Red cabbage is a cabbage from the cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower family. but with the peculiarity that its leaves are flat and purple. It has a milder flavor than cabbage, but very similar. When boiled, it does not form as many volatile sulfur compounds (which give cabbages and cauliflower a bad smell), and raw it is softer and chewier than plain cabbage. That’s why Knowing how to cook red cabbage is very interesting.

You have the recipe for how to make powdered red cabbage to season your dishes in the following video:

The color of the red cabbage will depend on where it was grown: in acidic soils it is more pink, and in alkaline soils, more bluish. It happens because its pigments, anthocyanins, are sensitive to pH, which is why it is usually recommended to add a little lemon or vinegar when cooking it, to preserve or enhance its color.

Tips for cooking red cabbage

We can find red cabbage in markets, flea markets, greengrocers and supermarkets throughout the winter. You can choose small or large pieces, depending on what you are going to consume (and the space you have in the refrigerator). The important thing is that they look tight and firm, without stains or holes, and that they feel heavy for their size.

• How to preserve it. Once at home, do not wash it until you are going to use it. Store it in the refrigerator in a perforated bag so it can breathe and not go bad quickly. It will last up to a week perfectly, even if you pick leaves or cut it to use it.
• How to enhance your color. The color of the red cabbage will depend on where it was grown: in acidic soils it is more pink, and in alkaline soils, more bluish. It happens because its pigments, anthocyanins, are sensitive to pH, which is why it is usually recommended to add a little lemon or vinegar when cooking it, to preserve or enhance its color.

6 ways to cook red cabbage

Red cabbage is widely used in Eastern European cuisines, where it is used raw, in salads such as coleslaw, pickled (such as sauerkraut or sauerkraut), cooked as a side dish (Rotkohl), roasted, sautéed, braised, etc.

In Spain there are some typical dishes with it, many of them for the Christmas season, such as Madrid-style red cabbage or red cabbage cream. The truth is that it is a very versatile vegetable that We can use it in many ways. Here we propose 6 different ways to prepare it.

1. Raw red cabbage salad

Red cabbage is very rich in vitamin C, and since this vitamin degrades with cooking (not all of it, but part of it), if we want to make good use of it It is better to eat red cabbage raw.

• For this the best is Chop it finely and add it to salads and fresh dishes. You can take the red cabbage as is and cut it into thin strips, it is not necessary to undo it or take just the leaves.
• Wash it well, drain it and dry it with a clean cloth and you are ready to use.
• It looks great with all kinds of ingredients, and acid dressings also enhance its bright red color.
• You can also combine it with fruits such as apple and tangerine, and with other raw winter vegetables such as celery, red chard, fresh peas, fennel, endive, etc.

2. Sautéed Lombardy

If you don’t want it raw or overcooked, You just have to skip it.

• Put it with the rest of the vegetables that you are going to sauté, better cut into thin strips.
• It will help you for any quick dish, Chinese or Japanese noodle dishes, etc. It can also be the base of your red cabbage creams, such as the typical red cabbage and apple cream or, for an even more gourmet touch, a red wine cream of red wine.

3. Pickled Lombarda (how to blanch it)

If we need the cabbage to be more soft than crunchy, but maintain its shape, we can blanch it. Blanched chopped red cabbage has a great texture for vegetable and legume dishes. It is also good to blanch red cabbage if we want to pickle it just like pickles or carrots.

• You just have to put plenty of water to boil (better with a few drops of lemon or vinegar) and immerse the leaves that we are going to use or the chopped cabbage. If it is chopped it will need 2 minutes, and whole leaves 3-4 minutes, depending on how thick they are.
• They are quickly removed from the water and transfer them to a bowl with cold water to stop the cooking.
• With the blanched leaves we can make rolls, filling them with whatever we want, just as we do with grape leaves or cabbage leaves.

4. Boiled Lombardy

To make it very tender, we can boil it.

• The best thing to do is to boil it separately with a little lemon or vinegar, because It will dye all the water.
• To color a plate. If what what we want is to color a plate, Like a risotto for example, we will add the chopped red cabbage from the beginning and thus it will release color throughout cooking.
• Red cabbage pate. The Lombard Boiled, it is very soft and falls apart. The good thing is that this way we can add it to pâtés and creams to give a touch of color, or to purees and sauces.

5. Roasted Lombardy

The roasted red cabbage is very good.

• You have to put it on a tray oven cut in half or quarters, with a pinch of oil and salt. You can also add a little lemon, but it will inevitably be darker because cooking in the oven is different, it will not be submerged in water but rather exposed to dry heat.
• It will take about 40 minutes (depending on the size of the pieces) and it will be great to eat as is, as a first course.

6. Sautéed Lombarda

The red cabbage made this way is not only tender, it also develops many more flavors and adds juiciness (and color) to the dish.

• A good way to eat red cabbage is to fry it or confit it. For example toadding red cabbage in strips or pieces to a ratatouille.