What to use instead of cabbage
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Raw crunch in a slaw or taco topping
The stiff cells in the leaf hold their water under salt and dressing, so shredded cabbage stays crisp for hours where a soft leaf collapses in minutes.
Napa cabbageRan out
1:1 by weight
Softer and sweeter with a frillier shred. It wilts within about an hour of dressing, so cut and dress it at the table.
Red cabbageRan out
1:1 by weight
Firmer and faintly peppery, and it holds crunch even longer. It bleeds purple into anything pale within ten minutes.
Kohlrabi or peeled broccoli stems, juliennedRan out
1:1 by weight
Crunchier and juicier with a raw-broccoli sweetness. No leafy strands, so the slaw looks like matchsticks.
Drained sauerkraut or curtidoRan out
3/4 cup drained kraut per 1 cup shredded cabbage
Sour and salty before you dress it, so drop the vinegar and most of the salt from the dressing. Texture is limper and the flavour is much louder.
What doesn't work: Iceberg lettuce. It has the crunch for about ten minutes and then the salt in the dressing pulls its water out and leaves a wet bowl with limp ribbons in it.
Bulk vegetable that goes sweet and silky in a long cook
Cabbage holds its shape for the first hour and then collapses into soft strands. The sugars concentrate as it goes and the raw sulphur smell cooks off.
Savoy cabbageRan out
1:1 by weight
Tender about 15 minutes sooner and the crinkled leaves hold more of the broth. Sweeter and less assertive.
Napa cabbageRan out
1:1 by weight
Breaks down in half the time and gives off a lot of water, so hold back a cup of stock until you see how loose the pot gets.
Kale or collards, stems strippedRan out
1:1 by weight
Keeps a chew where cabbage goes silky, and tastes greener and more mineral. Collards want an extra 20 minutes.
Sauerkraut, rinsedRan out
1:1 by weight, rinsed and squeezed dry
Sour from the first minute and it stays firmer than fresh cabbage all the way through. This is how bigos is built anyway.
What doesn't work: Halved Brussels sprouts. Same plant, wrong build: the tight little heads go sulphurous and bitter over an hour where a loose head goes sweet.
Wrapper leaf around a filling
A blanched leaf is flexible enough to fold and strong enough to hold minced filling through a long bake. The thick rib is the part that tears.
Savoy leavesRan out
1 leaf per roll, blanched 2 min
More flexible and harder to tear. The ruffled leaf makes a looser parcel that catches more sauce.
Napa leavesRan out
2 leaves per roll, blanched 45 sec
Thin and floppy, so double them up. They can split during a two-hour bake, which is why the rolls come out smaller.
Collard leavesRan out
1 leaf per roll, blanched 3 min
The strongest wrapper of the lot and it survives any braise. Tastes distinctly greener and takes longer to go tender.
Brined grape leaves, rinsedRan out
2 grape leaves per cabbage leaf
Makes a much smaller, sour parcel. This turns cabbage rolls into dolma, which is a good dish and a different one.
What doesn't work: Raw leaves straight off the head. They crack along the rib the moment you fold them. Blanch two to three minutes, or freeze the whole head overnight and thaw it, which softens the leaves without boiling a pot of water.