the.com/frisee
lettuce that fights back, all bitter curls and aristocratic disdain for your salad bowl
means Frisée is a curly-leaved variety of endive with frilly, pale-green leaves and a pleasantly bitter bite, used in salads.
from Straight from French frisée, meaning 'curled' or 'frizzy' — the feminine past participle of friser, 'to curl.' The same root crinkles its way into English 'frizz' and 'frizzy.' So the name is pure description: this is, quite literally, the curled lettuce, named for the unruly ringlets of its leaves rather than for any attitude — though the attitude comes free.
- actual name
- a type of endive, not its own species
- blanching trick
- covered while growing to soften bitterness
- french staple
- stars in classic salad with bacon and egg
- texture
- frizzy leaves designed to trap dressing
- peak season
- thrives in cool weather, sweeter after frost