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At 19:19 18/03/99 -0500, you wrote:
>David, How do you fix the chopped cabbage sandwich? I have a ton of it now
>because it has been selling for 9 cents per pound in celebration of St. Pats
>Day. I am serious. I have no idea how to fix it or what to do with it.
> I thought I would add it to my bean soup and may do that as well. Diane
>
>David MacClement wrote:
>> ... I am not
>> recommending such a restricted diet to anyone. No-one else living under the
>> same roof with me restricts themselves like this ...
>>
** Diane,
It's just like a lettuce-&-tomato sandwich made for someone who insists on
salt with their tomato. However, the flavour and texture of a let.-&-tom.
would be luxury to me - I use whatever of the cabbage is available, and
since the others here only eat the inside, most of my cabbage sandwiches
are with the outer, dark green leaves (that would be used for sauercrout).
_I_ like it, but I've educated my taste to enjoy peasant food.
The others here cut slices/segments of cabbage (and only if the cabbage
has a mild fresh flavour), and eat it like a segment of melon. This can be
along with, but usually after, a folded slice of buttered bread.
About the flavour. My son, born in London Ontario 25 years ago, just
now pointed out that "our" cabbages are usually good for eating raw; he's
referring to his memory of North American cabbages: rather bitter and often
flabby, good only for soup, or cooked.
** Anyway, here's how I fix my sandwiches.
Two slices of bread (or a 3-decker if the person's hungry), buttered
and spread with Marmite*, holding a 1/4 inch "steak" of cabbage between
them. I mean, after you've cut the cabbage in half (along the length of the
stem), with a long sharp kitchen-knife (I use a bread knife sometimes),
carefully cut a 1/4-in layer off, from the curved outside to the middle
stem. Then lift it without breaking, onto a prepared slice of bread.
That's for the best sandwiches. My own usually have 1-in-wide strips of
outer leaves chopped about each 1/8-in, then piled on a prepared piece of
bread. Covered with the other. I chop up the main rib too, but only if you
like the cabbage flavour. My best friend (Harry Parke, with Irish ancestry)
tells me a large minority of people can't stand the flavour of _any_ raw
Brassica: cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc. They react to a
chemical in it as being far too bitter. So don't expect to like it
yourself, though others might; or vice-versa. ("wikay-wearsa", I was
taught, when I learned Latin in 1949!)
* My original post described Marmite. If you can't find it, the
Australian/British version: Vegemite is almost as good. Assuming neither,
I'd recommend a sprinkling or thin spreading of granulated or paste
soup-maker; the one that comes to mind is Oxo paste, but Maggi makes little
tubs of powder in various flavours, and there are probably other brands. It
does have to be uniformly powdery though: no small bits of dried vegetables
to crack your teeth on! I should say I haven't tried these, it's just what
I would look for if/when I was in India or the USA or Canada.
** If anyone tries a raw-cabbage sandwich, please tell me how it went!
David.