THE ORIGINAL ‘RECEIPT’

Cabbage.  – Boil it very well, then chop it up with a little butter, add a small quantity of vinegar and pepper, and then fry it for two minutes;  grate a little Parmesan cheese, and , when ready to serve, pour some melted butter over the cabbage, and sprinkle the grated cheese over it.

~Peterson’s Magazine Vol. LXVI (July to December).  Philadelphia: 1874.

THE UPDATED RECIPE

• half a small, fresh cabbage
• 1 tsp. butter
• 1 Tb. cider vinegar
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. butter for sauteeing
• 1 tsp. melted butter
• 2 Tb. grated Parmesan cheese.

Cut sufficient cabbage in 3/4 -inch slices to yield about 2 cups.

Put the cabbage in a saucepan, and add enough water to provide about half an inch in depth;  salt lightly.

Cook, covered, over medium heat, for about 20 to 25 minutes, until tender.

Remove from the stove, drain off the water, and chop the cabbage.

Add a teaspoon of butter, the cider vinegar, and pepper. 

In an 8-inch diameter cast-iron frying pan, melt a teaspoon of butter.

When the pan is hot, and the butter has melted, add the cabbage mixture.

Saute over medium high heat for two-minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining teaspoon of butter over low heat.

Then, remove the sauteed cabbage from the frying pan, and transfer it to a heated serving dish.

Pour the melted butter over the cabbage, and sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese over it.

Serve piping hot.

Yield: 4 servings.

This has a tangy flavour that goes well with beef or pork.

A note from Patricia: Cabbage and Parmesan? Sounded interesting to me! It wasn’t a combination that I had ever thought of trying, but I’m glad that I made this, and I know I’ll make it again. It must be the German in me that is always drawn to cabbage, and this was a new and different way of eating this underrated vegetable. It was buttery and cheesy and tangy, and I enjoyed every bite. I had a chicken sausage in the freezer, and it went really nicely with the cabbage. YUM!

The fashionable way of cooking cabbage-heads whole ought not to be practised.  I have examined many after being quartered and pronounced clean, and found worms, snails, and other little creeping things, which would not be very palatable, and might be poisonous.

~A. B. (of Grimsby). The Frugal Housewife’s Manual. Toronto: J.H. Lawrence, 1840.