The way my Mother taught me to boil cabbage is as follows.

Remove outer tough leaves of green cabbage. Cut head of cabbage into wedges. Remove cores from wedges, but do not throw them away. Put cabbage and cores into fairly large saucepan. Just cover with water. Add salt and a good sprinkle of cayenne pepper (but be careful and don't add too much - you want just a nice hint of heat). Bring to a boil and add about 1 tablespoon bacon grease. Reduce heat so that cabbage is just simmering. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until nicely tender - not crunchy. When done, remove cores (they are not to be eaten). Mom said that the cores add sweetness to the cooked cabbage.

If you try this "recipe," hope you and your husband like it.

My favorite way to make boiled cabbage is to make broth out of a meaty hambone or a ham hock. Then I remove the meat to cool, add chopped cabbage and potatoes and fresh or frozen green beans to the broth and simmer it until the vegetables are done. Meanwhile, cut off the ham pieces to add in a few minutes before serving. The broth gives it all the flavor it needs.

ruthanna - that looks amazing. One of my Mom's favorite meals is very similar. A ham bone or ham hock cooked the same way. Except she adds carrots instead of green beans.

Teresa

Wow! I didn't know people did nice things to boiled cabbage. My mother always said her mother in law was a terrible cook but she cooked cabbage for my father the way he was used to eating it. Boiled in plain water, or with corned beef if we were also having that. My dad wanted nothing but salt and vinegar on his cabbage. My other grandmother didn't cook cabbage but she did use sauer kraut when she served a pork roast. My father frosted everything he ate with salt and used vinegar on both cooked and raw vegetables. My mother would holler at him for using so much vinegar and warn him it was going to thin his blood. She said all the salt he used would give him a heart attack. Hummm- I'm a retired nurse and I have other thoughts about the dangers of huge amounts of salt. I don't recall ever being warned in nutrition classes about using vinegar. My ex was pure Polish and everyone in his family had an opinion about how to make kapusta. I never liked it no matter who cooked it. I am, however, proud to serve company my stuffed cabbage--a mix of how my mother and mother in law made it. Mine is the best! ;-)

Hi, I usually lurk here and post at the KT but have to post to this one! We love cooked cabbage, either boiled with butter and fresh dill then add it to noodles, of sauteed with smoked sausage. Comfort food!!
Lynn

Southern Fried Cabbage

1 cabbage thinly sliced
1 small onion thinly sliced
2 pieces thick sliced hickory smoked bacon
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup water

1. Heat skillet to medium heat.
2. Dice bacon and add to skillet.

3. Cook bacon until crisp and remove.
4. Add onions and saute in bacon grease until almost translucent.

5. Add cabbage and saute with onions for 8 minutes. Add bacon back to skillet with black pepper.

6. Add water, turn heat to low, and cover. Let cook for about 10 minutes or until cabbage is soft but not mushy. Cooking time may vary based on how thinly the cabbage is sliced.

Then serve it with good cornbread and pepper sauce to drizzle over your serving of cabbage.

And I had this yesterday, downtown by the post office, called Fife's. Best soul cooking around town.

I like it simple, just boiled, drained, melt in some butter, salt and pepper.. that's it.

Just wedged, cored and boiled like walnutcreek said....or in a ham broth like Ruthanna showed (but no green beans please!)...and always served with vinegar!!!
Or wedged and cooked in with the corned beef.
and the next meal, make scalloped cabbage. Put the leftovers, cut smaller if you wedged them into a casserole, put a sprinkle of flour over the first layer and some little chips of butter over the top layer, salt moderately ( especially moderately if you cooked it in ham broth) pepper heavily and pour over cream....or milk...to cover. Bake 350....maybe 45 minutes....until the cream cooks down a bit.

Cottage ham (smoked pork shoulder) simmered for about an hour and a half; then add wedges of cabbage, carrots and potatoes and simmer until done. Serve with butter (on your fork-smashed potatoes), mustard if you like on the cottage ham, and rye bread. Save the water for soup the next day.

Pepper sauce, not vinegar, is a must down south and with cornbread. Cabbage, cornbread and country fried steak, sliced tomatoes and onion.

Ruthanna, the green beans sounds pretty good in the cabbage.

{{gwi:1475779}} This is what you find on the tables that are family style restaurants , to be poured over turnip greens or collards.

I like mine like Glenda just had, fried first, then a bit of water added to finish, more "steamed" than boiled. I also used to eat it like paprikash, my Grandma called that "boiled dinner". And like PKguy, I like it just boiled, buttered, and with salt and pepper.

I guess I just like cabbage...

Annie

Oh, gosh! ... I now have so many ideas for boiled cabbage to try; thanks so much everyone!
Knowing hubby though I guess I'd better not stray too far from what he says he remembers. Interesting to know about boiling the core with the rest (& then discarding it) to 'sweeten' it ... who would have guessed?! The cabbage I did try tonight Hubby said was 'OK'.. I added salt, fresh ground pepper, butter & bacon bits but I did add some vinegar on my portion like some of you did also. I used both the green & red cabbage tonight. Is it the German influence using vinegar like I was used to back in Iowa & Wisconsin in cooked green beans, beets, etc.? I still remember the good hot potato salad with vinegar & lots of crushed bacon! My very old Village Creek (Iowa) Baptist Church's 125th anniversary recipe book (1978) is full of those old Swedish, Norwegian & German farm recipes... priceless!