What to Do with Your St. Patrick's Day Parade Cabbages
Written by Chef Kent LeVan
I have never been a fan of cabbage. As an adult, it took the dirty water dogs of NYC for me to even start liking sauerkraut. I think that it has to do with the fact that growing up, we didn’t eat much cabbage, unless it was coleslaw, but even then, no one in my family could prepare cabbage well. So I would avoid it at all costs.
Shortly after moving to New Orleans, I heard about how amazing the St. Patrick’s Day parade was, and I was excited to go see it for myself. I was both shocked and, honestly, angry that I was thrown a cabbage. “How dare they! Do they no know how terrible these are?!”
My coworker saw my scrunched face and asked what the issue was. After telling him my plight with cabbage, he said that he was going to make something called smothered cabbage and change my mind. Needless to say, that I was very skeptical.
When the day came, I was trying to think of any reason to excuse myself from having to eat it, but nothing was coming to mind. I am thankful that I was brave and try it, because it has sparked an absolute love for braised and cooked cabbage. It really does depend on how and how its made.
I have learned how to make a really delicious smothered cabbage, but when I was working at Saint John, we opened with a classic creole braised cabbage known as Choucroute and it has become my favorite and a constant go to in my home kitchen.
CREOLE CHOUCROUTE
1 cup slab bacon, cut into lardons
2 each yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 each garlic cloves, minced
1 head green cabbage, cored and cut into ½” ribbons
1 head purple cabbage, cored and cut into ½” ribbons
1 bottle cane vinegar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp coarse black pepper
1 tbsp creole mustard
Render the lardons over medium heat until they are a deep, brick red color. Add the sliced onions and sweat until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook, stirring regularly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Raise the heat to medium-high and add the cabbage. Mix well and cover for 8 minutes. Remove lid and scrape up any bits sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook, uncovered, until the cabbage almost reaches your preferred level of tenderness. I personally like a bit of a firmer texture.
Add the vinegar and sugar and cook until cabbage is tender. Remove cabbage from the pan and reduce any remaining liquid by half.
Add the mustard to the reduced braising liquid and pour over the cabbage mixture.
KENT LEVAN, CULINARY ARTS INSTRUCTOR
Before joining the culinary team at NOCHI, Kent worked as a chef in New Orleans and in New York City. Kent's passion for food started with time spent in his grandmother's kitchen, learning the family recipes. That love of food has taken him into a wide range of cuisines from haute Creole to BBQ to global fine dining and almost everything in-between. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, Kent is excited to share his passion for world foods, just as his instructors did when he began his culinary journey.
