The Genius Lettuce Trick That'll Solve An Age-Old Sandwich Problem

Some of America's favorite sandwiches are the simplest ones: peanut butter, that most American of sandwich fillings; grilled cheese, a comfort food classic that some describe as love in sandwich form; and egg salad, which is de rigueur for using up all those leftover hard-boiled Easter eggs. Others of us, however, will always go for something more Dagwood-ish in nature: a big, sloppy sandwich with layer upon layer of fillings. It can be tricky to eat such a sandwich, though, without all of the fillings falling out. How do you stop this? Lettuce make a suggestion.

Take a large leaf of lettuce (none of your trendy microgreens here) and put it on the bottom piece of bread. Make sure it overhangs the sides by a fair amount, though. Pile the other sandwich fillings on top of the lettuce, then fold the lettuce over to contain them. Plop the second piece of bread on top, take a bite, and see if that lettuce doesn't keep the fillings inside where they belong instead of tumbling out onto your shirt.

One survey — admittedly an older one — found that lettuce was the nation's No. 1 sandwich topping. (The data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was collected in 2009, according to FiveThirtyEight, but more recent statistics don't seem to be available since such surveys aren't conducted on a regular basis.) Why lettuce, though? It's the least flavorful part of the BLT, and nobody, but nobody, eats stand-alone lettuce sandwiches. Well, for one thing, lettuce is a relatively cheap filler, meaning that sandwich shops can afford to be generous with it. For another, it does provide some color and crunch, and maybe even a little nutritional value. (Romaine lettuce can be a good source of Vitamins A and K, if you eat enough of it.)

Perhaps the best thing lettuce can do for your sandwich, besides containing the fillings, is to provide a moisture barrier that prevents the bread from getting soggy. For example, with the aforementioned BLT, if you layer it with a lettuce leaf on the bottom and another on top, it can help prevent the bacon grease and tomato juice from penetrating the bread. This works with other sandwich types, too — try it with tuna salad or a giardiniera-topped Italian sub. Bear in mind, though, that if you're the conscientious, lettuce-rinsing type, you'll need to make sure the leaves are thoroughly dry before you start making the sandwich.