How To Cook Cabbage Successfully
When I was a bachelor I thought I knew how to cook cabbage. All that was needed was half a cabbage and a pot of boiling water. I would boil the cabbage for awhile, and when I thought it was done would slice it up, adding butter salt, and pepper. I thought it tasted pretty good that way, and served myself cabbage prepared in that manner fairly often.
Smell like Cabbage? - It don't really occur to me that after cooking, my apartment probably smelled strongly of cooked cabbage, not too pleasant a smell if suddenly encountered, but one barely noticed when in the kitchen.. I probably smelled like cooked cabbage at times too.
Don't Overcook - As it turns out there are right things to do and wrong things to do in going about learning how to cook cabbage. One of the basic lessons, and one I didn't pick up on for quite awhile, is the smell of cooked cabbage can be eliminated or at least minimized if one doesn't cook it too long. The smell of cooked cabbage becomes noticeable about 5 minutes into the cooking process, especially if the cabbage is being boiled. Had I known this at the time, and been clever enough to figure things out, I would have prepared the raw cabbage for boiling by slicing it into smaller pieces, rather than attempting to boil half or a quarter of a head at one time.
Maybe it's the fact that most are unaware of this little secret, that results in cooked cabbage being served relatively infrequently in most households. Most people enjoy the taste, though not everyone does of course, but at the same time, most don't like the smell that cooking often leaves behind. Another reason may be that cabbage is regarded as a very basic food, much as potatoes are, though potatoes are much more popular. We just don't consider cabbage as an appropriate part of an "upscale" meal. Anyone who enjoys a good meal of corned beef and cabbage will tell you otherwise.
How To Cook Cabbage - How to cook cabbage? There are numerous ways. No matter what method is to be used, another secret is to start out with a good head of cabbage to begin with. Fresh from the garden is the obvious choice, or a cabbage purchased at a farmer's market will very likely do as well. If purchasing your cabbage from the supermarket, just look for a cabbage head that is firm to the feel, and that has most of its outer leaves intact. The leaves should be crisp and not brown at the edges, or show signs of bruising. While you're going to dispose of a few of the outer leaves anyway, you don't want to have to peel away half the cabbage head before getting to the good part.
Now that you have your cabbage, you can boil it, bake it, stir-fry it, fry it, or stew it. You can even make cabbage soup. If you want to try something a little different, purchase a red cabbage, sometimes called purple cabbage, though the two are more or less one and the same. Slice the cabbage into thin strips and cook the strips in water combined with small slices or chunks of apple, the smaller the better. Add salt and pepper to taste and a little butter. Cook slowly with just enough water to cover everything. When done, add a tablespoon of vinegar and serve. The Scandinavians love red cabbage cooked in this manner. It is often served as an important part of a holiday meal. What is left over can be frozen for later use.
Baked cabbage is often boiled first, at least enough to blanch the head. One can either bake a head sliced in half, in quarters, sliced into smaller pieces, or simply chopped up. Baked under moderate heat and with a cream sauce or white sauce added makes a nice dish. Baking cabbage with a cheese sauce isn't bad either.
There are plenty of recipes showing how to cook cabbage in interesting ways, and in certainly more tasty, and less smelly ways, than encountered in my early experiments.