Avoid Making This Common Blunder For The Best Southern Fried Cabbage

If you need proof that sometimes the simplest concepts can bring the most flavor, look no further than Southern fried cabbage. The recipe combines the mild earthiness of cabbage with pungent aromatics like onion and garlic, all fried together with butter or bacon fat to round out the flavor. But in the pursuit of big flavor, we have to avoid one common but disastrous mistake: adding too much liquid to the pan. 

It feels intuitive, and is quite common, to throw some water or broth into the pan to help the cabbage soften, but adding too much could steam the cabbage. And if it's Southern fried cabbage you're trying to make, you're already losing at the start line.

How cabbage behaves when it's fried or steamed is important here. If the cabbage is too wet, the pan can't reach temperature high enough to caramelize it and it'll end up cooked and tender, but mushy and watery. When the cabbage is fried, on the other hand, its natural sugars are converted into chemical compounds responsible for a lightly charred, brown color and a deeper, more umami flavor.

So let's talk about nailing fried cabbage. Not sauteed, not steamed, but the indulgent and loaded type. There are many types of cabbage and they all behave slightly differently in the pan, but for this Southern classic, green cabbage is the way to go. It is crunchy, so it'll hold its structure nicely in the pan unlike other more delicate varieties like napa cabbage. 

Use a large skillet, which will allow the cabbage to have enough room because overcrowding is a surefire way to steam vegetables even if you don't add any extra liquid in. Then you'll need a good amount of fat on moderately high heat, think butter, bacon fat, or oil. This will allow the cabbage to fry, as the dish's name suggests.

Another key move is to resist the urge to stir the cabbage constantly as it fries. Let the sliced leaves sit on the hot pan for some time so that they go golden and crispy before flipping them over to cook the other side. When cooked properly, bland cabbage can be transformed into something that is loaded with flavor –- especially if you add garlic, sprinkle in some sugar and then top it with crispy bacon strips or smoked sausage. Cabbage is one of those ingredients that when done right, is truly exceptional, but it can easily go astray if you don't have the method locked in.