Boiled Cabbage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove outer leaves from the cabbage and cut it into quarters, removing the stalk.
Soak the cabbage in salted water for 1 hour, then drain.
Boil and serve
Bring a kettle of water to a rapid boil and add the baking soda and cabbage.
Cover and boil until tender, about 1 hour.
Press out all excess water, season well, and serve in a hot dish.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Provides the main body of the dish, softening into tender leaves when boiled.
- Baking soda
- Raises the water's alkalinity, helping the cabbage soften and keep a brighter green colour.
The step that matters
Press out all excess water. Cabbage holds a lot of water after boiling, and leaving it in dilutes the flavour and makes the dish soggy. Pressing it out before seasoning concentrates the taste.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More boiled cabbage recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.