Pickle and Massage Cabbage With a Vacuum Sealer
Cabbage does not come out of the ground ready to eat. It can be difficult and gentle, but it is also bitter! These drawbacks, however, make it a great salad to cook for dinner, you just need to apply a little pressure.
Traditionally, cabbage is softened with a little massage and possibly a little oil, acid and salt. (It also helps remove tough stems.) But if you don’t want to waste your time rubbing a bunch of leaves – and you have a vacuum sealer – I’d like you to consider a vacuum sealed salad, which is the laziest and easiest way to soften and to give aroma to the strong parts of the plant.
The process is simple: toss as much cabbage as you like into a vacuum bag, add a little salt and some dressing, they draw out as much air as possible and seal the bag (using a “wet setting” to remove the entire bandage). Place the bag in the refrigerator overnight and prepare the filling, which you can add the next day, in a separate container. Take out the cabbage the next morning and try not to worry when you notice that – if you’ve used an olive oil dressing – your dressing has hardened. It’s okay, just throw the salad in your bag. By lunchtime, the oil will become liquid again.
Place the remaining filling in there and enjoy.
For one serving of vacuum salad you will need:
- 1/2 bunch of cabbage, remove the ribs and cut into small pieces (I didn’t remove the ribs of the cabbage because I parted and sliced the cabbage before I remembered to remove them. Don’t be like me).
- 2 large pinches of salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (or other acid)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Any other flavors you want to add to the dressing (herbs, garlic powder, cheap shaker, any other spices, etc.)
Toss the salt and kale in a bowl and set aside. Add the remaining ingredient to a vacuum bag and rub with your hands to emulsify. (You can also whisk and then pour the dressing into the bottom of the bag, but whipping is fun.)
Place the cabbage in the bag over the dressing, then use the moisture setting to vacuum seal the bag according to the manufacturer’s instructions to soften the leaves and add flavor. Put the bag in the refrigerator overnight and then enjoy the next day. This salad can be prepared three days earlier, but it will get softer every day.