Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-08

CABBAGES
AND COOKS
" MRS. CHRISTINE FREDERICK
Author Of orbe Now IIOusekeoplns.o

Author Of The New Housekeeplng."
Is cabbage plebeisn vegetabie7 Ii II
outside the pale Of asparagus artlchokes
and green peas7 Is Il ht only for free
lunches and boarding house dinners7 The
case against the cabbage seems almost
one by prejudiced housewives who say
| that cabbage is hard TO digest" that II
Is STRONG" or who think of 1t as a
coarse. triangular brownish wedge which
accompanies boiled dinner"
But have case to make against the
cook and not the cabbage. In the first
place, cabbage is a vegetable containing
great many OF the most valuable min
eral salts, sulphur, etc, especially needed
by the body. II II is unwholesome or
brownlsh coarse or plebeian, that Is the
fault of the cook, and not the humble
cabbage. Well do 1 remember several
New England boiled dinners In which
large chunks Of cabbage were dished UP.
oily, strong and almost bitter But go
back Of the scene and we find that the
method of cooking was to cut the cab
bage in quarters, plump 1t in boiling
water and boil, boil, boil for several
hours. Small wonder the cabbage was
coarsel
The first thing to learn about cooking
cabbage is that the leaves must be pulled
apart or shredded, and as much as possl-
bic separated from the fbrous, tough
mid-rib. Next, 1t must soak until crisp
in chilled salted water. Third, 1t must be
dropped quickly into rapidly boiling wa
ter and last and most important, 1t must
not boil very long. Prepared in this
way, cabbage takes from 20 to 30 minutes
when 1t should be at once removed from
the water and dressed with whatever
sauce or seasoning desired.
Another point, 1t Is preferable to cook
1t in an uncovered vessel. This permits
the sulphur and other gases which render
1t coarse to escape, and not to be con-
densed back and boiled into the vegetable.
The old iron pot with its close-fitting
cover and two-hour boiling is to blame
for the coarseness of cabbage. Quick
uncovered cooking pulling apart of the
leaves, this is all that is needed to make
cabbage delicious and retain its white
appearance.
The great quantities of cabbage or
"kraut" consumed In foreign countries
are justified on health basis But these
countries do not serve 1t tastelessy
boiled. They offer us numbers of piquant
cabbage dishes. There is the Hungarian
dish, fairly familiar here of forcemeat
sNe"SIeu INTO separate CaDDaBe leaves,
and all these small portions gently SIM
mered in an appetizing tomato sauce
Then there is the Turkish dish of cabbage
stuffed with rice and ralsins, or a stuffed
cabbage filled with meat, bread crumbs
and accompanied by good sauce, is in
itself. an entire economical meal. Creamed
cabbage, scalloped cabbage, all are sa.-
isfying ways of cooking this winter veg
etable. Almost any recipe suitable for
cauliflower is suitable for cabbage, and
cheese sauces au gratin, or tomato sauces
are ways in which cabbage can be gar
nished, but so seldom is.
Housewives wall over the high cost Of
everything but in the same moment pur-
chase cans of exotic summer vegetables
at 20 cents for a small amount. A large,
sound head of cabbage costs 10 cents.
Half of this at cents would go as far
as a-cent can, besides Offering the
freshness, medicinal value that cabbage
can give. Desplse lot the plebeian veg
etable, but educate the cook.