Little Gem

The leaf is a spoon. Salt goes in the hollow and stays there.

Halved, dressed, showered. Dry salt on a sweet wet heart.

Cut face down in hot oil. The sugars caramelise, the core stays raw.

Sweetness needs acid or it just tastes like sugar water.

Same sugars, same season, both go dull within a day of picking.

Smoked fat against a sweet leaf that can take the weight.

Sour dairy thick enough to sit in the leaf instead of running out.

Mustard heat is what stops the sweetness reading as bland.

Green allium, cut fine, so it sticks to the wet cut edge.

Acid curd against sugar. The lettuce plays the fruit role.

Blue funk needs a crunchy sweet leaf, not a floppy one.

Grill the halves, bury them in bonito. Smoke without pork.

Oxidised nuttiness meets grilled lettuce sugar. Both go caramel.