I’m going to start this post by letting you know, in the interest of full disclosure, that while the recipe I am bringing you today serves about four or five people (give or take), I ate every blessed bit of this fried cabbage with bacon all by myself. ~grins~ I know, I’m proud of me, too. It took me more than one meal but I’m no quitter! It’s that kind of steady work ethic that has gotten me where I am today. “Well, Christy, where exactly are you today?” I’m glad you asked coz I’m gonna tell ya. I’m waist high in laundry, ankle deep in dirty dishes, shoulder high in kids, and about as happy as a pig in slop! Life couldn’t be any better.
Everything’s Better With Bacon
So now on to the business of bacon. As I’ve been focusing on filling up my bacon grease jar all week I’m going to bring you one more bacon dish that utilizes both the drippings and the bacon itself. I dearly love cabbage in all forms. Raw, boiled, fried, and even sauerkraut. In fact, there would have been a lot more in this dish had I not of eaten so much of it raw while I was chopping it. Out of all the ways I eat cabbage though, this is the absolute best in my eyes.
Addendum for 2018: We don’t eat pork anymore and have switched to turkey bacon for this and other recipes calling for it. Still delicious!
Fried Doesn’t Mean Swimming In Vats of Fat
Don’t let the “fried” part scare you off. Some folks hear “fried” in relation to Southern food and they automatically think vats of oil, like we sit around in our hoop skirts on the lawns of plantation houses gnawing on fried chicken all day long. ~sighs~. God love’em. You know I was talking to my friend Jyl the other day and we were talking about how neither one of us have ever known a rich plantation owning Southerner, but all of the movies and such would have you believe that the majority of us are descended from them. Boggles the mind, really.
Fried or Sauteed?
With regards to fried foods though, there is a simple reason why so many of our recipe titles start out with “fried”. You see, we refer to a large skillet as a “Frying pan” and so everything we cook in it usually gets labeled “fried”. We’re not big on fancy words like “saute'”, which is really what we are doing here. The definition of “Saute” is cooking something in a small amount of fat over high heat. No, Southern cooking doesn’t put on any airs, so we just call it “fried”. You ask any old timer in the South what sounds better, Fried Cabbage or Sauteed Cabbage, and I’d be willing to put money on them choosing the first.
As far as the misconception about all Southern food being deep fried goes, I’ve decided that when anyone thinks like that about us, I’m just gonna let them keep on thinking that way and I think you should, too. That just means more of the good stuff everyone else!
Lets ‘fry’ some up now..
Ingredients for Fried Cabbage with Bacon are simple, as they are in all of the best dishes!
Cabbage and bacon. We’ll also salt and pepper it a bit.
Chop your cabbage up however you like to chop your cabbage up.
I do mine in medium sized pieces but some people prefer larger or smaller, whatever cranks yer tractor.
I have to quit chopping at this point because the longer I chop the more I eat and I want to have some left over to actually cook.
The instructions begin with my favorite sentence in the world: “First, you fry you up some bacon…”
Anytime a recipe starts with that you know it’s gonna be good. (be sure to check out my sweet and sour green bean post!)
I spooned out all of the grease except for about two tablespoons
What if I use turkey bacon in the Fried Cabbage?
No problem, if using turkey bacon where there isn’t as much oil for the Fried Cabbage, a little olive oil works fine in place of this of the bacon grease.
This is what you’re left with after that is done. It may not look like much, but it is the makings for some fine cabbage!
Place all of your cabbage back in the skillet
Crumble your bacon and add that, too. Stir it up a bit and cook on medium high heat for about five minutes, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to low and cover skillet. Continue cooking just until cabbage is as tender as you like it, five to ten minutes.
When it gets as tender as you like it to be, or when you just can’t wait any longer, dig in!
Ingredients
- 6 oz bacon that's about 5-6 slices, add more or less depends on preference
- 1 cabbage head, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Place bacon on paper towel lined plate and remove all of the bacon grease from the pan except for about two tablespoons (add two tablespoons olive oil if using turkey bacon). Place chopped cabbage in skillet and crumple cooked bacon on top of it. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for about five minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover. Continue cooking until cabbage is done to your desired tenderness, five to ten minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
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Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples,
don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.
~Bill Meyer
Yum
