Andrew Zimmern's Kentucky Country Ham "Kilt" Salad

Kilt Salad Image Used Under Creative Commons License from travelchannel.com

My Citizens, your beloved leader, the zenith of munificence that is the mighty TFD, is a huge fan of southern American heirloom recipes, and this is one of the oldest! The incredible Andrew Zimmern, of “Bizarre Foods” recently visited Appalachia in Kentucky and was introduced to this amazing updated salad recipe by a local Chef.

Despite its name, this salad is in no way Scottish – “kilt” is southern slang for “killed” – as this is a salad with a hot dressing that wilts the leaves and is as savory and delicious as they come!

As noted on cooksinfo.com:

Kilt Lettuce is not a type of lettuce, rather it is a dish of lettuce (or other greens) served warm.

Think warm salads, such as spinach and radicchio with crumbled hot pancetta.

Kilt Lettuce, however, is a warm salad you won’t see it in too many restaurants. It is an Appalachian and southern US version of a warm salad, in which the salad green has bacon on it — bacon fat, that is. If the wording “bacon fat” is enough to make you blanch, people in the south will even refer to it as “bacon grease”, as in “dump the bacon grease over your salad.”

Kilt Lettuce is a springtime dish, made with new, spring lettuce and green (aka “spring”) onions. A favourite lettuce to use in the spring is “branch lettuce.”

You melt bacon fat, get it really hot, then add vinegar, water (sic), sugar and black pepper (standing back, of course, when the water and vinegar hit the hot fat.) You mix, then pour it over a waiting bowl of your salad greens, and then cover with a lid for a couple of minutes to allow the lettuce to wilt, then serve hot.

Some people like to pour the bacon fat alone on the lettuce, then finishing dressing it with vinegar, salt, sugar and pepper right in the bowl

Instead of using reserved bacon fat, you can fry up bacon, crumble it on the salad greens, and then dump the bacon fat from the pan on.

You generally eat it with some kind of bread to sop up the grease and the vinegar. The bread could be cornbread, or baking powder biscuits. It might also be served with fried potatoes and / or fried salt pork.

You can use any kind of leafy green: leaf lettuce, spinach leaves, creasy greens, etc.

You can also include with the lettuce garnishes such as chopped boiled egg, sometimes early radishes, and ramps when in season.

Citizens – enjoy! 😀

Battle on – The Generalissimo

Andrew Zimmern’s Kentucky Country Ham “Kilt” Salad

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Prep Time: 0 hours
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Ingredients

8 cups mixed sturdy greens such as chard, baby kale, mustard greens, cress or endive 
¼ cup fresh tarragon leaves 
½ cup parsley leaves 
½ cup turnips, sliced very thin 
½ cup radishes, sliced very thin 
1 to 2 slices of country ham fat 
½ pound slab bacon, cut into small cubes 
2 tablespoons brown sugar
⅓ cup sherry wine vinegar

Instructions

Wash and dry the greens and place in a salad bowl. Top with tarragon, parsley, turnips and radishes. Reserve.
Place the slice of country ham fat into a large iron skillet over medium heat to render. Add the bacon. When bacon is crispy, use a mesh wand to remove the ham fat and bacon and reserve to a paper towel-lined plate. 
Return pan to heat. Whisk the brown sugar and vinegar into the hot bacon and ham fat until sugar is dissolved. Taste for seasoning and immediately pour dressing over the salad, tossing the greens in the hot dressing to “kill it.” Sprinkle with the bacon pieces and chopped ham fat. Serve immediately.