As you may know, my list of B.I.F., or Best Ingredients Forever, starts with anchovies and lemons, but it certainly doesn’t end there. Let’s have a look at some of the other ingredients in my heart and my cart, beginning with cabbage.
I came late to cabbage. Other than sauerkraut on a hot dog or a Rueben, I was indifferent to most forms of the crucifer until college. Then I came home one night to find my roommate savoring a bowl of steamed cabbage with butter and salt. It was so simple, so sweet and so supple, with floppy, mild-tasting leaves that had the texture of silk. Between the two of us, we finished the potful, which was stewed from an entire, rather large head. My cabbage devotion began then and there.
Apart from my husband and daughter, who are cabbage-shy but make exceptions for kimchi and coleslaw, cabbage worship has a vast congregation. The French are so enamored with it that they call their loved ones petits choux, or little cabbages. In Greek mythology, cabbages were considered a cure for drunkenness, and so, of course, were eaten in vast quantities. And let’s not forget the fabled cabbage patch, the only place a discerning stork could trust with a baby.
If you need more convincing, Ham El-Waylly’s brown butter bucatini with charred cabbage is sure to do the trick. Charring the cabbage adds a caramelized flavor, amping up the vegetable’s natural sweetness, while toasted pecans add an earthy crunch and underscore the nuttiness of the brown butter. Then it all gets tossed with Parmesan for a salty tang. It is, without a doubt, a five-star recipe.
Featured Recipe
Brown Butter Bucatini With Charred Cabbage
There’s even more cheese in the baked cabbage Parm from Hetty “Call Me a Cabbage” Lui McKinnon. She roasts the cabbage wedges first to soften them and then tops them with tomato sauce, mozzarella and garlic-spiked croutons. Don’t worry, eggplant, we have a date this summer.
Ali Slagle, another cabbage enthusiast, works magic with the sturdy vegetable in her roasted gochujang cabbage. Dressed with spicy, chile-spiked gochujang and topped with nubby salted peanuts, it makes a fiery side dish for tofu, chicken or pork chops. Or, for something more substantial, her sheet-pan kielbasa with cabbage and beans is perked up with a sprightly red wine and dill vinaigrette, which adds a nice bump of acidity to all the golden, meaty drippings in the pan.
Cabbage and chicken may not be as frequent a pairing as cabbage and pork, but it’s still an excellent one, especially in the hands of Carolina Gelen. In her braised chicken with cabbage and lemon, she simmers seared bone-in chicken thighs and cabbage with fried lemon slices and a cup of pinot grigio, which reduces into a schmaltzy, winy sauce. Serve it over egg noodles or with nice bread for a warming winter meal.
I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m hopelessly hooked on cabbage but … I am. I’m in good company, though. Many izakayas, the Japanese equivalent of pubs, serve bowls of peppery, sesame-marinated cabbage to cut the richness of the fatty foods also on offer. This dish is called yamitsuki, or addictive cabbage, and we have a terrific recipe from Aiko Cascio, adapted by Ligaya Mishan. Salty, garlicky, full of umami flavor and with a juicy-crisp texture, it will make a cabbage convert out of anyone.
Naturally, you’ll need to subscribe to get these cabbage-full recipes, along with the thousands of others (with and without cabbage) available at New York Times Cooking. If you need any technical advice, send a note to cookingcare@nytimes.com for help. And if you’d like to say hi — or tell me about your own B.I.F. list — I’m at hellomelissa@nytimes.com.
That’s it for now. See you on Monday.
