topic Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped in Kitchen

Lettuce Finely Chopped

BarbZoee — Sat, 07 May 2016 04:54:50 GMT

I need a kitchen product that will finely chop lettuce. What would everybody suggest?

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

DiAnne — Sat, 07 May 2016 05:48:54 GMT

I am not being facetious but I think the easiest way would be a knife.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

beach-mom — Sat, 07 May 2016 06:04:14 GMT

I would use the pulse button on my food processor.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

hopi — Sat, 07 May 2016 10:15:34 GMT

You can also shred it in the food processor with blades or if you have that Genius chopper send it through that.

BUT sometimes it has been my experience that some the machines can to squeeze the water out of the lettuce or slightly darken the lettuce. Totally understand wanting that shreds to look all the same size it looks so nice and chopped salad tastes so good.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

Ruthie-Roo — Sat, 07 May 2016 10:19:25 GMT

Maybe a mandoline slicer will work. I've never chopped lettuce with mine, though. There are some mandolines that are adjustable for thickness, and some with more room for bigger pieces, items.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

3cupcakes — Sat, 07 May 2016 10:46:33 GMT

I've been using my kitchen shears, @BarbZoee.

I put some of the the lettuce in a bowl & just keep clipping away until it's as small as I'd like & adding more lettuce as it reduces in volume.

The job goes quickly too.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

151949 — Sat, 07 May 2016 12:11:14 GMT

@DiAnne wrote:
I am not being facetious but I think the easiest way would be a knife.

As soon as I read the OP this was my first thought - use a knife.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

Mothertrucker — Sat, 07 May 2016 13:53:22 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@DiAnne wrote:
I am not being facetious but I think the easiest way would be a knife.
As soon as I read the OP this was my first thought - use a knife.

The problem with a regular knife, is that if you are not using letuce immediately, the metal on the knife caues the lettuce to discolor or "rust"

In the restaurant, for this reason, we used speical plastic knife for iceberg lettuce

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

Sunshine Kate — Sat, 07 May 2016 13:57:40 GMT

I've used my Kitchen Aid food processor and use the slicing blade. It works very fast and good. It takes me more time to clean and put away the processor than the machine chopping the lettuce.

Or, I use my ulu knife. It takes more time to chop the lettuce finely though. I use this for a small amount.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

ChiliPepper — Sat, 07 May 2016 14:16:18 GMT

@Mothertrucker wrote:
@151949 wrote:
@DiAnne wrote:
I am not being facetious but I think the easiest way would be a knife.
As soon as I read the OP this was my first thought - use a knife.
The problem with a regular knife, is that if you are not using letuce immediately, the metal on the knife caues the lettuce to discolor or "rust"

In the restaurant, for this reason, we used speical plastic knife for iceberg lettuce

I agree, grab one of those long, thin plastic knives for slicing lettuce.

Believe it or not, I have used a plastic knife from take out food to do lettuce. Places like Wendy's have heavy duty ones that work well in a pinch LOL!

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

momtochloe — Sat, 07 May 2016 15:30:20 GMT

@ChiliPepper wrote:
@Mothertrucker wrote:
@151949 wrote:
@DiAnne wrote:
I am not being facetious but I think the easiest way would be a knife.
As soon as I read the OP this was my first thought - use a knife.
The problem with a regular knife, is that if you are not using letuce immediately, the metal on the knife caues the lettuce to discolor or "rust"

In the restaurant, for this reason, we used speical plastic knife for iceberg lettuce
I agree, grab one of those long, thin plastic knives for slicing lettuce.

Believe it or not, I have used a plastic knife from take out food to do lettuce. Places like Wendy's have heavy duty ones that work well in a pinch LOL!

@ChiliPepper can you actually purchase one of these plastic knives or are these from the fast food restaurants? I have never heard of this, very interesting!

eta: Never mind Chili as I looked them up on Amazon. I never heard of this before.

When I shred cabbage for cole slaw I use an OXO handheld mandoline so I would imagine it would also do a good job on lettuce too.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

Lacey1 — Sat, 07 May 2016 15:41:12 GMT

If you need it really fine-you can use the Vitamix method with water. It just takes a second, and then dry it in a salad spinner.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

chickenbutt — Sat, 07 May 2016 16:31:28 GMT

There are really nice, and large, NYLON knives out there. I have a couple of them and they work very well. I know the brand of one of mine is OXO.

Nylon knives are always very handy to have in your arsenal.

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

chickenbutt — Sat, 07 May 2016 16:39:47 GMT

This is another brand, but it's a really nice-looking large serrated nylon knife

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

chickenbutt — Sat, 07 May 2016 18:20:31 GMT

Here are the two large nylon, serrated, knives that I have. The black one is OXO brand and the red one is a Zyliss.

What I like most about the OXO one is that wide, comfy handle. It's from their 'Good Grips' line and it is easy to use, even for somebody like me who has had arthritis for many years.

Another cool thing that I neglected to mention is that it seems like these never seem to lose their sharpness. I've had them for quite a few years and whether I'm cutting a cake or something much harder, they have always worked just as well. But they ARE perfect for lettuce!

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

Baileybut — Sun, 08 May 2016 00:15:29 GMT

We were on Royal Carb cruise last summer and one afternoon ate lunch in dining room. They had salad bar and chefs were using pizza cutter to cut fixings for salad into small pieces. They used it on lettuce! We came home and now make our salads this way!

Re: Lettuce Finely Chopped

Baileybut — Sun, 08 May 2016 00:15:56 GMT

....

debic — Sun, 08 May 2016 12:18:34 GMT

@Lacey1 wrote:
If you need it really fine-you can use the Vitamix method with water. It just takes a second, and then dry it in a salad spinner.

This^ Or any blender.

I'm not real sure I think plastic knives will do anything extra. Lettuce browns in about a week if kept dry whether I tear it or cut it with a metal knife.

Re: ....

novamc1 — Sun, 08 May 2016 17:55:23 GMT

@debic

Lettuce can turn brown from old age in about a week. but I believe the browning referred to in the previous post is actually bruising from contact with a metal blade. I could be wrong, but that's always been my understanding of it.

I don't chop lettuce much and prefer to either tear it by hand or slice it more finely on a cutting board for certain types of salads. Years go, I invested in this "chopped salad" gadget, which my husband likes to use when forced to prepare his own salad..

Re: ....

Mothertrucker — Sun, 08 May 2016 18:26:45 GMT

yes, the discoloration I spoke of is not the normal browning ..it is the result of contact with metal- if you are using the lettuce in an hour or so, no worries, but if you are prepping a large amount say, for the next day and using metal blades, well you may be disapointed...