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What the heck is ... frisée?
 Definition: [free-ZAY] A member of the chicory family, frisée has delicately slender, curly leaves that range in color from yellow-white to yellow-green. This feathery vegetable has a mildly bitter flavor and is most often found in the special salad mix called mesclun. For years, this unusual rabbit food was called "curly endive" ... and suffered mightily because of it. Curly endive has long been one of the uglier ducklings in the lettuce lineup, its scraggly, scratchy, dark-green leaves looking about as fun to eat as a Brillo pad. But lately, this homely green's lovely sister, frisée, has been turning heads and turning up on dozens of menus, proving once and for all that if you put lipstick on a pig you can find her a date to the prom!
The delicate frisée, tender and frilly and full of pale blanched heart, has never looked better, and chefs are snapping it up for winter salads. Barely a blip on the lettuce sales chart a few years ago, frisée is soaring as California growers learn how to handle this fussy green, and their marketing departments learn how to sell it. Our very own chefs at Tapino have fallen for this marketing scam and are now placing little mounds of frisée on your plate with the Pecan smoked Northwest Salmon. Frisée is one of those strange foods that cause a lot of confusion between Europe and the USA.
 The confusion occurs due to the fact that the term "chicory" in America or France refers to what Britain calls endive and endive in Britain becomes chicory in France and America. In Britain it is called 'endive' and in America 'chicory' or curly endive - to add to the confusion, in France it is 'chicoree frisee' - curly chicory.
Even the common name "Frise lettuce" (furiously being promoted by the grower's marketing consultants) is a knockoff of the French "frisée" (curly), and "Lettuce" from the Latin "lactuca", which in turn is derived from the Greek "lettagluph", which comes from the old Egyptian "bleah!" which roughly translates to "this stuff is too damn bitter to eat - feed it to the goats!" Furthermore, if the chefs weren't trying to show off, they would just call it frizzy instead of frisée - a good old American word that perfectly describes what this stuff looks like. But, you know how chefs are!
 Frisée is basically the smaller version of curly endive and may be commonly referred to as baby curly endive. The ripple-edged leaves are green on the outer sections and cream colored closer to the stem and stalk, forming a very compact heart. The lacy outer leaves provide a prickly texture and a bitter taste - think "tumbleweeds", while the inner leaves are milder, so always select a head with a greater abundance of inner leaves. A close relative to frisée is the curly endive, which is often referred to as chicory and may confuse many when labeled as loose-leaf endive or some of its other names such as loose-leaf chicory, chicory, chicory endive, curly chicory, frisée, or frise. When cooked, the greens are often served as a vegetable steamed or braised, and can be added to soups for flavoring in the later stages of soup making. Not only that, but you can also grind up the roots, scorch them, mix them with your coffee grounds and make a foul drink that is often served in New Orleans with beignets.
 The exotic plant resembles a lettuce gone horribly awry, with a pale green explosion of frilly leaves that adds a bitter note to green salads. Some consumers are radically opposed to frisée, while others adore the bitter and sometimes woody green. At Tapino, you may feel free to discreetly slide it over to the edge of the plate and cover it with your napkin if you are offended by its rather intense flavor.
Frisée was popularized in the United States in the 1990s by chefs across the country, who integrated the green into a wide variety of salads, and it has since become available in many upscale grocers and at some farmers' markets. Frisée's rising popularity coincides with the growing interest in chicories of all kinds, from radicchio to escarole to the dandelion-like puntarelle of Italy.
Botanically speaking, frisée's closest relatives are Belgian endive, escarole and the coarse curly endive, of which frisée is merely a finer, lacier example. In the French seed catalogs, whose photos show sprawling frisées with enormous blanched centers, the varieties bear names that emphasize their delicacy, like 'Fine de Louviers,' 'Fine Maraîchre' and 'Très Fine Marachère.' But, don't let the French fool you! They will often try to lead you astray by using strange names for their food.
 What really makes a fine head of frisée, and what seems to have improved greatly in recent years, is the amount of pale blanched center. The green outer leaves are tough; it's the white (more accurately, lemon-yellow) part that connoisseurs prize. But left unattended, frisée won't be pale. It will be green like other lettuces. Only human intervention can protect the inner leaves from the sun, a labor-intensive process known as blanching. Some growers tie the heads, using the outer leaves to shelter the inner ones and banding them at the top. In some fields, about a week before harvest, workers put a cap over each plant, like an upside-down bowl, so no daylight can enter.
Like many other salad ingredients, frisée does not hold up well in the summer months. It should be planted in the early spring to mature in 45 to 60 days, in compost rich, moist soil. Plant the seeds at a shallow depth, approximately ten inches apart. Make sure that you position it in an area where it will get at least six hours of sun a day. As the plant nears maturity, tie the leaves together or cover the center of the plant to protect the tender inside from sun damage. Frisée can be harvested like other lettuces, with a sharp knife close to the base,
 If you plan on buying frisée lettuce, look for nice fresh, crisp, green outer leaves with no yellowing, browning, spots, or other discoloration. If you plan to keep the lettuce for a few days, first rinse it in cold water and shake it before putting it into the vegetable crisper, in a fairly large open bag or wrapped in a damp cloth. Tightly closed plastic packaging does not allow the lettuce to breath and will make it rot. Be sure that air can circulate around the leaves. Frisée lettuce is fragile and will not tolerate the slightest freezing. To revive limp frisée lettuce, stick it first into lukewarm water and then into ice water to shock it. You can also "salvage" old, tired, wilted frisée lettuce by sweating it in butter with a shallot. Finish with a drizzle of cream and serve as a hot vegetable - no one will be the wiser.
When cooking with frisée, always tear it rather than using a knife. Frisée, like other greens, should be washed before consumption (remember what happened to all those people that ate the bagged spinach last year? Let that be a lesson to you about washing your veggies!) The inner leaves are the most tender and can be used in more abundance than the tougher outer leaves. Because cut frisée can turn brown and vinegar will make it wilt, cut it just before use and dress it directly before bringing it to the table so that it doesn't discolor or become waterlogged. Frisée is a spicy addition to green salads, or it can be served in more complex gourmet salads, starring with walnut vinaigrette and other bitter greens.
 If you can't quite work up the courage to try frisée at home, we encourage you to come down to Tapino and try some of ours. If you like its crunchy pungent and slightly bitter flavor, we will celebrate with you, and teach you the secret "Foodie handshake". If it turns out to be a bit much for your palate, your server will be happy to whisk it away and feed it to the goats! Oh, by the way, this edible leaf vegetable has absolutely nothing to do with those fluffy little yappy, ankle-biter dogs, Bichon Frisee.
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