In other cultures, cooked lettuce is common. Instead of tossing the wilting head of greens in your refrigerator, restaurant owner and cookbook author Mei Li encourages pan searing it with sesame oil, soy sauce, and seasonings. “I had a friend who spent a year in China after school and she was like, ‘I didn’t eat raw lettuce for a year,” Li says.
“I think many people have had the experience of buying lettuce and when it wilts in your fridge, being like, ‘well, I can’t eat this in a salad, so I should just throw it out.’” The best part is, this recipe works with any kind of lettuce, from iceberg and romaine to bibb and butterhead.
