What Do You Know About Cabbage?

July 16, 2021 1:29 PM

A Quiz
posted by gusottertrout (51 comments total)

(Answers are below the quiz. No cheating by looking ahead.)
posted by gusottertrout at 1:30 PM on July 16, 2021

holy shit all these ads, i cant believe how many hot single cabbages there are in my area
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:34 PM on July 16, 2021 [15 favorites]

These were my answers. None of the ads got through my lack of adblockers. I use privacy badger.

1. 8
2. chef
3. babe ruth is the only baseball name i know
4. santa
5. cabbage does not have an unpleasant smell when cooking
6. brassica oleracea cabbagia
7. 16,000 rolls; one ton
8. cook it outside.
9. anywhere i have a garden
10. all; 0th
bonus. your mom; 2021; 202.1
posted by aniola at 2:01 PM on July 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

Brussels sprouts are cabbage
Broccoli is cabbage
Cauliflower is cabbage
Kale is cabbage
Collards are cabbage
Cabbage is the door and the way
Cabbage opens the path for the Old Ones
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:17 PM on July 16, 2021 [35 favorites]

When cutting cabbage what type of knife should be used?

A sharp one.

What causes the unpleasant smell emitted by cooking cabbage?

Their evil souls being released in death.

What can you do to lessen the unpleasant smell emitted by cooking cabbage?

Omit cabbage, cook bacon instead.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:19 PM on July 16, 2021 [8 favorites]

I miss this internet
posted by phooky at 2:22 PM on July 16, 2021 [20 favorites]

I like the sulfur smell.
posted by hypnogogue at 2:23 PM on July 16, 2021

I thought the "slaw" part of coleslaw would be related to "Slav" but it is not. The "cole" part means cabbage and the "slaw" means salad (from the Dutch.)
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:26 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

I didn't get anything except the smell. Cabbage smells when cooking by releasing sulfur compounds. Every chemist knows the simplest way to combat these smells is to add a reducing agent. Like bleach.

The answer (and question) about where it was first grown is pretty garbled. Following the link, I think they are actually asking when the Slavs started growing cabbage, not claiming the Slavs were the first to grow it. I'm still skeptical about the claim that Roman settlers were alighting in Russia in the 9th century.
posted by mark k at 2:28 PM on July 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Cabbage is one of my favorite veggies…:-D
posted by kittensofthenight at 2:34 PM on July 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

I grew up across the road from cabbage fields. One year the farmer couldn’t get migrant workers in to harvest the crop, so he let it rot in the field. The smell.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:35 PM on July 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

In regards to not cooking cabbage too much, cabbage is excellent in stir fries, but it doesn't seem to be a standard ingredient.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:42 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

There’s no such thing as a tree. But everything is a cabbage.
posted by nat at 3:05 PM on July 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

I got a perfect score!    :D


(0/11)    :(
posted by mazola at 3:13 PM on July 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

There’s no such thing as a tree. But everything is a cabbage.
posted by nat

Until they evolve into crabs, at least.
posted by Splunge at 3:35 PM on July 16, 2021 [13 favorites]

I keep thinking this is about cribbage, even though I have, in fact, already clicked on the link and read through it. I get really excited because hey, I know a lot about cribbage!!!! But is there more I don't know??!?!?!!! But it's still just cabbage.

Anyway, cabbage is pretty good! Shredded red cabbage has found its way into a lot of my salads. I like to buy a small head of cabbage before a big dinner party; the leftovers immediately become part of okonomiyaki for a few days.
posted by curious nu at 3:35 PM on July 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

years ago, I read that cabbage was good for me, so I try to eat some pretty much every day, usually in a salad. I almost never cook it. I do find the red version a most psychedelic vegetable when cut in half and looked at in the right way.
posted by philip-random at 3:43 PM on July 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

Cabbages have twice as many genes as humans?
posted by ovvl at 4:04 PM on July 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

We just had a salad of thinly shredded pointy cabbage and fresh peas in a good vinaigrette. It was so delicious. I love all cabbage, cooked in all ways. I can't say which is my favorite. Probably my least favorite is kale, because unlike most other cabbages there is not an infinite number of preparations I like. Just a few dozen.
After writing this, I dozed off and dreamt of a little old man walking around and talking about cabbage in a very strong local dialect. This is the beauty of MetaFilter. Now I will go to bed and dream on.
posted by mumimor at 4:06 PM on July 16, 2021 [8 favorites]

For the most part, all cabbage-related vegetables just taste like faintly sour cardboard to me. But I do like a spicy kimchi, and blue-cheese slaw is pretty good with BBQ.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:27 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is a good post.
posted by latkes at 4:30 PM on July 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

blue-cheese slaw

Oh my.
posted by donpardo at 4:38 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

I love cabbage.

Okonomiyaki is a particular favorite in all its forms, although thus far no one has taken up my idea of a version including bratwurst and cheese curds called oconomowoki.
posted by slkinsey at 5:16 PM on July 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

No discussion about cabbage is complete without a mention of James Acasters nemisis (Obvious spoiler).
posted by rpn at 5:40 PM on July 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

Mon petit chou...
posted by jim in austin at 5:56 PM on July 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

Okonomiyaki is a particular favorite in all its forms

I am partial to Osaka-style, although I spent an evening in Okonomimura in Hiroshima. It’s a 4-story building of okonomiyaki restaurants. Sadly, I was coming down with a massive sinus infection that was going to destroy two days of my life, so it wasn’t as great as I had hoped.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:06 PM on July 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Cabbage is surprisingly good sauted in butter and a little salt. It doesn't keep though; the sulphur really comes through after a night in the fridge.
posted by hydrophonic at 6:52 PM on July 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

my cabbages!
posted by kokaku at 7:16 PM on July 16, 2021 [7 favorites]

Came for a Cabbage Merchant reference, was not disappointed!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:21 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Cabbages are really beautiful vegetables in the garden - the waxy leaves are lovely sculptural shapes and a range of incredibly subtle almost pearly colours. They also taste pretty good, especially with bacon or mixed with buttery mashed potato (what? I'm Irish).
posted by Fuchsoid at 7:47 PM on July 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

I read an article about old school maybe boomer Chinese people storing their cabbages in the stairwell for the winter. It is a major food for many peoes. It is full of big suvars that don't metabolize easily so they are a source of great fiber and a water attractant for the large intestine. Yeah cabbage.
posted by Oyéah at 8:04 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

I love cabbage and have been making this beef and cabbage stir fry recipe lately that is super easy to make with a bag of shredded cabbage from Trader Joe's. I also think blue cheese slaw is one of the best versions, so good!
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 8:12 PM on July 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Unfortunately, cabbage is one of the handful of brassicas which ABSOLUTELY DO NOT work with me (pretty bad indigestion, and let's just say that it isn't fun for anyone else in the room with me either). Which sucks, because there are so many classic old-world homey comfort-foody stews I've had to turn away from making because cabbage is one of the key ingredients...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:04 PM on July 16, 2021

My theory, based on absolutely nothing and high subjectivity, is that the word 'cabbage' is either fun to say or sounds funny in every language.
posted by mazola at 7:37 AM on July 17, 2021

The antidote to couvid - couve galego added [7m30s= last minute] for rrrroughage to caldo verde [with bacon fitted as standard, of course]
posted by BobTheScientist at 7:38 AM on July 17, 2021

It opens the way for old ones indeed… it’s been recommended for that since roman times.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 8:31 AM on July 17, 2021

Need cabbage recipes? Chef Wang has you covered with 8 different ways of cooking cabbage. (OMG such wok hei and knife skills in this video)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:54 AM on July 17, 2021

Metafilter: bacon fitted as standard
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:43 AM on July 17, 2021

I like the decorative highway median cabbage in Korea.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:48 AM on July 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

One of my favorite dishes is deconstructed stuffed cabbage soup. Have to make it again soon.
posted by Splunge at 12:00 PM on July 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Guessed the cause of cabbage smell and somehow the Russian/US nuclear cabbage imbalance ratio, but other than that I didn't even bother to try guessing. Oh yeah, I also guessed "Santa" which let's face it, is way better than the real answer.
posted by xigxag at 1:39 PM on July 17, 2021

One of my favorite dishes is deconstructed stuffed cabbage soup. Have to make it again soon.
posted by Splunge

Yum! Do you have a recipe you can share?

And, if GCU Sweet and Full of Grace is right about what's a cabbage, I can say with some confidence we have cabbage almost every single dinner. (We chow down on that whole list!)
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 5:12 AM on July 18, 2021

I am, in the same sense that a wolf is a wolf, a great Dane is a wolf, a chihuahua is a wolf...
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:12 AM on July 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

My favorite cabbage-related moment in fiction was in Terry Pratchett's Thud!, in which a stagecoach is magically enhanced so that (in an homage to Back to the Future), once it goes above thirteen miles per hour, its speed is suddenly about 60 MPH, and if they cut across a field, it leaves burning cabbages in its wake.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:30 AM on July 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

I feel all you need to know about cabbage is that Cato the Elder thought it cured everything, and wrote endlessly about its wonders.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 9:40 AM on July 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Splunge, your link was hopelessly borked -- try again?
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:59 AM on July 18, 2021

And, as always, a big thank you to Mrs Vilve Yachke for the cabbage rolls and coffee.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:04 PM on July 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Anybody here want to try my cabbage?

... is an innuendo-laden 1920s song performed here by Maggie Jones.

Gave some to the parson and he shook with glee
He took off collectin', gave it all to me
Anybody here want to try my cabbage?
Just step this way
posted by Paul Slade at 5:35 AM on July 19, 2021

Let's do it this way.

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. 90/10 lean ground beef
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 medium-size (10 oz.) yellow onion, chopped (1 3/4 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced (1 Tbsp.)
8 cups cups shredded green cabbage (from 1 small cabbage head)
1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
6 cups lower-sodium beef stock
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
2 Tbsp.s packed light brown sugar
3 Tbsp.s chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp.s chopped fresh thyme

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high. Add beef, salt, and pepper; cook, crumbling using back of a spoon and stirring often, until browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add cabbage; cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to wilt, about 3 minutes.

Stir in crushed tomatoes, stock, rice, and brown sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, uncovered, until cabbage is tender and rice is cooked, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and thyme.

While this recipe says boil medium high for 15 min., I would then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for a while longer. Have stock ready incase the rice absorbs a lot of the liquid.
posted by Splunge at 8:27 AM on July 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

If you're into omelettes with stuff in, start with shredded white cabbage, lightly fried but still crunchy, and then turn it into a Spanish-ish omelette by embedding it in beaten egg,. It works very well as a base. Throw in additional flavourings depending on what the store cupboard has, but bacon is a good place to start (isn't it always?).
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:26 PM on July 21, 2021

While this recipe says boil medium high

Boil them cabbage down
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:22 PM on July 22, 2021