Leaf lettuce, the most widely adapted type, produces crisp leaves loosely arranged on the stalk. Nearly every garden has at least a short row of leaf lettuce, making it the most widely planted salad vegetable. Cos or romaine forms an upright, elongated head and is an excellent addition to salads and sandwiches. The butterhead varieties are generally small, loose-heading types that have tender, soft leaves with a delicate sweet flavor.

Stem lettuce forms an enlarged seedstalk that is used mainly in stewed, creamed and Chinese dishes. Crisphead varieties, the iceberg types common at supermarkets all over the country, are adapted to northern conditions and require the most care. In areas without long, cool seasons, they generally are grown from transplants, started early and moved to the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. They are extremely sensitive to heat and must mature before the first hot spell of summer to achieve high-quality heads. If an unseasonably early heat wave hits before they have matured, they almost certainly fail. In many locations, crisphead lettuce plants started in late summer to mature in the cooler weather of fall have a much better chance of success.

Recommended Varieties Black-seeded Simpson (earliest to harvest) Grand Rapids (frilly edges; good for coldframes, greenhouse, garden) Oak Leaf (resistant to tipburn; good for hot weather) Red Leaf Red Fire (ruffles with red edge; slow to bolt) Red Sails (slowest bolting red leaf lettuce) Ruby (darkest red of all; resistant to tipburn) Cos or Romaine Cimmaron (unique, dark red leaf, Cos type) Green Towers (early; dark green, large leaves) Paris Island (long-standing) Great Lakes (standard, holds well in warm weather) Iceburg (medium, size, tender hearts; leaf edges tinged light brown) Ithaca (tolerates heat; resists bitterness; slow to bolt) Stem or Asparagus Celtuce When to Plant Leaf, Cos and Butterhead lettuce can be planted anytime in the spring when the soil is dry enough to rake the surface. Two or more successive plantings at 10 to 14 day intervals provide a continuous supply of lettuce. Lettuce does not withstand hot summer days well and spring planting should be completed at least a month before the really hot days of early summer begin.

Plantings started in late summer mature during cool fall weather. Watering is essential for seed germination and establishment of seedlings. Some shade may also benefit summer sowings. Heat-tolerant varieties (mainly loose-leaf types) may be grown in the shade of taller crops through most of the summer if extra care is taken about irrigation and soil selection. Head lettuce must be transplanted in most locations and requires more care than other types of lettuce. Start transplants for a spring crop indoors or in a cold frame and set them in the garden as early in the spring as the weather settles. Harden transplants outdoors so that they become acclimated to the conditions under which they will be grown, but do not allow growth to stop entirely. Cos, butterhead and leaf varieties also can be transplanted for earlier harvest. In the heat of summer, lettuce seedlings started in a protected location in the shade can be transplanted later into moderate sites for some limited success. Spacing & Depth Plant seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep (10 seeds per foot) in single, double or triple rows 12 to 18 inches apart.

Thin seedlings to 4 inches apart for leaf lettuce and 6 to 8 inches apart for Cos or Butterhead. The seedlings removed may be transplanted or eaten. Transplant Crisphead seedlings 10 to 12 inches apart in the row. Care Because lettuce has shallow roots, it should be hoed or cultivated carefully. Frequent light watering causes the leaves to develop rapidly, resulting in high-quality lettuce. Overwatering, especially in heavy soils, can lead to disease, soft growth and scalding or burning of the leaf margins. Organic mulches can help moderate soil temperature and the microenvironment to produce quality lettuce in less than ideal weather conditions. Harvesting Leaf lettuce may be cut whenever it is large enough to use. Cutting every other plant at ground level gives the remaining plants more space for growth. Leaf lettuce reaches maximum size (6 to 12 ounces) in 50 to 60 days. Butterhead varieties form small, loose heads that weigh 4 to 8 ounces at harvest (60 to 70 days). The innermost leaves, that tend to blanch themselves, are a delicacy.

Cos varieties have an upright growth habit and form a long, medium-dense head. To store lettuce, wash, drip dry and place in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Lettuce keeps best at 32Â°F and high (96%) humidity. Common Problems For more information on aphids, see our feature in the Bug Review . Tipburn is a physiological condition that causes lettuce to "die back" at the edges of the leaves. It results from a change in the moisture relationship between the soil and the plant. Clip off any brown leaf tissue and use the remainder of the leaf. Frequent light watering helps to prevent tipburn. Some varieties are resistant to this condition. Foliage rots can be a problem, especially in hot or wet seasons. Providing good soil and air drainage for the lettuce bed can help to minimize damage in most years. Questions & Answers Q. Why didn't my lettuce seeds germinate? A. Failure of seeds to germinate is caused by insufficient moisture or old seed. Lettuce seed does not keep well and it is advisable to obtain new seed each spring. Store seed for fall gardens in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Some lettuce varieties (especially the white-seeded types) have seed that requires light for germination. These types should not be covered with soil but merely pressed into good contact with finely prepared soil. Care then must be taken to keep the seedbed moist, but not soggy, until the seedlings emerge. Q. Seedstalks have appeared in the center of my lettuce plants. What should I do? A. The formation of seedstalks is caused by a combination of long days, warm temperatures and age. When seedstalks begin to form, harvest your lettuce immediately and store it in the refrigerator. Q. My lettuce tastes bitter. What can I do? A. Lettuce may become bitter during hot weather and when seedstalks begin to form. Wash and store the leaves in the refrigerator for a day or two. Much of the bitterness will disappear. Selection & Storage Iceberg lettuce is the most popular lettuce in the United States. It is a head lettuce that is also low in nutritional value and flavor. Because of its superior shipping qualities, iceberg has been most available which accounts for it popularity. The most abundant nutrient in iceberg lettuce is water. Dark green lettuce leaves always indicate higher fiber, flavor and nutritional value.

Lettuce is a cool weather crop. It can be divided into two categories; head lettuce and leaf lettuce. Growing lettuce in your garden will give you first hand opportunity to taste fresh flavorful leaves which (unlike iceberg) need little or no dressing. Leaf lettuce and romaine provide flavor and crunch and are excellent salad and sandwich selections. Lettuce leaves should be free of wilt, rot and rust. Harvest crisp green leaves. Wrap fresh, unwashed leaves in plastic warp and store in the refrigerator for a few days if necessary. Cooler temperature will keep lettuce fresh longer. The coolest part of most refrigerators is usually on the first shelf against the rear wall. Avoid storing lettuce with apples, pears or bananas. These fruits release ethylene gas, a natural ripening agent, that will cause the lettuce to develop brown spots and decay quickly. Toss lettuce that looks slimy or has black spots. The slime is the residue of bacterial decomposition and the black spots are usually mold. Nutritional Value & Health Benefits The nutritional value of lettuce varies with the variety. Lettuce in general provides small amounts of dietary fiber, some carbohydrates, a little protein and a trace of fat. Its most important nutrients are vitamin A and potassium.

The vitamin A comes from beta carotene, whose yellow-orange is hidden by green chlorophyll pigments. Beta carotene, of course, is converted to vitamin A in the human body. The darker green, the more beta carotene. According to the American Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society, foods rich in vitamin A and C (antioxidants) offer protection against some forms of cancer. Along with other phytochemical, antioxidants reduce the risk of cancer of the respiratory system and intestinal tract. Lettuce, except iceberg, is also a moderately good source of vitamin C, calcium, iron and copper. The spine and ribs provide dietary fiber, while vitamins and minerals are concentrated in the delicate leaf portion. Nutrition Facts (One cup raw leaf lettuce, chopped) Calories 9 Potassium 162.4 mg Preparation & Serving Rinse lettuce just before serving in very cold water. Pat dry with a clean towel. Limp leaves can be revived by immersing in ice water for a few minutes. Tear lettuce leaves into pieces. If practical, do not cut or sliced lettuce leaves in advance. Damaged cut lettuce leaves release an ascorbic acid oxidase, which destroys vitamin C.

Cut edges also discolor quickly. Dry leaves before serving. Salad dressing will cling to dry lettuce leaves instead of sinking to the bottom of the salad bowl. Toss with your favorite dressing just before serving (or serve dressing on the side) Lettuce leaves covered with dressing will quickly wilt. Home Preservation Due to the extremely high water content, 94.9%, there are no successful method of long-term home preservation for lettuce. Lettuce does not respond well to freezing, canning or drying. For optimal nutritional value, lettuce should be eaten while it is fresh and crisp. Recipes The mild flavor of fresh lettuce leaves are well complimented by fresh or dry herbs. The base of most green salads is lettuce. Two or three lettuce varieties are good for both taste and texture. Mix leaf lettuce (Black-seed Simpson or Oak Leaf) with crisp lettuce (romaine or other crisphead) and accent with fresh herb leaves. The simplest way to appreciate a tossed green salad is with a vinaigrette dressing. Keep it simple. When the dressing becomes too complicated, the mild garden greens can be overpowered.

Mixed Green Salad with Red and Yellow Pepper Vinaigrette 4 cups mixed fresh greens (combine a leaf lettuce with crisp varieties) romaine, Boston, with red leaf or Oak Leaf or your favorite lettuce 4 tablespoons Red & Yellow pepper vinaigrette 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese (optional) Wash and dry lettuce leaves. Tear into bite size pieces. Place in an oversized bowl with room for tossing. Place in refrigerator until ready to toss and serve. Can be prepared up to 2 hours in advance. Makes one cup of vinaigrette. Pour 4 tablespoons of vinaigrette over the greens and toss well with two large forks to coat. Add crumbled cheese, if desired and toss to combine. Serve immediately. Yields 4 one-cup servings. Red and Yellow Pepper Vinaigrette 1 small yellow bell pepper, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup) 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup) 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons warm water 1/2 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper to taste In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients until combined well.

This vinaigrette will keep, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days. Recipe may be doubled. Makes one cup. Try these simple vinaigrette recipes with your favorite salad greens. Citrus Vinaigrette Top 50 American food | CNN Travel More than 200 years old and still a national favorite. If life gives you limes, don’t make limeade, make a Key lime pie. The official state pie of Florida, this sassy tart has made herself a worldwide reputation, which started in -- where else? -- the Florida Keys, from whence come the tiny limes that gave the pie its name. Aunt Sally, a cook for Florida’s first self-made millionaire, ship salvager William Curry, gets the credit for making the first Key lime pie in the late 1800s. But you might also thank Florida sponge fisherman for likely originating the concoction of key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks, which could be “cooked” (by a thickening chemical reaction of the ingredients) at sea. 49.

Tater tots We love French fries, but for an American food variation on the potato theme, one beloved at Sonic drive-ins and school cafeterias everywhere, consider the Tater Tot. Notice it often has the registered trademark -- these commercial hash brown cylinders are indeed proprietary to the Ore-Ida company. If you’d been one of the Grigg brothers who founded Ore-Ida, you’d have wanted to come up with something to do with leftover slivers of cut-up potatoes, too. They added some flour and seasoning and shaped the mash into tiny tots and put them on the market in 1956. A little more than 50 years later, America is eating about 32 million kilos of these taters annually. 48. San Francisco sourdough bread Baguettes, U.S. style. Bigger, badder, sourer. Sourdough’s as old as the pyramids and not coincidentally was eaten in ancient Egypt. But the hands-down American favorite, and the sourest variety, comes from San Francisco. As much a part of NoCal culinary culture as Napa Valley wine, sourdough bread’s been a staple since Gold Rush days.

Once upon a frontier time, miners (called “sourdoughs” for surviving on the stuff) and settlers carried sourdough starter (more reliable than other leavening) in pouches around their necks or on their belts. Thank goodness that’s not the way they do it at Boudin Bakery, which has been turning out the bread that bites back in the City by the Bay since 1849. 47. Cobb salad The chef’s salad originated back East, but American food innovators working with lettuce out West weren’t going to be outdone. In 1937, Bob Cobb, the owner of The Brown Derby, was scrounging around at the restaurant’s North Vine location for a meal for Sid Grauman of Grauman’s Theater when he put together a salad with what he found in the fridge: a head of lettuce, an avocado, some romaine, watercress, tomatoes, some cold chicken breast, a hard-boiled egg, chives, cheese, and some old-fashioned French dressing. Brown Derby lore says, “He started chopping. Added some crisp bacon, swiped from a busy chef.” The salad went onto the menu and straight into the heart of Hollywood. 46.

Pot roast The childhood Sunday family dinner of baby boomers everywhere, pot roast claims a sentimental favorite place in the top 10 of American comfort foods. There’s a whole generation that would be lost without it. Beef brisket, bottom or top round, or chuck set in a deep roasting pan with potatoes, carrots, onions, and whatever else your mom threw in to be infused with the meat’s simmering juices, the pot roast could be anointed with red wine or even beer, then covered and cooked on the stovetop or in the oven. 45. Twinkies So good, the shelf life of 25 days has never been tested. Hostess’ iconic “Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling” has been sugaring us up since James Dewar invented it at the Continental Baking Company in Schiller Park, Illinois, in 1930. The Twinkie forsook its original banana cream filling for vanilla when bananas were scarce during World War II. As if they weren’t ridiculously good enough already, the Texas State Fair started the fad of deep-frying them.

Dumped in hot oil or simply torn from their packaging, Twinkies endear with their name (inspired by a billboard advertising Twinkle Toe Shoes), their ladyfinger shape (pierced three times to inject the filling), and their evocations of lunchtime recess. Note to hoarders: supposed shelf life of decades is in truth 25 days. 44. Jerky Dehydrated meat shriveled almost beyond recognition -- an unlikely source of so much gustatory pleasure, but jerky is a high-protein favorite of backpackers, road trippers, and snackers everywhere. It's American food the way we like our wilderness grub -- tough and spicy. We like the creation myth that says it’s the direct descendant of American Indian pemmican, which mixed fire-cured meat with animal fat. Beef, turkey, chicken, venison, buffalo, even ostrich, alligator, yak, and emu. Peppered, barbecued, hickory-smoked, honey glazed. Flavored with teriyaki, jalapeno, lemon pepper, chili.

Jerky is so versatile and portable and packs such nutritional power that the Army is experimenting with jerky sticks that have the caffeine equivalent of a cup of coffee. However you take your jerky -- caf or decaf; in strips, chips, or shreds -- prepare to chew long and hard. You’ve still got your own teeth, right? 43. Fajitas Yep, this is real American food. Take some vaqueros working on the range and the cattle slaughtered to feed them. Throw in the throwaway cuts of meat as part of the hands’ take-home pay, and let cowboy ingenuity go to work. Grill skirt steak (faja in Spanish) over the campfire, wrap in a tortilla, and you’ve got the beginning of a Rio Grande region tradition. The fajita is thought to have come off the range and into popular culture when a certain Sonny Falcon began operating fajita taco stands at outdoor events and rodeos in Texas beginning in 1969.

It wasn’t long before the dish was making its way onto menus in the Lone Star State and spreading with its beloved array of condiments -- grilled onions and green pepper, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, and sour cream -- across the country. Don’t forget the Altoids. 42. Banana split Like the banana makes it good for you. Still, kudos to whomever invented the variation of the sundae known as the banana split. There’s the 1904 Latrobe, Pennsylvania, story, in which future optometrist David Strickler was experimenting with sundaes at a pharmacy soda fountain, split a banana lengthwise, and put it in a long boat dish. And the 1907 Wilmington, Ohio, story, wherein restaurant owner Ernest Hazard came up with it to draw students from a nearby college. Fame spread after a Walgreens in Chicago made the split its signature dessert in the 1920s. Whatever the history, you’ll find plenty food for thought at the Banana Split Festival the second weekend in June in Wilmington. 41. Cornbread World's easiest meal?

It’s one of the pillars of Southern cooking, but cornbread is the soul food of many a culture -- black, white, and Native American -- and not just south of the Mason-Dixon. Grind corn coarsely and you’ve got grits; soak kernels in alkali, and you’ve got hominy (which we encourage you to cook up into posole). Leaven finely ground cornmeal with baking powder, and you’ve got cornbread. Southern hushpuppies and corn pone, New England johnnycakes; cooked in a skillet or in muffin tins; flavored with cheese, herbs, or jalapeños -- cornbread in any incarnation remains the quick and easy go-to bread that historically made it a favorite of Indian and pioneer mothers and keeps it on tables across the country today. 40. GORP “Good Old Raisins and Peanuts,” GORP is the energy salvation of backpackers everywhere. Centuries before trail mix came by the bag and the bin, it was eaten in Europe, where hiking’s practically a national pastime. The thing to remember here is that the stuff is American food rocket fuel.

Add all the granola, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, candied ginger, and M&Ms you want. Just be sure to store in a bear-proof canister because suspending from a branch in a nylon sack isn’t going to do it. 39. Jambalaya Tastiest way to clean out your kitchen cupboards. Jambalaya, crawfish pie, file gumbo … what dish could be so evocative that it inspired Hank Williams to write a party song for it in 1952 and dozens more to cover it (including everyone from Jo Stafford to Credence Clearwater Revival to Emmylou Harris)? The sweep-up-the-kitchen cousin of Spanish paella, jambalaya comes in red (Creole, with tomatoes) and brown (Cajun, without). Made with meat, vegetables (a trinity of celery, peppers, and onions), and rice, Louisiana’s signature dish might be most memorable when made with shrimp and andouille sausage. Whatever the color and secret ingredients, you can be sure of one thing when you sit down with friends to a big bowlful: son of a gun, gonna have big fun on the bayou. 38.

Biscuits ’n’ gravy An irresistible Southern favorite, biscuits and gravy would be a cliché if they weren’t so darned delicious. The biscuits are traditionally made with butter or lard and buttermilk; the milk (or “sawmill” or country) gravy with meat drippings and (usually) chunks of good fresh pork sausage and black pepper. Cheap and requiring only widely available ingredients, a meal of biscuits and gravy was a filling way for slaves and sharecroppers to face a hard day in the fields. “The Southern way with gravies was born of privation. When folks are poor, they make do. Which means folks make gravy,” says The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook. The soul, you might say, of soul food. 37. Smithfield ham Orwell was right -- pigs do rule. “Ham, history, and hospitality.” That’s the motto of Smithfield, Virginia, the Smithfield of Smithfield Virginia ham. Notice “ham” comes before history, which really says something considering this hamlet of 8,100 was first colonized in 1634.

Epicenter of curing and production of a head-spinning number of hogs, Smithfield comes by the title Ham Capital of the World honestly: lots of ham is called Virginia, but there’s only one Smithfield, as defined by a 1926 law that says it must be processed within the city limits. The original country style American ham was dry cured for preservation; salty and hard, it could keep until soaked in water (to remove the salt and reconstitute) before cooking. The deliciously authentic cured Virginia country ham happens to have been the favorite of that famous Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. 36. Chicken fried steak A guilty pleasure if there ever was one, chicken fried steak was born to go with American food classics like mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas. A slab of tenderized steak breaded in seasoned flour and pan fried, it’s kin to the Weiner Schnitzel brought to Texas by Austrian and German immigrants, who adapted their veal recipe to use the bountiful beef found in Texas.

Lamesa, on the cattle-ranching South Texas plains, claims to be the birthplace of the dish, but John “White Gravy” Neutzling of Lone Star State cowboy town of Bandera insisted he invented it. Do you care, or do you just want to ladle on that peppery white gravy and dig in? 35. Wild Alaska salmon The slowest swimmers taste the best. Guys risk life and limb fishing for this delish superfood. Unlike Atlantic salmon, which is 99.8 percent farmed, Alaska salmon is wild, which means the fish live free and eat clean -- all the better to glaze with Dijon mustard or real maple syrup. Alaska salmon season coincides with their return to spawning streams (it’s an amazing sense of smell that guides them to the exact spot where they were born). Worry not: before fishing season, state biologists ensure that plenty of salmon have already passed upstream to lay eggs. But let’s get to that cedar plank, the preferred method of cooking for the many Pacific Northwest Indian tribes whose mythologies and diets include salmon. Use red cedar (it has no preservatives), and cook slow, for that rich, smoky flavor.

Barring that, there’s always lox and bagels. 34. California roll So much more than the gateway sushi, the California roll isn’t just for wimps who can’t go it raw. But that’s essentially the way it got its start in Los Angeles, where sushi chefs from Japan were trying to gain a beachhead in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Most credit chef Manashita Ichiro and his assistant Mashita Ichiro, at L.A.’s Tokyo Kaikan restaurant, which had one of the country’s first sushi bars, with creating the “inside out” roll that preempted Americans’ aversions by putting the nori (seaweed) on the inside of the rice and substituting avocado for toro (raw fatty tuna). The avocado-crab-cucumber roll became a hit, and from that SoCal beachhead, sushi conquered the country. After leading the charge for the sushi invasion of the 1980s, the California roll now occupies grocery stores everywhere. Wasabi anyone? 33. Meatloaf American food means meatloaf, made with the love of millions of mothers every day. The most humble of comfort food.

Who would have imagined when the recipe for “Cannelon of Beef” showed up in Fannie Farmer’s 1918 "Boston Cooking School Cook Book" that every mom in America would someday have her own version? Fannie made hers with slices of salt pork laid over the top and served it with brown mushroom sauce. (In her day, you had to cut the meat finely by hand; the advent of commercial grinders changed all that.) However your mom made it -- we’re guessing ketchup on top? -- she probably served that oh-so-reliable meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans. And you were probably made to sit there, all night if need be, if you didn’t eat all your beans. A better threat might have been no meatloaf sandwich in your lunch tomorrow. 32. Grits People who didn’t grow up eating them wonder what the heck they are. People who did grow up eating them (and that would be just about everyone in the South) wonder how anyone could live without them. Grits, beloved and misunderstood -- and American down to their Native roots.

They’re the favored hot breakfast in the so-called Grits Belt, which girdles everything from Virginia to Texas and where the dish is a standard offering on diner menus. Grits are nothing if not versatile: They can go plain, savory, or sweet; pan-fried or porridge-like. Simple and cheap, grits are also profoundly satisfying. Which might be why Charleston’s The Post and Courier opined in 1952 that “Given enough [grits], the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace.” Now don’t that just butter your grits? 31. Macaroni and cheese Nothing crafty about this Kraft phenomenon -- just great tasting grub. The ultimate comfort food, macaroni and cheese is also the salvation of many a mom placating a finicky toddler.

Nothing particularly American about pasta and cheese -- except for the fact that on a European trip, Thomas Jefferson liked a certain noodle dish so much he took notes and had it served back home at a state dinner as “macaroni pie.” Jefferson’s cousin Mary Randolph included a recipe for “macaroni and cheese” in her 1824 cookbook "The Virginia Housewife." So whether you’re eating a gourmet version by one of the countless chefs who’ve put their own spin on it, or just digging like a desperado in the pantry for that box of Kraft, give mac and cheese its patriotic props. 30. Maryland crabcakes The Chesapeake Bay yields more than just the regatta-loving suntanned class in their sock-free topsiders. It’s the home habitat of the blue crab, which both Maryland and Virginia claim as their own. Boardwalk style (mixed with fillers and served on a bun) or restaurant/gourmet style; fried, broiled, or baked, crab cakes can be made with any kind of crab, but the blue crabs of Chesapeake Bay are preferred for both tradition and taste.

When Baltimore magazine rounded up the best places to get the city’s signature food, editors declared simplicity the key, while lamenting the fact that most crabmeat doesn’t even come from home turf these days. Kind of makes you crabby, doesn’t it? 29. Potato chips One of the world's best-selling jokes. We have a high-maintenance resort guest to thank for America’s hands-down favorite snack. Saratoga Springs, New York, 1853: American Indian chef George Crum is in the kitchen at the elegant Moon Lake Lodge. A persnickety customer sends back his French fries (then highfalutin fare eaten with a fork) for being too thick. Crum makes a second, thinner, order. Still too thick for the picky diner. Annoyed, Crum makes the next batch with a little attitude, slicing the potatoes so thin, the crispy things can’t possibly be picked up with a fork. Surprise: the wafer-thin fried potatoes are a hit. Traveling salesman Herman Lay sold them out of the trunk of his car before founding Lay’s Potato Chips, the first nationally marketed brand.

Lay’s would ultimately merge in 1961 with Frito to create the snack behemoth Frito-Lay. 28. Cioppino San Francisco’s answer to French bouillabaisse, cioppino (cho-pea-no) is fish stew with an Italian flair. It’s an American food that's been around since the late 1800s, when Portuguese and Italian fishermen who settled the North Beach section of the city brought their on-board catch-of-the-day stew back to land and area restaurants picked up on it. Cooked in a tomato base with wine and spices and chopped fish (whatever was plentiful, but almost always crab), cioppino probably takes its name from the classic fish stew of Italy’s Liguria region, where many Gold Rush era fishermen came from. Get a memorable bowl at Sotto Mare in North Beach, Scoma’s on Fisherman’s Wharf, and Anchor Oyster Bar in the Castro District. Don’t feel bad about going with the “lazy man’s” cioppino -- it only means you’re not going to spend half the meal cracking shellfish. 27. Fortune cookies One thing the Chinese didn't actually invent. An American food classic.

Culinary snobs like to look down their holier-than-thou chopsticks at ABC (American-born Chinese) food, but we're not afraid to stand up for the honor of such North American favorites as General Tso's chicken, Mongolian beef, broccoli beef, lemon chicken, deep-fried spring rolls and that nuclear orange sauce that covers sweet-and-sour anything. As the seminal symbol of all great American-born Chinese grub, however, we salute the mighty fortune cookie. Almost certainly invented in California in the early 1900s (origin stories vary between San Francisco, Los Angeles and even Japan), the buttery sweet crescents are now found in Chinese joints around the world ... with the notable exception of China . That's OK -- the crunchy biscuits are still our favorite way to close out any Chinese meal. 26. Peanut butter sandwich If it's good enough for the King ... Creamy or chunky? To each his own, but everybody -- except those afflicted with the dreaded and dangerous peanut allergy and the moms who worry sick about them -- loves a good peanut butter sandwich. First served to clients at Dr.

John Harvey Kellogg’s sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, peanut paste was improved upon when chemist Joseph Rosefield added hydrogenated vegetable oil and called his spread Skippy. That was 1922; not quite 100 years later, peanut butter is an American mainstay, often paired with jelly for that lunchbox workhorse the PB&J. For a rocking alternative, try peanut butter sandwiches the way Elvis Presley liked them: with ripe mashed bananas, grilled in butter. 25. Baked beans It’s not a cookout, potluck, or the end of a long day in the saddle without a bubbling pot full of them. Just ask the Pioneer Woman, who waxes rhapsodic about the baked-bean recipe on her site (not a version with little weenies, but how fun are they?). Yummy and plenty historical. Long before Bostonians were baking their navy beans for hours in molasses -- and earning the nickname Beantown in the process -- New England Indians were mixing beans with maple syrup and bear fat and putting them in a hole in the ground for slow cooking.

Favored on the frontier for being cheap and portable, chuck wagon, or cowboy, beans will forever live hilariously in popular culture as the catalyst behind the "Blazing Saddles" campfire scene, which you can review in unabashed immaturity on YouTube. 24. Popcorn Movie theaters have a lot to be thankful for. As the imperative on the Orville Redenbacher site urges: “All hail the super snack.” The bow-tied entrepreneur pitched his popcorn tent in Valparaiso, Indiana, which celebrates its heritage at the Valparaiso Popcorn Festival the first Saturday after Labor Day. It’s just one of several Midwestern corn belt towns that vie for the title of Popcorn Capital of the World, but centuries before Orville’s obsession aromatically inflated in microwaves or Jiffy Pop magically expanded on stovetops, Native Americans in New Mexico discovered corn could be popped — way back in 3600 B.C. According to , Americans currently consume about 15 billion liters a year; that’s 48 liters per man, woman, and child. 23.

Fried chicken and waffles Scottish immigrants brought the deep-fry method across the pond, and it was good old Colonel Saunders who really locked in on the commercial potential in 1930 when he started pressure-frying chicken breaded in his secret spices at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky, paving the way for Kentucky Fried and all the other fried chickens to come. Nuggets, fingers, popcorn, bites, patties -- one of our all-time favorite ways to eat fried chicken is with waffles. And one of our favorite places to eat it is at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. Immortalized in "Pulp Fiction" and "Swingers," the L.A. institution got the soul-food seal of approval when Obama himself related to Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" that he’d popped in for some wings and waffles and downed them in the presidential limo. 22. New England clam chowder Creamy, oniony, clammy ... more please. Gone are the days when Catholics religiously abstained from eating meat on Fridays, but you’ll still find clam chowder traditionally served in some East Coast locales -- not that it reminds anyone of penance these days.

There are time-honored versions of chowder from Maine to Florida, but the most famous and favorite has to be New England style: creamy white with potatoes and onions. There’s Manhattan: clear with tomatoes. And there’s even Minorcan (from around St. Augustine, Florida): spicy with hot datil pepper. The variations on East Coast clam chowder are deliciously numerous. Even the West Coast has a version (with salmon instead of pork). With your fistful of oyster crackers ready to dump in, you might stop to wonder: What were the Pilgrims thinking when they fed clams to their hogs? 21. New Mexican flat enchiladas It was the pre-Columbian Maya who invented tortillas, and apparently the Aztecs who started wrapping them around bits of fish and meat. You have only to go to any Mexican or Tex-Mex place to see what those ancients wrought when someone dipped tortillas “en chile” (hence, the name).

“Flat” (the stacked New Mexico style) or rolled, smothered in red chili sauce or green (or both, for “Christmas” style), enchiladas are the source of much cultural pride in the Land of Enchantment; they’re particularly enchanting made with the state’s famed blue-corn tortillas -- fried egg on top optional. Have a giant flat red one in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the last weekend in September at the Whole Enchilada Fiesta, where the main event is the making and partaking of the world’s biggest enchilada. 20. S’mores S'mores on frozen hot chocolate. Proust’s madeleines? We’ll go you one better on remembrance of things past: s’mores. Gooey, melty, warm and sweet -- nothing evokes family vacations and carefree camping under the stars quite like this classic American food.

Whether they were first to roast marshmallows and squish them between graham crackers with a bar of chocolate no one seems to know, but the Girl Scouts were the first to get the recipe down in the 1927 "Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts," transforming many a standard-issue campfire into a quintessential experience. Celebrate sweetly on August 10: It’s National S’mores Day. Get those marshmallow sticks sharpened. 19. Lobster rolls Boiled or steamed alive -- animal cruelty some insist -- lobsters practically define a great Down East occasion. And maybe nowhere more so than in Maine, which provides 80 percent of the clawed creatures, and where lobster shacks and lobster bakes are culinary institutions. Melted butter on knuckle, claw, or tail meat -- we love it simple. But the perfect accompaniment to a salty sea air day in Vacationland would have to be the lobster roll. Chunks of sweet lobster meat lightly dressed with mayo or lemon or both, heaped in a buttered hot dog bun makes for some seriously satisfying finger food.

Fabulous finger-licking lobster time in Maine is during shack season, May to October, and every August, when Rockland puts on its annual lobster festival. Suggested soundtrack for a weekend of shacking: B-52s’ “Rock Lobster.” 18. Buffalo wings Nothing to do with buffaloes, everything to do with delicious. Long before Troy Aikman became pitchman for Wingstop, folks in Buffalo, New York, were enjoying the hot and spicy wings that most agree came into being by the hands of Teressa Bellissimo, who owned the Anchor Bar and first tossed chicken wings in cayenne pepper hot sauce and butter in 1964. According to Calvin Trillin, hot wings might have originated with John Young, and his “mambo sauce” -- also in Buffalo. Either way, they came from Buffalo, which, by the way, doesn’t call them Buffalo wings. If you think your kitchen table or couch-in-front-of-football represents the extreme in wing eating, think again: Every Labor Day weekend, Buffalo celebrates its great contribution to the nation’s pub grub with the Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival.

At the 2011 event, 85,000 people snarfed 37 tons of the things. 17. Indian frybread If you’ve had it at Indian Market in Santa Fe or to a powwow or pueblo anywhere in the country, you’re probably salivating at the very thought. Who would think that a flat chunk of leavened dough fried or deep-fried could be so addictive? Tradition says it was the Navajo who created frybread with the flour, sugar, salt, and lard given to them by the government when they were relocated from Arizona to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico, 150 years ago. Frybread’s a calorie bomb all right, but drizzled with honey or topped with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and lettuce for an Indian taco or all by its lonesome, it’s an American Indian staple not to be missed. 16. Barbecue ribs President Lyndon Johnson eats ribs the Texas way at a 1964 election victory barbecue party.

Pork or beef, slathered or smoked -- we’re not about to wade into which is more embraced, what’s more authentic, or even what needs more napkins. There are cook-offs all over the country for your own judging pleasure. But we will admit we’re partial to pork ribs. The Rib ’Cue Capital? We’re not going to touch that one with a three-meter tong, either. We’ll just follow signs of grinning pigs in the South, where the tradition of gathering for barbecues dates to before the Civil War and serious attention to the finer points of pork earn the region the title of the Barbecue Belt. Outside of the belt, Texas smokes its way to a claim as a barbecue (beef) epicenter -- check out the ’cue-rich town of Lockhart. And let’s not forget Kansas City, where the sauce is the thing. But why debate it when you can just eat it? 15. BLT How many sandwiches get to go by their initials? When tomatoes come into season, there’s hardly a better way to celebrate the bounty than with a juicy bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Food guru John Mariani says the BLT is the no.

2 favorite sandwich in the United States (after ham), and it’s no. 1 in the United Kingdom. Bread can be toasted or un, bacon crispy or limp, lettuce iceberg or other (but iceberg is preferred for imparting crunch and no interfering flavor), and mayo good quality or just forget about it. Provenance of the BLT isn’t clear, but a remarkably similar club sandwich showed up in the 1903 Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book. Even if the sodium level gives the health-minded pause, the BLT tastes like summer -- and who can resist that? 14. Apple pie When a pornographic scene in a delinquent movie does nothing to affect its popularity, you know a food is great. According to a pie chart (seriously) from the American Pie Council, apple really is our national favorite -- followed by pumpkin, chocolate, lemon meringue and cherry. Not to burst the patriotic bubble, but it’s not an American food of indigenous origin. Food critic John Mariani dates the appearance of apple pies in the United States to 1780, long after they were popular in England. Apples aren’t even native to the continent; the Pilgrims brought seeds.

So what’s the deal with the star-spangled association? The pie council’s John Lehndorff explains: “When you say that something is ‘as American as apple pie,’ what you're really saying is that the item came to this country from elsewhere and was transformed into a distinctly American experience.” And you’re saying Americans know something good enough to be an icon when we eat it, with or without the cheddar cheese or vanilla ice cream on top. 13. Frito pie Even the most modest chili has legions of fans. Consider Kit Carson, whose dying regret was that he didn’t have time for one more bowl. Or the mysterious “La Dama de Azul,” a Spanish nun named Sister Mary of Agreda, who reportedly never left her convent in Spain but came back from one of her astral projections preaching Christianity to Indians in the New World with their recipe for venison chili. Less apocryphally, “chili queens” in 1880s San Antonio, Texas, sold their spicy stew from stands, and the “San Antonio Chili Stand” at the 1893 Chicago world's fair secured chili’s nationwide fame.

We really love the American ingenuity that added corn chips and cheddar cheese to make Frito pie, a kitschy delight you can order served in the bag at the Five & Dime on the Santa Fe Plaza, the same physical location of the original Woolworth’s lunch counter that came up with it. 12. Po’ boy Amazing Po’ boy sausages. The muffaletta might be the signature sandwich of Crescent City, but the po’ boy is the “shotgun house of New Orleans cuisine.” The traditional Louisiana sub is said to have originated in 1929, when Bennie and Clovis Martin -- both of whom had been streetcar conductors and union members before opening the coffee shop that legend says became the birthplace of the po’ boy -- supported striking streetcar motormen and conductors with food. "We fed those men free of charge until the strike ended,” Bennie was quoted.

“Whenever we saw one of the striking men coming, one of us would say, ‘Here comes another poor boy.’” Enjoy the beloved everyman sandwich in its seemingly infinite variety (the traditional fried oyster and shrimp can’t be beat) and fight the encroachment of chain sub shops at the annual Oak Street Po-Boy Festival in November. 11. Green chili stew Have pork and green chiles ever spent such delicious time together? Green chile stew has been called the queen of the New Mexican winter table, but we don’t need a cold winter day to eat this fragrant favorite. We like it anytime -- so long as the Hatch chiles are roasted fresh. Order them from Hatch Chile Express in Hatch, New Mexico, the Chile Capital of the World; they come already roasted, peeled, deseeded, chopped, and frozen. Better yet, make the trip to green chile stew country and order up a bowl. Whether you eat it in New Mexico at a table near a kiva fireplace or at your own kitchen table, the aroma and taste are to die for, and the comfort level remarkable on the resurrection scale. 10. Chocolate-chip cookies Chew-crunchy, yummy perfection.

Today the name most associated with the killer cookie might be Mrs. Fields, but we actually have Ruth Wakefield, who owned the Toll House Inn, a popular spot for home cooking in 1930s Whitman, Massachusetts, to thank for all spoon-licking love shared through chocolate chip cookies. Was Mrs. Wakefield making her Butter Drop Do cookies when, lacking baker’s chocolate, she substituted a cut-up Nestle’s semisweet chocolate bar? Or did the vibrations of a Hobart mixer knock some chocolate bars off a shelf and into her sugar-cookie dough? However chocolate chips ended up in the batter, a new cookie was born. Andrew Nestle reputedly got the recipe from her -- it remains on the package to this day -- and Wakefield got a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Can you feel the serotonin and endorphins releasing? 9. Blueberry cobbler Also charmingly called slump, grunt, and buckle, cobbler got its start with early oven-less colonists who came up with the no-crust-on-the-bottom fruit dish that could cook in a pan or pot over a fire.

They might have been lofting a mocking revolutionary middle finger at the mother country by making a sloppy American version of the refined British steamed fruit and dough pudding. Cobblers become doubly American when made with blueberries, which are native to North America (Maine practically has a monopoly on them). We love blueberries for how they sex up practically any crust, dough, or batter, maybe most of all in cobblers and that other all-American favorite, the blueberry muffin. 8. Delmonico’s steak If cows weren't meant to be grilled, why did God make them sizzle so deliciously? There are steakhouses all over the country but perhaps none so storied -- with a universally acclaimed steak named for it no less -- as the original Delmonico’s in New York. The first diner called by the French name restaurant, Delmonico’s opened in 1837 with unheard-of things like printed menus, tablecloths, private dining rooms, and lunch and dinner offerings. Among other firsts, the restaurant served the “Delmonico Steak.” Whatever the excellent cut (the current restaurant uses boneless rib eye), the term Delmonico’s Steak has come to mean the best.

Lightly seasoned with salt, basted with melted butter, and grilled over a live fire, it’s traditionally served with a thin clear gravy and Delmonico’s potatoes, made with cream, white pepper, Parmesan cheese, and nutmeg -- a rumored favorite of Abraham Lincoln’s. 7. Chicago-style pizza Naples gave us the first pizza, but the City of Big Shoulders (and even bigger pizzas) gave us the deep dish. The legend goes that in 1943, a visionary named Ike Sewell opened Uno’s Pizzeria in Chicago with the idea that if you made it hearty enough, pizza, which up till then had been considered a snack, could be eaten as a meal. Whether he or his original chef Rudy Malnati originated it, one of those patron saints of pizza made it deep and piled it high, filling a tall buttery crust with lots of meat, cheese, tomato chunks, and authentic Italian spices. Thin-crust pizza made in a brick oven has its place, but if you lust for crust, nothing satisfies quite like Chicago-style. 6. Nachos For snacking perfection, just add salsa and guacamole.

The bane of diets and the boon of happy hours -- could there be a more perfect calorie-dense accompaniment to a pitcher of margaritas? Less rhetorically: why does Piedras Negras, Mexico, just over the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, host The International Nacho Festival and the Biggest Nacho in the World Contest every October? Because it was there that Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya invented nachos when a gaggle of shopping wives of American soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan arrived at the Victory Club restaurant after closing time. Maitre d’ Ignacio improvised something for the gals with what he had on hand, christening his melty creation nachos especiales. From thence they have gone forth across the border, the continent and the world. 5.

Philly cheese steak It’s a sandwich so greasy and hallowed in its hometown that the posture you must adopt to eat it without ruining your clothes has a name: “the Philadelphia Lean.” Made of “frizzled beef,” chopped while being grilled in grease, the Philly cheese steak sandwich gets the rest of its greasy goodness from onions and cheese (American, provolone, or Cheese Whiz), all of which is laid into a long locally made Amoroso bun. Pat and Harry Olivieri get the credit for making the first cheese steaks (originally with pizza sauce -- cheese apparently came later, courtesy of one of Pat’s cooks) and selling them from their hot dog stand in south Philly. Pat later opened Pat’s King of Steaks, which still operates today and vies with rival Geno’s Steaks for the title of best cheese steak in town. Great Lettuce Growing Tips - Organic Gardening - MOTHER EARTH NEWS Great Lettuce Growing Tips Lettuce growing will be a snap with these helpful tips for choosing, planting, and harvesting. By Roger Doiron ‘Giant Caesar’ is a crisp romaine that will live up to its name in a delicious Caesar salad.

PHOTO: BILL ADAMS Print Email Imagine that extraterrestrials have invaded and commandeered earthlings’ home gardens in order to produce energy for their fleet of veggie-powered flying saucers. Armed with hoes and digging forks and with determination in their eyes, gardeners take to the streets. To quell the insurrection, the aliens announce they will allow gardeners to grow one vegetable for their own consumption. Which crop would you choose? For me, the choice would be as easy as this scenario is far-fetched: lettuce. You could make a good case for growing other things instead: a highly caloric crop such as potatoes, a more flavorful one such as tomatoes, or a better keeper such as carrots. I recommend growing lettuce because it’s easy, reliable, requires little space, and enjoys a long growing season, allowing for multiple and continuous harvests. Lettuce is also one of the best vegetables to grow because it offers a nice mix of nutrients in a compact package, including iron, folate, and vitamins A and C. It’s for all these reasons that new gardeners should choose lettuce as their first step in their journey to delicious, homegrown self-reliance.

We've compiled some proven lettuce growing tips to get you started. For a chart with lettuce variety details, see Great Lettuce Varieties. Lettuce Types While “iceberg” is the bland poster child for store-bought lettuce, it’s part of a larger, diverse, and better-looking family than people realize. Gardeners can choose from hundreds of varieties, all falling into six types. (See “Six Lettuce Types: Which Ones Will You Try?” below.) For beginners, I recommend starting with loose-leaf lettuce varieties, also known as “cut and come again” lettuces (meaning you can cut a harvest, then harvest again in a few weeks). These varieties are not only the easiest to grow, but they come in many seed mixes, offering a balance of colors, textures, and flavors. To add some extra color and zing to your salad bowl, I suggest planting a row of spicy mesclun mix for every row of lettuce you grow. Most seed companies offer mesclun mixes of arugulas, kales, and mustard greens, which, with the addition of some cheese, chopped walnuts, and a couple of edible flowers, can turn a ho-hum salad side dish into a memorable main course.

Preparing to Plant As with any crop, delicious salad greens start with the soil. Lettuce does best in sandy loam soil with a high level of moisture-retaining organic matter, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t have those conditions. Lettuce grows all around the world in all types of climates and soils, including your own. There’s no ideal climate for all lettuce types, but most grow best in cool weather. Salad greens can be planted as soon as you can work the soil, which, here in Maine, is early to midspring. Most lettuce varieties germinate well in the range of 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, making them an excellent spring and fall crop for gardeners in temperate areas. It’s possible to start lettuce seeds indoors in pots, but I don’t bother. Space under my winter grow lights is limited and I prefer to save it for longer-season crops, such as tomatoes, which can really take advantage of a few weeks’ head start. How to Plant Lettuce When planting lettuce, begin by working some finished compost (if you have some available) into the soil. Lettuce plants don’t have time to root deeply and will benefit from the extra organic matter close to the surface.

Next, rake your bed smooth so you have an even planting surface. I plant my loose-leaf in rows, alternating lettuce with rows of mesclun and other crops, such as radishes in the spring and beets in the fall. Among lettuce’s many positive traits is that it’s a good neighbor and can be planted next to or between just about anything, provided it has enough water, space, and light. Rather than planting long rows, I plant one or two short rows across my 30-inch beds every two weeks. More than any other crop, lettuce works best with succession planting because it turns bitter as it matures, especially in warm weather. With succession planting, there’s always a salad ready for the taking. Space your loose-leaf rows 6 to 12 inches apart, depending on the available space and soil fertility in your garden. One effective way to get the right planting depth and nice, straight rows at the same time is to take a piece of scrap wood and press it into the soil until a faint indent appears.

If you’re growing a loose-leaf type or a loose-leaf mix, plant your seeds about 1 inch or so apart in a single line, cover them with about a quarter inch of soil, and gently pat them down to keep them in place. Water well, and within a week you should see them sprout. What works for planting loose-leaf varieties also applies to heading varieties. The only difference is spacing. Full-head lettuces can be planted either in rows or in a grid pattern 12 to 18 inches apart. If you’re located in a hot climate or want to grow lettuce through the dog days of summer, consider interplanting your rows or heads with taller crops that can shade them. How to Harvest Lettuce One of the keys to having tender lettuce is rapid growth, which is why spring-grown lettuce tastes so good. If all the right conditions are present — sunny, mild days, cool nights, sufficient water and good soil fertility — lettuce can go from seed to salad bowl in about 30 days. Most full-head varieties take 45 to 60 days to reach maturity. Also consider timing when harvesting lettuce. Leaves are at their sweetest and most vibrant in the morning.

A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from the early 1990s found that lettuce harvested at 7 a.m. contained nearly twice as much natural sugar as the same variety harvested at 2 p.m. While this is true for headers and loose-leafs, recent research indicates that it’s best to harvest baby greens in the evening if they are to be stored for more than a day. Regardless of when you harvest lettuce, its tender leaves demand careful handling. Harvested greens left in the late spring sun can start to wilt in just 15 minutes, so quickly get them out of the garden and into a cool, moist (but not wet) spot. If I don’t have time to thoroughly wash my greens directly after harvesting, I give them at least a quick rinse in cold water before putting them in the refrigerator’s crisper. An exciting thing about lettuce harvest time is that it can be a repeat performance. You can harvest loose-leaf varieties twice — and sometimes three times — before the quality of the leaves declines. Make your first cutting about an inch above the soil. Keep your plants weeded and watered, and you should be able to harvest them again two to three weeks later.

More Tips for Growing Lettuce While lettuce is not a complicated crop, a few things can go wrong — most of them related to heat and moisture. If you live in a wet climate, you may discover the local slugs are eating more salad than you are. One of the best ways to get slugs to stop munching on your lettuce is to make them a more appealing offer: beer! Bury a shallow receptacle, such as an empty tuna can, in the soil amidst the plants and fill it halfway with beer. Attracted by the smell, slugs will crawl into the container, but can’t crawl out. The greatest menace to lettuce is neither slugs nor veggie-hungry aliens, but the heat. When temperatures exceed 70 degrees, lettuce seeds don’t germinate well and mature plants tend to bolt (meaning they stop producing leaves and go to seed). Regular watering, using shade cloths or tall, shade-making companion plants, and planting heat-tolerant varieties can help, but extreme heat over time ultimately takes a toll on lettuce’s flavor and texture. The positive flip side to lettuce’s heat sensitivity is that you can enjoy it during the cooler months when not much else grows.

In fact, many gardeners and farmers in northern areas use cold frames, low tunnels or minimally heated greenhouses to produce salad greens through winter. Whatever your climate, I hope you’ll start growing lettuce of your own this year. With organic mixes costing as much as $6 per pound, I can’t think of a better way to hold on to your green than by growing some greens of your own. Six Lettuce Types: Which Ones Will You Try? Butterhead: A soft, buttery texture characterizes these varieties, which form loose heads. Chinese: Chinese varieties generally have long, pointy, non-head-forming leaves and a bitter flavor better suited to stir-fry than salad. Crisphead: Varieties in this type, which includes iceberg, form tight, dense heads resembling cabbage. They are generally the mildest of the lettuces and are appreciated more for their crunchy texture than their flavor or nutritional value. Loose-leaf: These varieties are grown as leaves instead of tightly formed heads, and they have a delicate texture and a mild flavor. They are also known as “cut and come again” lettuce, as they can be harvested multiple times.

Romaine, aka “Cos”: This heat-tolerant type grows in a long head of sturdy leaves with a firm rib down the center. Summer Crisp, aka “Batavian”: Think of this group as an intermediate between crisphead and loose-leaf types. Human Salad Spinner So, you’ve grown your own fresh, crisp lettuce, and now it’s time to wash and serve it. A salad spinner works well to quickly remove water after the lettuce has been washed, but if you don’t own a spinner, here’s a trick that will work as well or even better than a spinner: Wrap the lettuce up in a large, clean dish towel and step outside. Swing the bundle of lettuce in circles as fast as you can — like you’re winding up to pitch a softball. Voilà! Most of the moisture will be gone when you open the cloth. You’ll find that salad dressings will coat the leaves more evenly if the leaves don’t have much water on them.

Question: What is the best-selling type of lettuce in the United States?
Answer: Iceberg