Make Cabbage More Flavorful With One Spoonful Of This Free Ingredient

There are many marvelous ways to make the sometimes unfairly maligned cabbage delicious. One of the easiest methods borrows a bit of a common breakfast byproduct for a thrifty swap that makes a tasty impact. Replacing your everyday cooking fat with a bit of bacon grease imbues your next cabbage preparation with the essence of salty, savory swine without having to fire up a whole darn roast.

We realize bacon grease is "free" on a technicality. You do need to buy the bacon, but the grease is not something you need to purchase separately. This is also one of the most flavorful ways to repurpose something that a lot of folks would otherwise send to the bin. The rasher's fat content, salinity, and umami quality are all among the scientific reasons that so many folks think bacon goes great with everything. Cabbage ranks high in that "everything" column because it's fairly neutral to start with before the bacon grease gets to work amplifying the botanical's subtle sweetness. The cabbage's crispness, even when somewhat softened upon cooking, also takes on more textural depth when tossed in the silken fat — but you need said grease before you can get started. Fortunately, it's almost as easily rendered as it is tossed with the leafy green vegetable.

You need about 2 tablespoons of fat to cook a head of cabbage. Just 1 pound of bacon yields about 1 cup of grease with standard stovetop cooking, although that can vary. Even the amount of grease you get from one strip may be different than the next. Given all the ways you can use bacon grease, and the fact it can last three to six months in the refrigerator, it makes sense to make a big batch all at once. Have a BLT party or freeze the rest of the strips; it's ultimately more efficient than trying to make a few tablespoons at a time.

Once the bacon is made and the grease is cooled and removed to an airtight container to refrigerate, heat those 2 tablespoons back up over medium heat in a saute pan. It seems like there should be a shortcut in here somewhere, but you really do need to reduce the grease's temperature for safer handling, hence the modicum of juggling. Once the grease is back up to temp, you can soften any alliums accordingly, season to taste, add your shredded cabbage, and toss to coat with that satiny, porcine fat. You can easily add more as needed since you made a whole batch. It finishes in about 10 minutes. Crumble some of that bacon on top once it's all plated if you're feeling extra decadent.