Cabbage with Onions Two Ways

I’m on a mission this year to give you new ideas for Thanksgiving dishes that are actually at least as old as this country.

Don’t break my heart and not try this dish because you have something against cabbage. Cabbage and onions are simply buttery bliss or you can take them one step further and turn them into fritters. Either way you’ll wish you knew this recipe a long time ago.

Colonial Williamsburg revised the recipe from The Virginia House-Wife by Mary Randolph to make it easily accessible for the 21st century cook.

BTW, The Library of Congress has a PDF version of the book and here’s a snapshot of the OG recipe.

Cabbage with Onions Two Ways Ingredients
1 ½ lbs green cabbage (about ½ of 1 head)
1 medium white onion (2 c chopped)
2 quarts of water
1 tsp salt (reduced if you don’t make fritters)
3 Tbl butter
2 tsp black pepper (reduced if you don’t make fritters)
½ c flour (fritters)
3 eggs (fritters)
¾ c of milk (fritters)
Butter, lard, or vegetable oil for frying (fritters)

Cabbage with Onions Two Ways Directions
Makes 10, ½ c fritters

Cut the cabbage in half pole to pole. Put the cabbage cut side up and cut out the core. Put it flat side down with the core hole facing you. Cut it into ⅓” strips then cut across every 1” to make rectangles. Add it to a soup pot.

Chop the onion. Add the onions to the pot with 2 quarts of water. Bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat when it gets tender. It’s hard to give you a time because it depends in part how long it took your water to get to a boil. I boiled mine for 2 minutes and there was a slight crunch still left in the cabbage.

Pour the vegetables into a strainer, add 1 tsp of salt (½ tsp salt if you aren’t making fritters), and mix. Allow it to sit in the strainer for 20 minutes.

Put the pot on gentle heat and add 3 Tbl of butter. When the butter is melted, turn off the heat and add the vegetables and 2 tsp of black pepper (1 tsp pepper if you aren’t making fritters). Taste it. It will be a little salty and a little peppery if you’re making them into fritters, but see how divine and easy it was. You can serve them as is or continue on to make fritters.

Push the vegetables to the sides of the pot and in the well add ½ c flour, 3 eggs, and ¾ c of milk. Mix the batter well. It’s ok if some of the vegetables slip into the mix. Mix the vegetables into the batter. It will be more liquidy than most fritter recipes.

In a frying pan (black iron works really well) or on a flat grill, add a thin layer of oil and heat it until the oil shimmers, but doesn’t start smoking. 

Give the vegetable mixture a quick stir because the liquid will settle and add ½ c of the vegetable mix to the frying pan. You should hear a sizzle that continues to sizzle. Flip it after the bottom is golden brown (about 5-6 minutes). Cook that side for about 5-6 minutes.

Notes
The fritters are pretty time consuming to cook because you’ll have to do them in batches unless you have a large grill like a Blackstone. If you don’t have a large grill, I recommend stopping after adding the butter and pepper for a large crowd.

For a small crowd, you can make them both ways. Add ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp of pepper to the cabbage and onions. After you mix in the butter, remove half of the mixture and set aside. For the fritter mixture reduce the flour, eggs, and milk in half and add ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper.