Chef Thomas
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Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Buttered Savoy Cabbage with Caraway
Created by Chef Thomas
Savoy cabbage wilted fast in foaming butter with toasted caraway seeds, the kind of side dish that quietly steals the meal from whatever it was supposed to accompany.
Side Dishes
British
Weeknight
Quick Meal
10 min
Active Time
8 min cook•18 min total
Yield4 servings as a side
January. The garden is bare and the market stalls are full of the things that like the cold: roots, brassicas, leeks stacked in muddy bundles. A Savoy cabbage caught my eye on Saturday, the big crinkled sort with leaves like dark green lace, still heavy with rain. I brought it home without a plan.
This is what it became. Shredded, tossed into foaming butter with caraway seeds that had been toasted in the dry pan until the kitchen smelled like a good bakery. The whole thing took less than ten minutes. The cabbage went from raw and squeaky to soft, glossy, butter-coated ribbons that tasted of something far better than the sum of their parts. That's what caraway does. It takes cabbage, a vegetable most people think they don't like, and gives it a warmth, a depth, a quiet spice that makes you reach for more.
I ate it alongside a pork chop, but it didn't need the pork chop. It would have been enough on its own with some bread, or piled onto a baked potato, or spooned next to a piece of fish. We're only making dinner. But a side dish this good has a way of becoming the point.
I wrote it down in the notebook. Cabbage. Butter. Caraway. Tuesday. Cold outside.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Savoy cabbage
Quantity
1 medium
outer leaves removed, quartered, cored, and shredded
unsalted butter
Quantity
40g
caraway seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
garlic
Quantity
1 clove
sliced thinly
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
lemon juice
Quantity
a squeeze
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Savoy cabbageouter leaves removed, quartered, cored, and shredded | 1 medium |
| unsalted butter | 40g |
| caraway seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| garlicsliced thinly | 1 clove |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| lemon juice | a squeeze |
Equipment Needed
- •Large wide frying pan or sauté pan
- •Tongs or wooden spoon
- •Sharp knife for shredding
Instructions
- 1
Shred the cabbage
Quarter the cabbage and cut out the core. Shred it into ribbons, roughly the width of your little finger. Don't be too precise about it. Some pieces thicker, some thinner, it all cooks down and the variation gives you different textures in the finished dish. Wash it if it needs it, and let it drain. A bit of water clinging to the leaves is fine. It helps it wilt in the pan.
- 2
Toast the caraway
Put a wide, heavy pan over a medium heat. Add the caraway seeds to the dry pan and let them toast for a minute or so, shaking the pan now and then. You'll know they're ready when the kitchen starts to smell warm and slightly sweet, like rye bread. The moment that smell arrives, add the butter.
Toasting the seeds in a dry pan before the butter goes in wakes them up. Raw caraway can taste medicinal. Toasted caraway tastes like something you'd cross a room for. - 3
Cook in butter
Let the butter melt and foam. When it starts to smell nutty and the foam settles, add the garlic. Ten seconds, just enough for it to soften in the heat, not enough for it to colour. Then add all the cabbage at once. It will seem like too much for the pan. It isn't. Toss it through the butter with tongs or a wooden spoon, turning it over so every ribbon gets a coat. Season with salt and pepper now, not later.
- 4
Wilt and finish
Keep the heat at medium. Toss the cabbage every thirty seconds or so. It will collapse quickly, the dark crinkled leaves going from stiff to silky in a few minutes. You want it just wilted, still with a bit of life in the stem, bright green and glossy with butter. Three to four minutes at most. Take it off the heat while it still has some resistance. A squeeze of lemon over the top, one last toss, and it's done. Taste it. Adjust the salt. Put it on the table.
The cabbage will keep cooking in its own heat once it's off the flame. If it looks perfectly done in the pan, it'll be overdone on the plate. Pull it a minute early. Trust it.
Chef Tips
- •Savoy is the cabbage for this. Its crinkled leaves hold butter in a way that smooth white or red cabbage can't. The texture is softer, the flavour sweeter, and it wilts without turning to mush. If you can't find a Savoy, hispi (pointed) cabbage is the next best thing.
- •A teaspoon of caraway is a suggestion. If you love it, use more. If you're not sure, start with half a teaspoon and taste as you go. Caraway is one of those spices that people either take to immediately or need to be introduced to gently. Either way is fine.
- •The lemon at the end isn't optional. It doesn't make the dish taste of lemon. It brightens everything, lifts the butter, sharpens the cabbage. Without it, the dish is good. With it, the dish is right.
- •This keeps badly. It's a dish for the moment, not for the fridge. Make it last, eat it now, while the butter is still pooling on the plate.
Advance Preparation
- •The cabbage can be shredded up to a day ahead and stored in a bag in the fridge. It actually shreds better when cold and firm.
- •This dish does not reheat well. The cabbage loses its colour and texture. Cook it fresh, just before serving. It takes so little time that advance preparation is unnecessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 115g)
Calories
125 calories
Total Fat
8 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
22 mg
Sodium
340 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
4 g
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