CABBAGE

I almost think of Cabbage as the Momma of the Cole family. It has such a variety of ways to be eaten and enjoyed. Raw it can be shredded and made into Cole slaw, or salted lightly and set in a crock to sour for a week, and it becomes sauerkraut. I make my own and can it, and if you like sauerkraut it’s a simple undertaking indeed. Cabbage also makes an excellent relish. About once or twice a year I make sweet relish from cabbage, adding possibly green tomatoes or late cucumbers and celery and boiling it up in my big blue enamel stockpot. A good canned batch lasts me many months. Sometimes I use it as the filler with hot green peppers to make chow-chow, which is a hot relish.

     Cabbage is often considered “poor mans” food, cause it is so inexpensive and yet plentiful. But don’t ever sell it short for taste and nutrition. It’s considered good money luck to eat cabbage or greens at the New Year. And corned beef and cabbage are the famous St Patrick’s Day tradition… it probably was a nice green alternative to the ham or bacon and potatoes they ate the rest of the winter. And here we have once again a winter crop paired with a cured or preserved meat. Cabbage can be made into cabbage rolls… umm, umm good. There’s also braised cabbage and bacon, and creamed cabbage, which usually has bits of ham in it. Colcannon (one of my family’s favorite Christmas dishes), Bubble and Squeak, and Rumbledethumps, are three similar dishes of mainly potatoes and cabbage. One being Irish, one British and one Scottish, makes one wonder if they didn’t originate from the same source way back when.

     Red cabbage, or also called purple cabbage, is a colored variety with a slightly spicier taste, which often seems true with veggies that have a reddish or purple color.  It braises well with onions, bacon, ham, or ham hocks, and apples.  It also has a nice flavor cooked with vinegar. Just a note: Radicchio is indeed different than red cabbage. It is part of the chicory /endive group of veggies. Great in its own right but the taste is much stronger than red cabbage, with some different qualities and uses, so FYI don’t confuse the two.

    

Savoy cabbage, which originated in Germany actually not Savoy (but I secretly think came from the emerald city) looks like a green jewel to me. It is so perfectly round and a wonderfully wrinkly bright green. The leaves are sweeter and more tender than regular cabbage, and they are consistently more flat and flexible, which can be important for certain preparations.  As well the texture is lighter and more crispy than rubbery. It can be cooked, and when cooked doesn’t have the smell some folks dislike with other cooked cabbage and Cole veggies. It’s also good eaten raw. And raw it even lends itself to lighter recipes. It is nice added to salads, and tastes especially excellent, to me, with bleu cheese dressing. And I like to shred it as a topping for fish tacos, because it’s a lovely pairing both in taste and in sight with the green chili lime sauce I use there. But that’s usually in the spring or summer, and you can’t always find Savoy later in the warmer seasons. Another idea is to wrap the tender leaves around Bratwurst, Polish or Italian sausage, and just bake in a casserole with a little beer or wine. For a nice Eastern touch try just wilting largely chopped Savoy in sesame oil, as a side to five spiced pork with those sweet dim sum steamed rolls. One drawback is Savoy does not last long in the fridge like other cabbages which will keep for a good while. And one big point to these “cold” crops, is their staying power through the times of year when other things are not being grown in your garden.

    

For Asian cuisine all cabbages will work but Chinese (Napa) cabbage has great texture and a fresh green taste for stir frying in the wok. it has a bit more of a thick inner leave stalk branching out to tender light green leaves, which are almost lettuce-like. It too when cooked has less smell than other Cole veggies, but the flavor to me is as diminished as the smell. My personal feeling is Chinese cabbage is a great additive to things but it doesn't hold its own for a main ingredient.

  For Eastern or Asian food I prefer to more often use Bok Choy.  The mix of the waxy white lower leaf stalks with the tender dark green tender upper part is perfect.

I really like it in my egg rolls with shrimp or pork. It’s nice aside fish, or even cooked and added to fried rice. Because of the thicker stalk at the bottom I’ve most always eaten it or used it chopped, where it’s great in soups. I make a white miso soup with bok choy, mushrooms, and just a few other things, that is not only delicious and so incredibly simple and quick, but truly soul soothing, with some pleasant music, and green tea on a spring day.

     Well coming up I’m going to show how I make cabbage rolls and some filling and sauce ideas. And this weekend is Candlemas, and one of it’s  traditional foods is creamed cabbage. So more Cole articles and, even  better, recipes to come.

    Blessings mes amis