Mom! Dad! Dont' touch it, it's evil....

March 29, 2008 1:53 PM

He (Mr. InstantSanitizer) started out with a straightforward recipe for cabbage soup. He ended up with a product that I don't know how to use... help, please... there is a stinky vat of it in my refrigerator. More inside...

He used a whole head of cabbage instead of the half head that the recipe called for and from then on he veered waaayyy off course.

It's sauce-like, with lots of shredded cabbage, but then it's got this intense tomato thing going on- along with chicken broth, he added 2 cans of tomato paste one of which was 'italian style'. It tastes cabbagey, vinegar-y, and tomato-y a la 'italian style'- out- of- a- can and it's not, in my opinion, edible. What can we 'cut' it with? What can we add it to? Do we flush it?

posted by InstantSanitizer to food & drink (17 comments total)

Try adding some sugar, but I'm not hopeful...
posted by gene_machine at 2:09 PM on March 29, 2008

I would say definitely don't add sugar, as that will only add to the heavy flavor imparted by too much tomato. Also, it will also make it taste more like a canned soup.

I'd recommend diluting it down with water until it's a little weak-tasting, then bringing back up the flavor with something other than cabbage and tomato, e.g. meat, pasta, beans, zucchini, onions, etc. and then re-salting. Maybe also put some good olive oil in before serving. Aaand, chopped parsley will help lighten the heavy tomato flavor.

Dang, 2 cans of tomato paste is an awful lot.
posted by rxrfrx at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2008

You say it tastes a bit like something out of a can, so maybe it would be better as a base for some meat dish? Sliced Italian sausage? Chicken breast?
posted by dhartung at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2008

Add more water and two or three kinds of beans, NOT canned beans because they won't absorb the tomato and chicken flavoring as readily as dried beans will. Rinse the dried beans thoroughly first to get rid of any dirt or bean skins, small pebbles, etc., before adding them to the pot. After allowing the whole, uh, experiment to soak in the fridge for a day or so, put it on the stove and simmer with the lid on for a couple of hours or longer...see how it tastes, and add spices if needed. I usually use cayenne pepper and crushed garlic cloves, but I'm sure you have your own preferences. Anyway, this is how I've saved several questionable batches of "soup", by adding relatively bland ingredients to stuff that's too "cabbage-y" or whatever, and they turned out fine.
posted by motown missile at 2:36 PM on March 29, 2008

Flush it. Sounds gross.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 2:43 PM on March 29, 2008

Compost heap. While diluting and adding beans or pasta is a very good idea, this would require additional cooking, and overcooked cabbage is not particularly appetizing.
posted by francesca too at 3:16 PM on March 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

That's a lot of tomato paste. I'd have to say pitch/compost it.
posted by madmethods at 3:30 PM on March 29, 2008

Yikes. Don't flush it unless you want serious toilet troubles. If you decide to get rid of it, and don't have a compost heap, drain off the liquid into the sink and put the rest in the garbage.
posted by loiseau at 3:37 PM on March 29, 2008

If it's vinegary, don't try to cook dry beans in there -- they'll never get soft.
posted by redfoxtail at 3:46 PM on March 29, 2008

In your food processor: Grind a lb. or more of burger with 1/2 an onion and some parsley. Put into a large ovenproof casserole dish with some plain white rice and pour the soup over the top. Bake covered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until rice is tender. Uncover for the last 1/2 hour. You'll have baked stuffed cabbage casserole.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:11 PM on March 29, 2008 [4 favorites]

Dumplings or white beans.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:07 PM on March 29, 2008

Do you have any local pigs?
posted by Caviar at 5:51 PM on March 29, 2008 [3 favorites]

That sounds wrong on so many levels. I'm going to say that the stench of overcooked cabbage and the extreme tomato pastiness will tend to counteract the deliciousness of anything you add to it, to the point where achieving a tasty equilibrium will be a very expensive prospect. Better to bury it somewhere deep, so that the dogs won't dig it up and roll around in it.
posted by mumkin at 6:22 PM on March 29, 2008

You have a sauce! But for what?

How about:

- tortilla chips

...aaand that's all I've got. But maybe try thinking of it as a sauce. Maybe for something eastern-european.

How much do you like cabbage?

Maybe it could also be soup _base_?
posted by amtho at 8:49 PM on March 29, 2008

Freeze it in very small bases. Use as a base for sauces, stirfries and soups.
posted by acoutu at 10:07 PM on March 29, 2008

Sounds like the beginning of Portugues (Portagee) bean soup. AND the more cabbage the better! Add sliced and fried italian sausage, chopped carrots, onions and celery, frozen green peas and beans, gobs of garlic and cook until the carrots are soft, Add a couple of cans of kidney beans, salt and pepper to taste, and serve with crusty french bread. Major Nummers! Freezes well, too!
posted by Acacia at 2:36 AM on March 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

Composting works. If you don't have access to that, the cleanest way is to double- or triple-layer plastic bags (shopping bags are wonderful garbage bags for around the house) and put it in that. Tie it up well and put it in with your regular garbage in the black garbage bags. Speaking as a student with a very experimental idea of cooking.
posted by Phire at 4:02 PM on April 3, 2008