Taking the smell out of cabbage

When we were young and looking for our first apartment, my husband would eliminate certain rental options by wrinkling his nose and saying, “Impossible. It smells like cabbage.”

Not raw cabbage, of course, but the boiled stuff.

What makes cabbage give off such a strong odor when it’s cooking? According to one website, it’s because the amount of sulfur in the leaves increases as you cook them; the longer you cook your cabbage, the stronger the scent will be.

Weirdly, this information comes from a website dedicated to people with disabilities, called Disabled World.

The article offers several tips for getting rid of or reducing the smell of cabbage. The main one is that you should cook it for as little time as possible.

Lest you feel that Disabled World is not the place you’d like to go for cooking tips, I found similar advice at www.finecooking.com. It applies to all the brassica greens, such as kale and Brussels sprouts and collard greens, all of them foods that are healthy and that can taste really great with a little effort — but they do leave your house with a distinctive odor. 

By the way, I’ve discovered that no one knows what I mean when I say “brassica,” which apparently is more of a gardening term than a cooking term. By brassica I mean all those hearty greens like broccoli, kale, collards, that kind of thing.

The easiest solution is, of course, to learn to love that smell. But if, like my husband, you just can’t abide it, then try this: Cook the cabbage or sprouts or kale for as short a time as possible. The sulfur and the smells multiply the longer they are exposed to heat.

Short is a relative thing, of course, because cabbage is fairly dense and takes a while to cook. But as Disabled World recommends, the one thing you definitely don’t want to do is put a head of cabbage in your crock pot/slow cooker and leave it there for the day while you’re at work. 

If possible you’re also supposed to avoid cooking your brassica in steel cooking vessels, because the isothiocyanates in the leaves react to the metal and this helps bring out that sulfur smell.

You could think about eating your brassica raw, of course. A raw kale salad can be dreamy, especially if you use the more tender and flavorful lacinato kale. You get the best results if you massage the leaves lightly with lemon juice until they become tender. Strip out the hard rib and stem, roll the leaves into a cigar shape and then cut them into slim strips (what you might call a “chiffonade”). You don’t need much dressing on a fresh kale salad, just a little olive oil and some lemon juice, maybe a little sesame oil, perhaps some shards of Parmesan cheese. 

Raw cabbage is, well, cole slaw (obviously). If you want to skip the mayonnaise, just marinate the sliced cabbage strips in lemon juice for a few hours (squeeze it fresh, don’t use the stuff from the plastic lemon). Add a ton of fresh dill and some dill seeds if you can find them. Salt and pepper. Done.

Even Brussels sprouts can be great in a salad, if you have the patience to shave them thin. Mix them with Romaine lettuce, or pair them with your kale if you want a double hit of brassica in one dish.  

Eating your brassica uncooked is kind of the easy way out, though. Ultimately, you’re better off eating them cooked because not only are the ingredients softened (honestly, cooked cabbage is a little more pleasant to eat than tough, raw leaves) but some of the nutrients are  only released when you cook them. This isn’t true of all fruits and vegetables; but it’s true for many/most of the brassicas (and, notably, carrots and tomatoes). 

I was in my dentist’s waiting room the other day and read about the popular Brassica Bowl served at Two Hands in New York City. It sounded good enough to copy, but I thought a simpler version would be better for us home cooks. 

The original has egg and avocado and hummus. This version does not, but I added in farro, a favorite new grain. I had been happily cooking the Bob’s Red Mill farro but just found the “instant” Alessi version, made with porcini mushrooms. It’s nicely seasoned and you’re less likely to overcook or undercook or not put enough water in it. 

This isn’t a formal recipe with measurements and cooking times. I cooked everything ahead of time, which made it easier in the moment to put it together. 

Here’s what I did: I put a box of baby spinach in a collander and poured boiling water over it, then set it aside. 

I trimmed the ribs out of a few leaves of lacinato kale and then cut them in a chiffonade, then steamed them as I had done with the spinach.

I chopped up some broccoli raab into about 2 inch pieces and steamed them over boiling water.

I roasted peeled cipollini onions (you can get them at most of our local grocery stores) at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until they became moist and brown and sweet (you don’t need to add any cooking fat to them or any seasoning).

I roasted some baby Brussels sprouts (you can use normal “adult” sprouts too, but you’ll want to slice them, at least in half — or even thinner if you have the time and energy)at 400 until they were tender and sweet; I seasoned them first with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. 

On the day when I was ready to serve it all, I cooked the faro according to the package directions. While it was bubbling away, I heated up a skillet and warmed up each of the greens. The spinach got a shot of olive oil and a shot of sesame oil (I also added on some smoked salt, because I happened to have it and I like it on spinach). The kale and broccoli raab got some  olive oil and some lemon juice; I sprinkled on some black sesame seeds. 

I tossed the Brussels sprouts into the hot skillet with some olive oil. 

I quickly reheated the onions.

When the farro was ready, I put it all in a large bowl, then arranged the greens on top. 

It was fantastic.  I recommend it, even though it sounds like a lot of work (really, it’s not).