Cabbage with Bacon (recipe w/attitude)

[DrG]

Easy, tastes great; hard to screw up, lends itself well to variations, very well suited for culinary retardates.

Assume a medium to large head of plain old green cabbage. Remove the gross and dirty outer leaves, but only a few of these, it’s not an artichoke. Remove the core (that’s the part with the stem).

Use a frying pan with deep sides or a larger sauce pan. It has to hold all the cabbage.

1. Fry up a mess of bacon – enough to clog at least two arteries.

2. Place the strips on paper towels to drain.

3. Wait until the great deal of fat in the pan has cooled a bit and pour it into a receptacle, like an empty tin. Do NOT throw it down the drain whether you have a disposal or not because I am sick and tired of snaking drains.

4. Cut up (diced) ~ ½ of a green pepper. Toss it in the pan and start to fry it gently – enough heat to sizzle a bit. There should still be enough bacon fat in the pan to make this easy.

5. Cut up (diced) a medium onion (sweet, like a Vidalia works best). Toss it in the pan. If you really did throw out all of the bacon grease, then you can add a tad of olive oil so that the peppers and onions sauté nicely.

6. Cut up the cabbage into chunks, do not dice it and do not cut it into such small pieces that you end up with cabbage soup.

7. Once the onions are clear, add all of the cabbage and mix. At this point add salt and black pepper and cover. Watch this carefully so that it is not burning. The cabbage will release water and you will be steaming, you do not want to be frying. Stir it and you can add small amounts of water – nothing should be burning on the bottom. You may lower the heat now as well.

8. Cut up the bacon (and stop eating it, you need it for the dish). Add the bacon and stir it in.

9. Cook until you have the cabbage at a consistency that you like, stirring occasionally. Probably about 10-20 minutes depending on the heat and cabbage. Remember, you should be steaming it covered. You can add small amounts of water and if you find that there is too much, remove the cover for the last few minutes. Check for adding salt and pepper.

Like I said, it tastes great and it’s hard to screw up.

[SilverSolder]

That looks awesome!      +1 for the period china!

Something similar works with lamb,  minus the onion and plus some whole pepper corns.

I'm sure both can be served with medium boiled potatoes!

[DrG]

Thanks, I made it today and it is good stuff and no reason we can't impinge on the Irish and their corned beef and cabbage

BTW: I was given that dish by my mom when I went off to college long ago...I still use it, as you noticed.

[helius]

Bacon fat is also the secret to making Brussels sprouts palatable. And it improves vegetable stew a great deal.

[Halcyon]

I can get on-board with this recipe. I actually don't mind cabbage at all. My mother makes these awesome cabbage rolls will minced beef, rice and other things (I must get the recipe off her).

The only thing I'd add to this would be a decent amount of dried chilli flakes, either during cooking or at the end for some crunch.

[T3sl4co1l]

Hmm, surprised that looks so yellow in the photo, not sure if maybe that's from the cabbage, or the lighting or white correction was just weird -- anyway, at a glance I thought there might be turmeric in there.  Which I'll say would make a fine addition. As are many other herbs and spices, or you can just go simple as here.

I've been known to do this from time to time, say I just want something hot and greasy, just fry up some stuff -- see also hash browns, which includes the fried shredded potato kind, but also includes the finely diced, steamed or fried potato kind, and this would be a more of the latter kind, alongside the soft steamed cabbage and such.  That's kinda the direction I come at it.  I mean, generally speaking... hard to go wrong with green or red bell pepper, onion, and some combination of potato, cabbage, carrot, etc.; fry it up, build a soup, spice a curry, starch a casserole, it's all good.

For a more vegetarian version, bacon is out, unfortunately; TVP or tofu crumbles might perhaps mimic the texture, but I don't think there's really a great substitute for the feel or flavor of bacon.  So taking a different direction, consider the melted-cheese variant, which you are still welcome to make with bacon if you like!  Just put any melting cheese on top, stir it in, maybe make something of a cheesy casserole of it (top with shredded cheese, bread crumbs; broil for 20 min or so).

Egg is great, perhaps stirred in (giving soft, fine scrambles that mingle with everything), or on the side (plate everything, then fry eggs in the now-empty pan).


Regarding bacon grease BTW, hold onto that, stick it in the freezer if you don't have an immediate use -- when you're reaching for the oil again, just drop in a chunk and go!

Tim

[SilverSolder]

[...] For a more vegetarian version, bacon is out, unfortunately; TVP or tofu crumbles might perhaps mimic the texture [...]

I've found coconut "grease" (oil) to be a suitably decadent vegetarian version of bacon fat...  with a bit of salt and spices, it can reduce any healthy vegetarian meal to an instant heart attack! 

[T3sl4co1l]

There's good reason why it's used in meat substitutes!

I'm fond of using "full fat" coconut milk in curry... it's so rich.

Tim

[DrG]

I mostly completely agree with all the variations suggested.

Tim, a couple of specific responses. It is a phone pic (and a bit out of focus), but it is the true color - auto white balance works pretty well most of the time, but it was under an old (waiting to burn out) incandescent bulb. Still, we sometimes get white, green or red cabbage populated in the stores (as though those were the only kinds). This one was only .24/lb (which is cheap) but it was fresh - no store-torn outer leaves.

I am still struggling with home fries / hash browns. I simply do not have a grill (as in a "greasy spoon diner). If I grate them first, it works ok, but they are not "home fries". If I pre-boil or micro-wave, they can come out better if I get them just right but not diner quality (maybe a matter of grease).

Tofu should be illegal (sorry). I have had positively fantastic cabbage rolls from a younger friend's Romanian grandmother but I could not score anything close to a recipe. I tried to get her to make them with her grandmother so she could keep it going (and share it with me)....to no avail.

The chili flakes would work I think also - maybe a dusting of paprika also (that was one ingredient in the cabbage rolls I mentioned). On the Brussel sprouts, I find that finishing them with dill weed (not the seeds) makes a huge difference.

Finally, I love pickled cabbage - the stuff that I typically get at 'merican Asian restaurants. I have looked for it in Asian supermarkets here and have not yet found it. I have tried some fairly sophisticated recipes (like salting the cabbage to remove the water first, and then rinsing it???). I don't get the vinegar right and have tried it a couple of times. If anyone else knows what I am talking about and could point the way, I would appreciate it - it's a simple thing, but done correctly, it is just plain right.

[SilverSolder]

Cabbage is absolutely an underrated ingredient.   "Pickled" red cabbage done right (as in German/Scandi style), served with various things, is also A+++ material.

[DrG]

Tried a variation today. Used Napa cabbage, spring onions, hot chili flakes, bacon and salt. More of a saute (a bit of residual bacon fat and a tad of olive oil - not too greasy though) than a steam. Napa cabbage has a distinct taste from the usual cabbage I get. I am happy with how it turned out, quick, easy and tasty.