Food Cooking Techniques Roll, Wrap, and Pass These 12 Dishes With Leaves Experience traditional specialties that showcase a variety of flavorful and aromatic leaves. By Ashley Day Ashley Day Ashley Day is Food & Wine's associate editorial director. She's edited and directed food and travel content at USA TODAY, the Institute of Culinary Education, and Chef & Restaurant magazine, and contributed to The Food Institute, The Daily Meal, and the recipe app meez. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on May 26, 2023 Close Photo: Photo by Eva Kolenko / Food Styling by Carrie Purcell / Prop Styling by Jillian Knox Cooking in leaves is a timeless tradition with endless earthy possibilities, from passing protein in lettuce wraps to baking salmon in fig leaves, steaming pork in kale leaves, and roasting cod in banana leaves. We've gathered global traditions that go beyond salads and side dishes: a Dominican grandmother's recipe for rolling three types of ground meat in cabbage like swaddled children; Turkish grape leaves brined and stuffed with rice and herbs; and a Mexican recipe roasting black cod in banana leaves with a citrusy spice paste. Chef Jamie Simpson calls wrapping food with leaves the old-school lunch box. “That predates most of us; it predates pots and pans even. It’s generally a way to keep sand, dirt, coals, and charcoal off of your food directly and serves as a convenient carrying case,” said the executive chef of the Culinary Vegetable Institute, adding that cooking can soften leaves that are abrasive, spicy, or stringent when raw. Here are flavorful, aromatic ways to work with banana leaves, bay leaves, chicories, corn husks, fig leaves, grape leaves, and more edible leaves all year round. 01 of 12 Picadillo-Stuffed Leaves Greg DuPree Steam this wild mash-up of picadillo and dolma in Swiss chard leaves or lacinato kale leaves with briny olives, sweet raisins, and warm cinnamon. Get the Recipe 02 of 12 Niños Envueltos Dominicanos (Dominican Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) Ellen Mary Cronin The name of the dish, which translates to "swaddled children," comes from the shape of the cabbage rolls themselves, but also nods to their deeply comforting nature. Get the Recipe 03 of 12 Tikin Xic (Citrusy Black Cod Roasted in Banana Leaves) Victor Protasio Something beautiful happens when protein is smeared with citrusy achiote paste, wrapped in banana leaves, and roasted. The famous Mexican pork dish cochinita pibil is prepared this way, and in the coastal states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán, fish gets the same treatment for a flavorful entrée with a tea-like aroma. Get the Recipe 04 of 12 Salmon Fillet Baked in Fig Leaves with Garlicky Potatoes © James Baigrie Fanny Singer had a fig tree in her backyard as a child, and her mother — Alice Waters of Chez Panisse — used the leaves to wrap salmon, lending the fish a smoky, fruity flavor. The baked leaves taste like the best vegetable chips ever. Get the Recipe 05 of 12 Zeytinyağli Yaprak Sarmasi (Vegetarian Stuffed Grape Leaves) Photo by Eva Kolenko / Food Styling by Carrie Purcell / Prop Styling by Jillian Knox The brightness of the brined grape leaves is balanced by the rice filling, which is seasoned with fresh parsley and dill and slightly sweet cooked onions. Musa Dagdeviren shares these tangy, tender vegetarian rice-and-herb-stuffed grape leaves from the Turkish region of Mugla in The Turkish Cookbook. Get the Recipe 06 of 12 Lemony Bulgur-Stuffed Swiss Chard Leaves © Claire Thomas For her refreshing dish, chef Semsa Denizsel uses blanched chard leaves to wrap herb-laced bulgur. She serves the stuffed leaves without baking them; they’re a lovely change from standard braised grape leaves. Get the Recipe 07 of 12 Corn Husk–Grilled Goat Cheese with Corn Relish and Honey Victor Protasio These grilled packets of cheese are tangy, sweet, and smoky — an ideal appetizer on a summer night. Get the Recipe 08 of 12 Barbacoa de Res (Beef Barbacoa) Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley “The technique of wrapping meat in some sort of leaf and burying it in an earthen pit to cook for hours isn’t unique to Mexico, but it’s a technique that we have perfected over the course of centuries," says chef Jonathan Zaragoza. Traditionally, the meats are wrapped in agave leaves, but Zaragoza opts for banana leaves to impart an earthy flavor and prevent the beef from drying out. Get the Recipe 09 of 12 Napa Cabbage Pockets with Tofu Charissa Fay / Food Styling by Nora Singley / Prop Styling by Maeve Sheridan Chef Zoey Xinyi Gong’s refreshing and savory stuffed cabbage pockets are filled with shiitake mushrooms, Chinese chives, and crisp mung beans. The pockets resemble hong bao, the red envelopes families exchange for love and good fortune as a Chinese New Year tradition. Get the Recipe 10 of 12 Kai Hor Bai Tong (Chicken in Banana Leaves) Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley In this variation of Thai kai hor bai toey, which traditionally calls for pandan leaves, banana leaves are used to insulate the chicken pieces as they cook. Get the Recipe 11 of 12 Pork Larb Lettuce Wrap © Seth Smoot At Plum Alley in Salt Lake City, chef Ryan Lowder's menu includes versions of some of his favorite Thai dishes. He especially loves this northern Thai pork salad wrapped in lettuce leaves. Get the Recipe 12 of 12 Sticky-Rice Tamales with Chorizo Abby Hocking Austin's Kemuri Tatsu-Ya fills corn husks with sticky rice instead of masa. Shiitake mushrooms crisp in the drippings from sautéed Mexican chorizo, and the chile-spiked fat colors the rice in the tamales. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit