The market · Vegetables · East Asia
Napa cabbage
Chinese leaf: a tall, pale, crinkled cabbage, tender and sweet — the one kimchi is made from.
sweet · mild · fresh
just inWhat to do with it
HuaiyangLion's head meatballsLarge, soft pork meatballs, gently stewed in stock over Chinese leaf until they're tender enough to eat with a spoon.No one here has made it yetBeijingInstant-boiled muttonPaper-thin slices of raw mutton swished for a moment in plain boiling water, in a chimneyed copper pot over charcoal, then dipped in a rich sesame sauce.No one here has made it yet
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- East Asian grocers and supermarkets, often as Chinese leaf. Heavy for its size and tightly packed.
- Worth knowing
- For kimchi, salt the halves until the white ribs bend without snapping.
Kitchens that keep it in
Beijing and the northern plain, northern ChinaBeijingA wheat-and-mutton kitchen of the dry north, salty and savoury with fermented bean pastes, where palace banquets and street snacks grew up side by side.8 classicsKoreaKoreanA cooking of ferments — kimchi and the jang pastes — with rice, soup and a table of small side dishes at every meal.11 classics
