Gransnet forums

Chat

Cooking cabbage

(46 Posts)
millymouge Sat 26-Dec-20 11:22:14

When I was young I remember mother used to cook cabbage in boiling water with a good pinch of bicarbonate, supposed to help it keeps its colour. She then drained it in a colander and pressed it hard with a wooden paddle. This squeezed out any water (and probably the last of any vitamins). We ate it and apparently must have enjoyed it at the time.
It’s not a vegetable I cook now, but I have been given a bag of fruit and vegetables and there is a lovely “pointy” looking cabbage in it. Would not want to waste it, hate waste, and wondered if any of you ladies had an idea of how to prepare it into a tasty, healthy veg for a meal. You always seem to come up with good ideas, so help please.

silverdragon Sat 26-Dec-20 13:00:28

Onions & chopped bacon in bottom of saucepan, add sliced washed cabbage, and I think a little water (trying to remember how my mum cooked it). Stir occasionally..

SueDoku Sat 26-Dec-20 13:40:42

Chop finely and layer into a casserole dish, topping each layer with a few knobs of butter and a good grating of nutmeg.
Cook in microwave for 3 X 2mins - stirring between each 2mins cooking - taste and cook for a further 2mins if you wish.
Delicious..! ?

NotTooOld Sat 26-Dec-20 13:44:59

Pointy cabbages are very tasty - and I don't usually like cabbage! Shred it finely and steam for 10 minutes, no longer. If smell is a problem just light a cook's candle for half an hour. I got that tip from someone on GN a while back. The candles can be bought from Amazon and are very effective.

kittylester Sat 26-Dec-20 14:25:08

I havent read the whole thread so apologise if I am repeating other posters.

Fry snipped bacon till almost crisp. Finely shredded cabbage and thinly slice an onion. Stur fry onions, add a tablespoon ful of water and stir fry the cabbage withered the onion. Add bacon and bacon fat and black pepper and a few tablespoons of cream!!

Toss broccoli with olive oil and a few chili flakes, roast till crispy and top with shaved parmesan for last few minutes.

Grandmafrench Sat 26-Dec-20 14:44:00

Kim19

Seem to recollect my Granny calling that sweetheart cabbage? I would chop it up and plunge into lightly salted boiling water for a few minutes then drain and transfer to heavy frying pan combine with chopped up potatoes and bacon (or any other meat) for delicious fry-up. I'm salivating at the very thought and - I don't have any cabbage!! Good luck!

We’ve had this for lunch recently. Finely shredded and put into a hot wok/pan with olive oil and butter to add to sliced onions and bacon bits which have already been well softened. No water involved, lots of black pepper and cooked just until you decide how much you want to soften the shreds of cabbage. Serve in hot bowls with maybe a big splash of Worcester sauce?

Grandmafrench Sat 26-Dec-20 14:44:57

Sorry kitty stealing your thunder for your posher version.

Spangler Sat 26-Dec-20 15:30:02

Cut the centre spine out of each cabbage leaf and discard. Chop the cabbage leaves up into squares, about twice the size of a postage stamp.

Trim any fat from a pack of unsmoked back bacon. Cut the bacon into similar sized squares.

In a large saucepan pour a tablespoonful of olive oil, heat the oil, add a couple of crushed garlic cloves, when the garlic is cooked, discard it. Add two cup fulls of boiling water, then the cabbage squares, put a lid over the pan and steam.

Keep shaking the pan and testing the cabbage. When it starts to soften add the bacon. Again keep the pan contents moving, don't let the water level get too low, adding another half cupful if required. When the cabbage is soft, the bacon will be done. Strain and serve.

N.B. Some like to add salt to this recipe, do so if you wish, but I don't because salt is already a presence from the processing of the bacon.

NotSpaghetti Sat 26-Dec-20 15:46:59

Easy peasy - chop in half lengthwise and then again so you have four long pointy pieces. Cut out the toughest triangle of stalk from each one.
Brush with melted butter or an olive oil (other fats probably work too) and sprinkle with salt and pepper and a few caraway seeds. Bake until soft in the middle and crunchy brown on the edges.
Delicious!

Llamedos13 Sat 26-Dec-20 16:03:18

Sautée onions and bacon in lots of butter then toss in the chopped and cooked cabbage, very tasty.

Alioop Sat 26-Dec-20 16:19:08

Always remember as a child my mum boiling cabbage and the house stank of it. The worst thing though was when she was drying clothes indoors and you would of sworn your school uniform smelt of it lol

G1asgowgal Sat 26-Dec-20 16:34:37

Shred it, then rinse it in a colander then in a wok fry off some lardons add shredded cabbage and put lid on for just a minute or two and voila fab tasty cabbage.

Elegran Sat 26-Dec-20 16:36:12

I read somewhere that after cabbage has cooked for 4 minutes the chemicals in it begin to make the gas that smells so awful. The longer it is cooked after that, the stronger it smells. It doesn't need much water either, if any, if it is only heated for a few minutes. Throwing out lots of water just wastes the vitamins that have leached out into it.

Having said that, my mother always used the water that the vegetables had been cooked in to make gravy for the joint (along with meat juice, flour, and stock cube) Nothing wasted!

millymouge Sun 27-Dec-20 10:34:42

Wow, thank you ladies some lovely ideas here. Shall certainly be trying some out. Knew you would have some good and tasty ideas.

JackyB Sun 27-Dec-20 12:49:00

I like these ideas, too and may try some, especially the microwave one. I love cabbage - sometimes if I do sausages and mash and boiled cabbage, it's the cabbage that tastes best of all!

My mother also always used to add a "pinch of bicarb" to her cabbage. I think it suppressed the smell, and it certainly improved the colour.

My method is to shred and boil in salty water until soft, then drain and immediately dip in ice cold water or rinse under ice cold water from the tap. This also helps improve the colour and, apparently, seal in the vitamins.

Then reheat gently with butter as described above.

My mother always had to save the drained water for our Dad, who would come in from the garden just before lunch and demand his cup of "green water". Were we the only ones who had this habit?

JackyB Sun 27-Dec-20 12:53:03

SueDoku

Chop finely and layer into a casserole dish, topping each layer with a few knobs of butter and a good grating of nutmeg.
Cook in microwave for 3 X 2mins - stirring between each 2mins cooking - taste and cook for a further 2mins if you wish.
Delicious..! ?

Suedoku no salt?

M0nica Sun 27-Dec-20 13:18:46

Just chop and boil, but only for a couple of minutes. I like my boiled cabbage, actually I love it, still slightly crunchy.

shysal Sun 27-Dec-20 13:39:54

Cook a shredded sweetheart cabbage in the microwave with knobs of butter and covered with a few rashers of streaky bacon. Cover with a sheet of kitchen paper to catch the splatters, cook until bacon crisp and cabbage cooked to your liking. Delicious!

Missfoodlove Sun 27-Dec-20 14:58:51

Cabbage should never see water.
Cook as Annsixty recommends.

Teacheranne Sun 27-Dec-20 15:05:25

Only one way to deal with cabbage - don’t buy it in the first place! Revolting however it is cooked!

Moonlight113 Sun 27-Dec-20 15:06:23

Son helped out today by cooking the sprout tops whilst I had a bath. He's never done any cooking really. Cooked 'em for thirtyfive minutes. Bless. tchhmm