Lettuce Soup
"This is a soup that my Slovak grandmother used to make when I was a little girl. She used lettuce she would pick fresh out of her garden. I still make this soup every summer and remember her sitting in her kitchen sipping coffee with my mother and aunt. It brings back such fond memories."
- Ready In:
- 2hrs
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
6-8 Large Bowls
- Serves:
- 6-8
ingredients
- 2 lbs thick slab bacon
- flour
- milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 bunches leaf lettuce
- salt
directions
- In a cast iron skillet (this the best but you can use any type skillet) Fry 2 lb. of bacon (to render fat, but not crisp the bacon).
- Remove bacon from skillet leaving the fat in the pan.
- Allow the fat to brown (slightly).
- For every 2 Tablespoons of browned fat rendered add 2 tablespoons of flour.
- Stirring constantly, brown flour in fat to a deep golden brown.
- Allow to cool slightly so as not to curdle the milk when added.
- Once cooled, add 1 cup of milk for ever 2 tablespoons of flour used.
- Bring to rolling boil stirring constantly.
- Add torn up lettuce and cut up bacon to the browned fat and flour mixture.
- Bring back to a rolling boil, stirring constantly.
- Add eggs to mixture making sure to stir it throughout the soup.
- Reduce heat to low and continue to cook for about 1 hour (until lettuce is cooked down).
- Salt to taste.
- Serve with a crusty French bread.
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Reviews
-
This is a very easy recipe to make. But I think I did something wrong. I messed with the recipe & it was gooply gloppy not soupy. I halved the bacon, then halved the rendered fat but followed the proportions correctly. I added more milk & some water. Someone once told me "never underestimate the thickening power of flour." The flavor was good. I think an important part of this recipe is your Grandmother making it!! My kids both tried it & liked it. I liked it, too...it just didn't seem quite right. I thought simmering lettuce for an hour was crazy but it takes that much time for the flour flavor to cook out. Thank you for posting! -
Delicious! Thank you for posting! My Slovak husband loved it and paid me the highest compliment by saying that it was almost as good as his mother's lettuce soup:) I must confess that I only used 1 pound of bacon and it was still very good. It freezes well too.
