For The Hands-Down Best Cabbage, Braise It In This Liquid

Love it or hate it, cabbage is a central ingredient to the Irish holiday that we all know and love: St. Patrick's Day. Whether you're whipping up a tasty corned beef and cabbage meal or trying to channel the holiday some other time of year, you have to get smart about how to give that cabbage more flavor. The cruciferous vegetable is no doubt hearty and traditional, but it's not that flavorful — of course, not until you try this hack. 

You can easily make cabbage with another popular Irish staple, Guinness, by braising your cabbage in the stout. First, char the chopped leaves in a skillet with a bit of oil, then turn down the heat and par-cook them until they soften. Once the leaves are wilted, pour in your stout and continue simmering it until the beer reduces. A little seasoning — heat from the chili flakes and peppery undertones from the caraway — will elevate this veggie even more, perhaps even helping it eclipse the corned beef as the star of your plate.

The use of stout is intentional here, not because of its ties with Ireland, but because of its flavor. This beer has a bitter, chocolatey, and almost woody undertone that pairs really well with the cruciferous flavor of the cabbage. If you just cooked your cabbage in water, you wouldn't get nearly the same flavor as you would if you cooked it with this dark beer.

Besides teaming up with caraway and red chili flakes, you may also want to try adding other ingredients that will sharpen the stout's notes. For one, you can cook the cabbage with bacon — or use leftover bacon grease — to add salt and give the cabbage more of a complementary umami flavor — one that will play well with the chocolatey notes of the stout. You could also use a lighter beer for your cabbage, but it won't have the same depth of flavor as a stout.