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CABBAGE (a la Lilloise)
Wash and drain a large cabbage, and, after removing the stalk, cut it into pieces about the size of a walnut. Melt two ounces of butter in a saucepan, and fry in it for a minute or two a small tea-spoonful of finely-chopped onion. Add the cabbage, with pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Cook it over a slow fire, and turn it frequently to prevent burning. Place on a hot dish and serve. Time to prepare, fifteen minutes. Probable cost, 4d. or 5d. Sufficient for four persons.
A plain butter-braised cabbage that depends almost entirely on how it is cut and how patiently it is turned. Two small details in the original are worth reading carefully: the walnut-sized pieces, and the slow fire.
- The hinge: keep the heat low and the pan movingButter at a low heat lets the cabbage sweat and sweeten rather than scorch; the sugars in cabbage catch quickly and the burnt taste cannot be rescued. The recipe says only to turn it frequently over a slow fire; a heavy pan that spreads heat evenly helps.
- "Pieces about the size of a walnut"This is chunks, not shreds — roughly 1 to 1.5 inch squares of leaf, quartered through the ribs. Shredding it fine changes the dish into a quick fry that will be soft in five minutes and stringy by fifteen.
- Which cabbageA firm green or Savoy suits this best; Savoy in particular holds its shape through the braising. Red cabbage will work but wants a splash of vinegar to keep its colour, which this recipe does not provide. A large head is about 2 lb trimmed.
- Fifteen minutes is the total, not a guaranteeFifteen minutes is the stated time, not a guarantee -- The original allows fifteen minutes. Walnut-sized pieces on a genuinely low burner will want longer, perhaps 15 to 25 minutes; cover the pan for the first half if the cabbage is dry, then uncover to drive off moisture.
- Butter quantityTwo ounces is 4 tablespoons (55 g) for a whole cabbage — generous by modern habit but correct here, since the butter is the only sauce. Cutting it back leaves the dish dry.
- Onion and nutmegA small teaspoon of onion is a seasoning, not a base; chop it very fine so it disappears. The nutmeg should be grated fresh and used with restraint — a few rasps for the whole pan.
- Cost and yieldFourpence or fivepence is the Victorian retail price and has no modern equivalent worth calculating. The stated four portions is fair as a side dish.
À la lilloise means in the manner of Lille, the northern French city close to the Flemish border. Cassell's, published in London in the 1870s and reissued for decades afterwards, was assembled for middle-class households that wanted French names and English economy at the same time — hence a dish of cabbage, butter and a teaspoon of onion carrying a regional French label and a costing in pence. Cabbage was among the cheapest and most widely available vegetables in Victorian Britain, and this entry, with its slow fire and its butter, treats it as something other than a thing to be boiled.