12th April 2008

The great cabbage caper

posted in Alaska, OmegaDad |

One of the things that Alaska is famous for is cabbage.  World-class cabbage.  HUGE cabbage.  At the State Fair, one of the biggest competitions is who gets to take home the award for the biggest cabbage of the year.

OmegaDad decided he, too, wanted to try his hand at Big Cabbages.

This required researching Big Cabbage seeds.  And buying same.  A number of different varieties.

Which, of course, required planting a number of each of a number of different varieties.

He set up his indoor "greenhouse"–a set of metal and wood shelves with grow-lights and heat and a plastic covering sealed with velcro–and set up some flats.  They were not all cabbages.  Thank heavens.

However.  We now have…oh…fifty? cabbage plants just about ready to be transplanted outdoors.  (It would help if we had (a) the vegetable beds set up and (b) no snow.  We’re getting there on both aspects.)

This evening at dinner, OmegaDad served a concoction of sauteed sliced cabbage, crisp bacon bits, and red onion.  It was better than his last cabbage concoction, and actually somewhat tasty.

He eyeballed me over dinner and said, portentously, "You know…we need to come up with cabbage recipes."

‘Tis true.  If all goes well, we are going to be swamped with cabbage.

Now.  I like cabbage, in moderation.  A nice small cabbage head, cut into quarters and boiled until just tender-crisp, and slathered with butter–yum.

Once in a while.

I much prefer our yearly bounty of beans and sugar-snap peas and snow peas.  And little bitty tender lettuce leaves, which make a splendid salad.

Cabbage, on the other hand…hmmm.

Anyone have any good cabbage recipes??  We’re really going to need them.

There are currently 11 responses to “The great cabbage caper”

  1. 1 On April 12th, 2008, lizard said:

    there’s always corned beef and cabbage (yum yum yum).

    cole slaw is delish and easy to make.

    I use them in salad rolls, and I can send that recipe at some point.

    they are delish shredded in fish tacos and fish burritos.

    they make good garnish/ bedding– shred cabbage and put it under chicken breasts or shredded teriyaki chicken or something (that’s what the local Hawaiian restaurant does) on the serving platter. Looks pretty. Gets yummy with the sauce if you choose.

  2. 2 On April 12th, 2008, GrannyJ said:

    those little heads of cabbage that you quarter & boil up also like to be slathered with sour cream…

    then there’s always sauerkraut.

  3. 3 On April 13th, 2008, Anocat said:

    I stir-fry cabbage with ginger, garlic and soy sauce.

  4. 4 On April 13th, 2008, Tobi said:

    My favorite cabbage recipe goes well with pork:

    Shred the cabbage, grate one granny smith apple and saute both in a tiny bit of olive oil with some cinnamon and a tablespoon of maple syrup.

    Yum!

  5. 5 On April 13th, 2008, BR said:

    I LOVE this Asian cabbage salad. The almonds & ramen noodles provide lots of crunch and the dressing is pretty good too. I bring it to potlucks and never bring any leftovers home…

  6. 6 On April 13th, 2008, Lisa said:

    It’s so random that you posted this today because I literally just made a cabbage dish last Friday. The recipe is courtesy of my friend K, who is from Japan. I’m not sure what the official name for it is, but it’s a cabbage/tofu pancake and it’s super yummy (also — you can’t taste the tofu really at all if anyone in your house might not like it). If you can get Japanese mayonnaise (I bought the “kewpie” brand) and tomkatsu sauce, I served mine with a little of both and sliced green onions.

    ***

    Cabbage/Tofu Pancakes

    Ingredients:
    Tofu 1package
    cabbage 7ounce (ABOUT HALF A HEAD)
    eggs 2
    kelp powder 1stick —– i think you can substitute with vegetable or chicken bouillon (I USED VEGGIE BOUILLON THAT I DILUTED IN A TINY BIT OF BOILING WATER)
    flour 4TBS ~ (I ENDED UP USING ABOUT 6 TBS)
    salt and pepper

    Topping
    green onion or chive
    soy sauce + lemon juice

    OR
    you can get “tonkatsu sauce” and “katsuobushi” at a Japanese market.

    1. Microwave the tofu (no plastic wrap) for about 6min.
    (you see water comes out in the plate, discard this)
    Wait till it’s cooled down.
    2. Mince the cabbage.
    3. Put the tofu in a bowl and mash by masher or hand, and add the cabbage, all the ingredients.
    Mix them very well.
    4. Sautee on medium heat for about 7 mins for each side and serve with the sauce you like!

    ***

    I also recommend making corned beef with cabbage, carrots and potatoes; coleslaw; or sauerkraut.

  7. 7 On April 13th, 2008, Jean said:

    We used to make our own saurkraut with and without caraway seeds and minus any vinegar - old Bavarian style.
    Very easy to make and can be done in quart mason jars and then sealed for storage. Also can be frozen in freezer bags.

    Amazing how much cabbage it takes to make a quart. Then there’s spareribs and saurkraut.

    I steam my cabbage. Cabbage leaves can also be used to line a steamed in order to steam potstickers and Chinease and Japanes dumplings.

  8. 8 On April 13th, 2008, noreen said:

    I know this is weird, but Weight Watchers (my eternal diet)has a great zero-calorie point soup (Gardent Vegetable) that involves cabbage. But the smell when it’s cooking–ugh!!!I’ve seen those Alaska-size cabbage when I’ve been in Palmer.It’s impressive. Everything grows double-size in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Wait until you see the pansies that grow in the summer.

  9. 9 On April 13th, 2008, lisa said:

    I make sauerkraut, lots of different kinds of slaws (you can do anything with slaw-my favorite is apples and walnuts) and, tonight I thawed some borscht I made in the fall with beets and cabbage from the garden-we all love borscht, and I freeze about 10 gallons every year. Never actually had cabbage with butter-jb won’t eat anything where he can detect the butter… ~lbg

  10. 10 On April 13th, 2008, Omega Unk said:

    Cabbage leaves in the place of lettuce in sandwiches, much more flavoursome, also noisey.

    Unk

  11. 11 On April 14th, 2008, Trope said:

    Hm, we boil whole cabbage leaves and use them to wrap eggroll-type concoctions. I’ll post a recipe if you’re interested.

    I mentioned that “Alaska is known for its giant cabbage” and now Mr. Trope wants to know if cabbage will be featured on your state quarter this year. :)

Leave a Reply