Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Let's Burn Some Cabbage!

Look at me, writing recipes like I'm some kind of foodie. Except this isn't so much a recipe as a method. And do foodies ever write recipes for cabbage? Whatever, cabbages are stupid cheap this time of year. Especially if you're like the MiL, who stopped at a farm stand and bought two of the biggest damn cabbages in the WORLD for $1.50 each. Good food value, if you can get over being intimidated by a cabbage the size of a volleyball. Thankfully, cabbages keep extremely well.

BUT ANYWAY.

If you don't like cabbage, don't run away. It's just because you haven't had THIS cabbage yet. "This" is Burned Cabbage. That's what my grandmother, Duchess, called it. It's not really burned--it's actually kind of caramelized. Except in the 1960s, your average housewife (Duchess) didn't watch The Food Network and didn't know what the hell caramelization was, and so she called it burned. This is the only way my grandfather, Holy (let's not get started on my grandparents' nicknames at this time, okay?), liked cabbage. Holy also liked scotch and cigars, and he called everybody "Skax." You would have liked Holy.

BUT ANYWAY AGAIN.

The MiL calls this "Holy's Cabbage," and this is now the only way that A. likes cabbage, too.

So. Green cabbage will be softer and sweeter, but purple cabbage works too. It will just be a funky color and take a little longer to cook. Core the cabbage and cut it up into ribbons. It doesn't need to be particularly fine, not like coleslaw or anything. And you can leave the pieces fairly long. Melt butter over medium-low heat in a skillet. How much butter is kind of up to you, but you need enough. "Enough" will be about one and a half tablespoons for about half of a normal-sized head of cabbage (which will make three side-dish servings), but if you want to use more, I'm not gonna stop you. When the butter has foamed, dump in the cabbage, stir it all around, then cover and cook until the cabbage is soft, stirring occasionally. Then take the cover off and increase the heat to medium. And now you just cook it. Don't stir continuously, just every once in awhile. Let it brown, but not burn. You don't want black bits in there, just dark brown (although I HAVE literally burned it a little before, and it still tastes pretty damn good, so don't get your panties in a bunch over the exact color of the bits). It will take 10-15 minutes. When it's done, it will look like this:



Messy stove, dirty spoon . . . yup, one of my signature food photos.

I usually add a bit of salt, even when I use salted butter (and I ALWAYS use salted butter--for everything). But that's it. Three ingredients, and the result is meltingly soft and surprisingly sweet.

Try it--you'll like it. And if you don't? Eh. So you're a cabbage hater. There are worse things.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm guess I'm weird, but I LOVE cabbage and I'll eat it any way you fix it. My mother used to make fried cabbage at least a couple of times a week when I was young. It was a staple vegetable, much like corn or green beans. My mother made it the same way you make burned cabbage, but she cooked it in Crisco, not butter.

Try adding some bacon and apple slices and a little brown sugar to your burned cabbage. It's yum, yum, yummy!

wvfarmgirl said...

I was just looking (again) through one of my seed catalogs last night and decided to grow cabbage for the first time next year. I've only ever eaten it in cole slaw, so was questioning myself on the decision. But this looks good and I'm sure I can find other cabbage-friendly recipes out there (like Mayberry's... sounds yum!).

Thanks for the timely kick in the pants about cabbage. :)

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I like the bacon and apple slices suggestion, too. Yum. But mostly what I took away from this post is this thought: My family is seriously deficient in the funky nicknames department.

Sweet Bird said...

I dig the cabbage. When I was little I didn't like to eat meat very often so I would eat whole heads of cabbage and lettuce for dinner.

I was an odd child.

mil said...

I have to make a small correction. I bought three gigantic heads of cabbage for $3.25 at a farm stand on Route 20. I bought a head each for three different households--and I'll bet we're the only one who finished the cabbage within a month. So our cabbage was actually less than $1.10.
Food for thought and lean times.

Anonymous said...

I love cabbage too...my grandmother made a cabbage dish at Christmas that was similar to this, except she added bacon & bacon grease instead of butter. OH MY GOD. My sister & I tried to re-create it, but it isn't the same without her special touch, I guess.

Roger A. Post said...

I use olive oil, 1 sliced onion, and a fair amount of chopped up ham with half a head of cabbage, seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper and sprinkled with caraway seeds, but probably don't reach the caramelized stage before serving, at least not on purpose.

Susan said...

Which smells worse? The cabbage when it's cooking or your farts two days after you eat said cabbage?

I'm kidding. I want to be you and I lurve cabbage so guess what's up for dinner tonight? Hmm. Kristin's cabbage!!!

YD, sometimes with ♥June and ♥Angel Samantha said...

I love cabbage. Maybe I should try growing some next year.

FinnyKnits said...

I have half a head of cabbage in my fridge and now I plan to burn it.

This should go over well.

Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

I love cabbage. I make mine like this, except I add bits of bacon to it. YUMMY!

Susan said...

We just finished the red beans last night, so I guess it's time for cabbage! I like this new food network I've tuned into.
-Susan