The farmers’ market had some lovely cabbages, so I bought one and then started looking through my hundred-year-old cookbooks for a cabbage recipe. I found a recipe for Escalloped Cabbage in a 1926 women’s club cookbook from Peoria, Illinois
The Escalloped Cabbage was a delightful, simple, side dish. It’s just boiled shredded cabbage in a white sauce. It is then put in a baking dish. topped with bread crumbs, and put in the oven until it is hot and bubbly.
Here’s the original recipe:
The bread crumbs for the topping can be made by grating 1/2 slice of bread using a box grater.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Escalloped Cabbage
1/2 cabbage, coarsely shredded
water
1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon butter (melted)
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
Step 2. Put the shredded cabbage in a large saucepan, then add about a quarter inch of water. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the cabbage is tender (about 20 minutes). (If the water evaporates while cooking, add a small amount of additional water.) Then remove from heat, and drain to remove any remaining liquid.
Step 3. In the meantime, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.
Step 4. Pour the white sauce on the boiled cabbage; stir to combine.
Step 5. Put the cabbage mixture in a baking dish.
Step 6. In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon melted butter, then spread the bread crumbs on top of the cabbage mixture.
Step 7. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly (20 – 30 minutes).
I think I will love this. Thanks for sharing.
It’s a nice recipe. I think that you’d like it.
Looks so good.
I think I would love this one!
It’s tasty.
I’ve never thought of pairing cabbage with white sauce, but … definitely worth a go.
The cabbage and white sauce work well together.
👍
Same here.
This sounds interesting, but I’d need others to help me eat it.
I will be right over, Anne! I love cabbage, but have not made it in years. I have never had it with white sauce (gravy in our part of the woods) but I would give it a try.
I have never had it in sauce either. It sounds intriguing!
Cabbage and white sauce is a tasty combination.
And, I never would have thought of serving cabbage with gravy.
White sauce is just a fancy word for gravy, at least in the part of Texas where I grew up!
I learned something new. I had always thought that gravy must contain meat drippings or broth.
Add a bit of cooked sausage and you get sausage gravy for biscuits.😄
mmm. . . I starting to get hungry.
A nice thing about this recipe is that it’s very flexible. You could use substantively less cabbage, and reduce the amount of white sauce.
Yes, if I could buy a tiny bit of cabbage, I might try this recipe.
To make quick bread crumbs, I toss pieces of bread into one of my food processors, hit pulse a couple of times and VOILA!
Great suggestion – thanks!
I see I’m not alone as one who has never had cabbage in a cream sauce. I will definitely be giving this one a try. Most of my family likes cooked cabbage.
I will stop by on the way home from Anne’s. 😁
I’ll sneak you out a serving and hide it!!!!!😜😝😉
I think that you’ll like it.
Now I feel like a road trip is in order!
Roadtrip!! When I wrote this post, I never would have guessed the direction the comments would go. Who would have guessed that we’d go from Escalloped Cabbage to roadtrips?
Perhaps because those of us who like cabbage (with gravy!) are few and far between?
At least amongst my readers, they aren’t as few and far between as I might have guessed. 🙂
If a road trip is in order, stop by Blackberry Homestead and I’ll make you some. 🙂
I can see it now–a series on roadtripping across Alabama, North Carolina, West Virginia, and returning through Pennsylvania to let Sheryl know about all the different cabbage with white sauce dinners!
What an amazing and fun trip that would be!
Agree! It would be a fun trip.
What a wonderful vintage recipe find, Sheryl! Recreating dishes from 100-year-old cookbooks is such a fun way to bring history back into the kitchen. Like margaret21 and Vero, I’d actually never thought to pair cabbage with a classic white sauce before, but it sounds like the ultimate cozy side dish! I had a good laugh reading the comment thread between Suzassippi, Anne Mehrling, and Vero about road trips and sneaking extra portions! Thanks for updating this 1926 Peoria classic for modern cooks.
It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoyed this post and the comments. It’s fun to see where readers went with this post.
It’s always fascinating to see how a single vintage recipe sparks such different ideas and kitchen memories across the community! Recreating these 100-year-old dishes brings history to life in the best way.
I like your description of the individuals who read this blog. I am so fortunate to have wonderful readers who write such thoughtful comments.
No doubt your recipe is wonderful but what people write about in in comments makes it amazing 😊 You have a wonderful community with you.
I’ve never heard of this before but it’s a nice simple recipe. Thanks for sharing it.
You’re welcome. It’s a nice recipe.
What a timely reminder!!! I picked up 5 very large heads of cabbage at the greenhouse this past week for making kraut and have a head leftover from filling the 5 gallon crock.
Homemade kraut sounds wonderful. I’ve eaten lots of homemade kraut, but never made it myself. I’m going to have to try making it someday.
From the farmer’s market straight to the 1920’s! The cabbage recipe sounds like the ultimate comfort food.
It’s a lovely comfort food.
Oh, boy do I love cabbage. I am going to have to try this one!
It’s tasty. I think that you’ll like it.