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Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with steakhouse cabbage. That's right, cabbage is this year's it vegetable. And as far as I'm concerned, there is no better way to enjoy it than by charring a big old wedge and serving it steakhouse style with bacon, crispy onions, and whipped blue cheese. And whether you enjoy this as a side dish or a main course, you are going to love every bite. And to get started, we're going to need one medium-size green cabbage. And when you're buying this, you want to pick a few up and find one that feels heavy for its size, since heavy means dense, and for this dense means delicious. And to prep this, we will turn it over so we can see the bottom of the core.
And we'll take a sharp knife and slice a perfect X, since we want to divide this into four equal portions. And once marked, we can take our knife and cut down in about 3 in deep. Okay, we don't want to go all the way through at this point, since we're going to parboil this a little bit before we actually cut it open. So, we're just cutting in roughly halfway through. And once that's set, we'll head to the stove, and we will add a generous amount of salt, plus some cold fresh water into a stock pot. And we will give that a quick swirl before adding our cabbage in.
Definitely with the cut side down. And we'll set our heat to high, and we'll wait for that to come to a boil. And once it does, we will cover that. And we will let that boil for 15 minutes, at which point we'll uncover it and turn off the heat, and then we'll just let it sit until it's cool enough to handle. And once it is, we will handle it. And by handle, I mean very carefully cut it in quarters, which is going to be pretty easy to do now, since as you can see, that core is kind of split open. And the reason for the boiling step is to get a head start on the cooking, which is going to cut down on our roasting time, but also salt is cabbage's best friend. So, we're also getting a head start on the seasoning as well. And please be
careful, a wet cabbage is a slippery cabbage, and a slippery cabbage is a dangerous cabbage to cut. So, take your time and keep your hands above or to the side of the blade. And that's it. Once cut, we can pull off some of the loose leaves if we want to make it look a little bit neater, but that is optional. And whether you do that or not, we will transfer that to a parchment-lined baking sheet and we'll space those nice and evenly. And I do like to have the core end facing out, since I think that's going to get a little more heat. And once we have that pan up, we're going to give it a very, very generous brushing with melted butter, followed by a very generous sprinkling of salt. And then what our plan is here is to roast this in a hot oven
until it's fully charred and tender. And for me, the more char we get, the better the final dish is going to taste. But if you're not into the golden black finish, you can, if you want, roast this covered in foil for something a little less severe. But in any event, we'll transfer that into a 450° oven for about an hour, depending on the size and density of the cabbage, or until it's fully charred, tender, and hopefully looks like this. And to test this, we'll poke it with a bamboo skewer, which should penetrate relatively easily. And once you have determined your cabbage is cooked, we'll go ahead and push those pieces together and then quickly cover it with a piece of foil to trap the heat in. And then we'll toss a towel over the top
to add some extra insulation. And we will let that rest for about 15 minutes before we serve, during which time it's going to soften up a little more, and all those sweet smoky notes from the charred surface will be permeating the inside. Oh, and while the cabbage is resting, or while it was roasting, we can prep the other components. One of which would be cutting up some bacon and cooking it over medium heat until it's crisp. And please, do not ruin this incredible dish by topping it with flabby bacon. Okay, so make sure almost all that fat is rendered out. But anyway, I trust you, and once it is crisp, go ahead and drain that on some paper towels. And then the other thing we need to put
together is our whipped blue cheese, which we'll make by combining some sour cream or yogurt with some cheese, as well as an equal amount of blue cheese. And I'm using something called buttermilk blue, but any high-quality blue cheese will work. And then we'll finish up with some cream, which we want nice and cold when we use it. So, be sure to leave that in the fridge until you're ready. Oh, and by the way, I'm only adding half the cream at this point. And we'll blend that in, and then we'll add the other half of the cream.
All right, if we added all in, I find it can splash out when we start blending. But as you can see, by blending it in two additions, there is no way any of that's going to splash out. Whoops. Oh man, I didn't see that coming. Well, anyway, still a good idea, I think. And we will blend that until everything's light and fluffy, but no further, cuz if you over blend cream, it turns into butter, and this will get greasy and grainy, neither of which we want. And that's it. We'll go ahead and clean off our blender, and we'll sneak a little bit of a taste. And you could, if you want, add a pinch of salt if it needs it. But if you use a really good blue
cheese, that shouldn't be necessary. And we'll go ahead and pop that in the fridge until we need it. And that's it. We'll go ahead and uncover our cabbage and proceed to plate up. And if you're scared at the appearance at this point, don't be. All right, 95% of the wedge is sweet, pure white, tender goodness, as you'll see when we cut in. And as far as plating goes, I'm going to start with some whipped blue cheese on the plate. And yes, I went chef on this and piped it, but you could just spread with a spoon. And then we'll place one of our beautifully charred wedges on top. And then we'll apply some more of our whipped blue cheese over that.
Since this is a good amount of cabbage, plus we need something to hold up our garnishes, which for me are going to be some crispy fried onions, which yes, I got right out of the can. All right, extra credit if you do those yourself. But the ones from the can do work perfectly, and you might have some in the pantry from Thanksgiving. And that's it. We'll top that with a very generous amount of our crispy bacon, followed by a whole bunch of freshly sliced green onions. And yes, I am fussing around a little bit with the plate, since I have to take some contractually obligated pictures. But in real life, you could just toss things on and keep moving.
And that's it. I finished up with a few sliced cherry tomatoes for a little bit of color and acidity, and what we're calling steakhouse cabbage was ready to enjoy. Which we will do with a fork and of course a steak knife. And we will cut into that just barely tender cabbage. All right, we do want sweet and tender and easy to eat, but I don't think we want soft and mushy. And we'll go ahead and try to get most, if not all the components on one bite. And that, my friends, really was incredible. All right, just charred cabbage is incredibly delicious by itself, but when you're including crispy fried onions and bacon and green onions and some tomato, all tied together with that creamy, salty, super savory whipped blue cheese,
the flavor level here is just off the charts. All right, if I went to a steakhouse and they said, "Sorry, we're out of steaks, but we have something we think you'll love." and they served me this, I would have left that restaurant a very, very happy diner. I mean, I would complain a little bit so they give me a free dessert, but anyway, you get the point. And of course, if you're not into this steakhouse presentation and these specific garnishes, you have lots of other choices. So using the same technique, this is definitely something you can experiment with. I mean, you are after all the Bryce Aldridge of how to dress your charred cabbage. But whether you make this as shown, or do your own little twist, it's going to
be a home run. Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon. So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.
