—Joel Ozersky—
Even though astronomically the first day of summer is several weeks away, it unofficially began on Monday, May 27, 2019. Memorial Day. For most Americans, this means firing up the grill and grilling hamburgers. This year, I traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia, to spend the weekend with Laura, her family, and some dear friends from our college days who now live in the ‘Burg.
This year was a smaller affair than most. I made my usual potato salad and corn, tomato and avocado salad. But alas, no burgers because the gas grill was on the fritz. Besides, my friend Andrew planned on steaming shrimp and crab legs. They were awesome. And with the heat being what it was this past weekend, it was nice to cook inside.
And though I enjoyed the quiet turn of this year's events, I could help but reminisce about that fateful Memorial Day weekend in 2017 when Andrew made..... Grilled Cabbage.
As I mentioned earlier, Memorial Day Weekend is when a lot of folks fire up the grill for the first time. Now in May of 2015, we had a charcoal grill in Williamsburg, but the discussion that day quickly moved to whether we needed a new grill—a gas grill. I know there are a lot of purists who will not use anything but charcoal. But you can’t beat the convenience of a gas grill. I’ve had both, and I’ve found that I’ve grilled a lot more with a gas grill than with the charcoal version. Besides, our place in the ‘Burg is a second home, and things should be as convenient as possible. So, after a quick trip to the local Ace Hardware and some haggling, we got a real good deal on a Weber floor model.
And then it got interesting. Andrew insisted that the lid on the grill stay closed. I was a newbie to the world of grilled cabbage, so I acquiesced to my friend's apparent expertise in this area. We then quickly turned our attention to the mundane events in our lives, when I notice flames licking out from underneath the lid, growing intensity.
"Andrew, should it be doing that?"
"Oh, it's fine."
And then the grease trap caught fire—a bit too close to the propane tank for my tastes!
And that point we sprung into action and doused the flames and saved the cabbage and whatever else happened to survive the conflagration.
Afterwards, we had a great laugh. It is still my favorite Memorial Day Weekend memory.
For the not-so-faint-of-heart, here's the recipe:
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©2015 Andrew Langer
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Grilled Cabbage
(Courtesy of Andrew Langer)
Ingredients
1 head cabbage (about 2 lbs)
1 package bacon
1/4 cup Barbecue Sauce
1/2 stick butter, sliced into six pieces
Preparation
1. Cut bacon crosswise into small pieces. Sauté until cooked, drain, and set aside.
2. Core head of cabbage, leaving the rest of the head intact, so that there is a cavity 3-4 inches across and several inches deep.
3. Take aluminum foil, crumple and make a ring, 3 inches in diameter (see picture).
4. Mix cooked bacon and barbecue sauce together. Lay 3 slices of butter in cavity, add bacon mixture, then lay three more piece of butter on top.
5. Turn grill to high and pre-heat until temperature reaches 300+ degrees. Put aluminum foil ring on grill, put cabbage on ring. Close grill..
6. Cook cabbage for 60-90mins [though I think 45 mins to 60 mins is plenty], rotating cabbage head with tongs every 15 mins. When cabbage is soft all the way through, it's done. Don't worry if exterior leaves start to char—they will fall off when you take the cabbage off the grill.
