It’s like crunchy water, and, sometimes, that’s exactly what I want: texture and moisture without adding too much flavor. It’s refreshing, which most salad greens are not. (Don’t get me wrong–I like my arugula and endive and dandelion greens and whatnot, but they don’t belong anywhere near a meat sandwich for me. Make a BLT with anything but iceberg and I’m likely to punch you in the face. OK, maybe romaine hearts are okay, but that’s it.)
If you just want bland crunchy, then celery works much better. And a BLT is exactly the sort of situation where you don’t want iceberg: You’ve already got crunchy from the bacon, and you need a more robust flavor to work with the the bacon and tomato.
I hate…hate hotdogs. But I can do Angus, all beef hotdogs, they don’t have that horrid after taste that regular dogs do.
No, celery has far too strong a flavor for most things where I want iceberg lettuce (and how are they comparable? One is leafy and crunchy, the other is stalky and crunchy. They don’t work in the same situations at all. I could see celery and water chestnuts and perhaps jicama being comparable in that manner, but not iceberg lettuce.) And we’ll agree to disagree about the BLT. I want that crunchy wateriness there. Romaine hearts are the only acceptable substitute. Well, I can maybe seeing endive working, but we’re getting a bit fancy here, then.
That would be a B La-De-Dah T.
How about ketchup on sushi?
Faux pas or daring innovation?
I’m going to nuke a quarter-pound Hebrew National hot dog for dinner. I haven’t decided if I’ll eat it plain with catsup, or on a sandwich with American cheese, mayo, and Sriracha sauce.
Ketchup on a hot dog?! Great God Almighty! Just kidding. Eat what you want-it’s your food. Until reading this column I didn’t realize there were people who considered it a capital crime. And I thought wine snots were extreme.