“Cabbage soup? Gross!” is the general response when the topic of this 19th Century Danish food classic, “Skærtorsdag søbekål,” is broached. But if you know how to make it right, cabbage soup can be a delicious (and highly nutritious!) meal.
The Thursday before Easter is called Skærtorsedag, and it’s a public holiday despite most Danes not celebrating it in a traditional or religious sense. In English, it’s called “Maundy Thursday,” and commemorates the last supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. In the 19th Century, this was a big deal. And what better way to celebrate a big deal day than with a nine-cabbage soup? Ja?
Also known as Skærtorsdag søbekål, the soup was eaten because it was packed with nutrients that would ensure health for the coming year. As a bonus, the soup would ward off evil demons (and the soup was probably capable of warding off many other things. Toot toot!)
Skærtorsdag søbekål is made with seven or nine kinds of cabbage (due to superstition), or an odd number of different greens if cabbage was too difficult to obtain. But: NINE kinds of cabbage?! Is this even possible? If you include cabbage cousins broccoli, brussels sprouts and the gang, it is! I enlisted the culinary skills of chef Albin Blomkvist to create a recipe with greens and marrow that is super healthy. Albin not only did this, but also produced a soup that actually looked and tasted good; now that’s culinary skill!
Try this delicious and nutritious cabbage soup recipe, remixed from the 19th century Danish classic:
9 cabbage soup – Skærtorsdag Søbekål
Serves 4
Ingredients
1. 1 head of White cabbage
2. 1 head of Savoy cabbage
3. 1/2 head of Pointy red cabbage
4. Black kale / Cavolo nero
5. Green kale
6. 1/2 head of Cauliflower
7. 8-12 Brussel Sprouts
8. 1 head of Broccolini
9. 1/2 head of Romanesco
Also
4-6 kg of Pork bones (nøgleben)
2 Shallots
Thyme
Sea salt
What you need
- A large pot
- A small pot
- Frying pan
- Ice bath
- Chopping knife and/or food processor
- Hand blender
- Optional: food dehydrator
Instructions
Roast your pork bones at 180 degrees celsius for approximately 30 minutes, or until thoroughly roasted and dark brown.
Dice two larger shallots and saute them in a large pot. When the onions are just starting to caramelize, add your roasted pork bones to the pot.
Add cold water until it barely covers the bones. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer. Have a ladle ready to skim off any foam that forms on the top. This is the stock for your soup.
Add a handful of thyme. Optional: add a diced apple, dash of white wine or chopped and sauteed garlic.
Let your stock simmer for at least 30 minutes before straining the liquid into another pot. Let the liquid reduce until you have a taste and thickness that you’re happy with. This is going to be the base of your soup, so you’ll want strong flavors.
Using a knife, mandolin slicer or food processor, shred the white and savoy cabbages. Add the shredded cabbage to the stock and let it simmer.
Now it’s time to process the other vegetables. Leaving out the brussel sprouts, chop all your remaining vegetables to bite size pieces. Drop the pieces into boiling, salted water. After 10-20 seconds, remove and drop them into iced water for the same amount of time as blanching (10 – 20 seconds). This will immediately stop the cooking process and keep your vegetables at the perfect texture. Once vegetables are blanched, put aside.
Halve the brussel sprouts and fry them on the cut side in a thin layer of olive oil. Remove from frying pan and put aside, combining them with the blanched vegetables.
Brush the blanched cavolo nero (black kale) generously with olive oil and bake on a tray at 120 degrees celcius for 10 minutes or until crispy. You can also do this in a food dehydrator overnight if you’re very fancy. Once done, remove from baking tray and combine with all other vegetables.
By the time you have your other vegetables ready, the savoy and white cabbage should be cooked. Make sure of this by pressing some of the shredded vegetables against the side of the pot to see how easily the pieces break. When the fibers of the cabbage are broken down so that they pieces easily come apart, use your hand blender until the ingredients are smooth.
If the soup is too thick, just add a splash of water or milk. When the consistency is to your liking, add salt and pepper to taste.
Layer and mix your seven different kinds of cabbage in the bottom of your bowl, then pour the stock into the bowl along the side. This way you have a soup base with all your favorite kinds of perfectly cooked kale and cabbage in the middle.
Now enjoy your cabbage soup! Toot toot!
FAQs
The Cabbage Soup Diet is referred to as a rapid weight loss diet. Proponents' anecdotal claims include following the diet for 7 days can lead to weight loss of up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg), which they believe can jump-start a longer-term diet plan. The diet involves eating homemade cabbage soup for every meal for 1 week.
How much weight can you lose on the cabbage soup diet? ›
People who follow the diet strictly will likely lose some weight, potentially 10 pounds per week or more. This is because it involves eating so few calories each day. However, in most cases, people quickly regain this lost weight once they return to their regular diet.
Is cabbage soup good for belly fat? ›
The cabbage soup diet has been used as a rapid weight-loss plan for decades. And while following it will likely result in weight loss, the results may be fleeting, and participants may not experience a significant reduction in fat mass and body fat percentage like they might with a gradual weight-loss program.
Can you drink coffee on the cabbage soup diet? ›
Most versions allow black coffee while following the cabbage soup diet, but not coffee with milk.
How to lose 10 pounds in a week? ›
To lose 10 pounds in one week, you'll need to burn between 3,500 and 5,000 calories more than you consume each day by restricting your diet to small portions of nutritious yet low-calorie foods, and significantly increasing your aerobic exercise with interval training, sports, and other vigorous activities.
Can cabbage lower blood pressure? ›
The antioxidants in cabbage help reduce inflammation, which is linked to heart disease. Cabbage also contains something called anthocyanins. Several studies have found these compounds can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Can I lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks? ›
Trying to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks is simply not worth the risk. Summary: It's unrealistic and dangerous to attempt a 20-pound weight loss in 2 weeks. Doing so would require a deficit of 5,000 calories per day, which is far more than what most people eat and burn in a day.
How to get rid of tummy fat? ›
8 Ways to Lose Belly Fat and Live a Healthier Life
- Try curbing carbs instead of fats. ...
- Think eating plan, not diet. ...
- Keep moving. ...
- Lift weights. ...
- Become a label reader. ...
- Move away from processed foods. ...
- Focus on the way your clothes fit more than reading a scale. ...
- Hang out with health-focused friends.
Losing weight safely typically involves losing 1-2 pounds per week. This would allow you to lose 20 pounds within about 5 months at 1 pound per week or 2 1/2 months at about 2 pounds per week.
How many times a day should I eat cabbage soup? ›
Just like the name says, the bulk of this diet is fat-free cabbage soup, eaten two to three times a day with other allowed foods assigned each day. Here's what you can add: Day 1: Fruit, except bananas. Day 2: Vegetables like leafy greens (not starchy), but no fruit.
Cabbage and lemon juice
Lemon has detoxifying properties that help to burn excess fat, and it also decreases the feeling of hunger, which can decrease hunger. Lemon also contains diuretic properties and makes the blood more alkaline. In a blender, mix 1 cabbage leaf with the the juice of 2 lemons until well-combined.
Can you drink water on the cabbage soup diet? ›
Throughout the diet, no tea, coffee, or any other beverages are allowed – only water and unsweetened fruit juice on fruit days. While the cabbage soup diet can help you shed weight quickly, most of what you do drop during the diet is water weight, not fat, and will return almost immediately when the week is up.
What can you not eat on a cabbage soup diet? ›
You cannot eat (or drink) any food or beverage that is not on the 7-day cabbage soup meal plan. This includes alcohol, most grains and bread products, sugary drinks and fruit juices, and high-fat foods.
Can you eat a potato on the cabbage soup diet? ›
The cabbage soup diet allows you to eat all of the cabbage soup you like in addition to adding certain foods on specific days throughout the week. No bread, alcohol, or carbonated beverages, including diet sodas. Day 1: Any fruit except bananas. Day 2: Any and all vegetables, baked potato with butter for dinner.
Can I eat popcorn on the cabbage soup diet? ›
popcorn is just corn that is popped. conclusion: popcorn is part of the cabbage soup diet.
What was the diet craze in the 80s? ›
The period of low-fat everything had a strong focus on consuming single foods, with exotic-sounding names like the sexy pineapple diet, the grapefruit diet, the wine and eggs diet (yes, it really was a thing!), and even the cabbage soup diet, AKA the Dolly Parton diet.
What is the fad diet cabbage soup diet? ›
The Cabbage Soup diet is a low-calorie fad diet designed for quick short-term weight loss. The origins of the diet are unknown and at times it has been falsely attributed to a famous doctor as well as to a certain hospital. It gained in popularity in the 1980s as the diet was spread by fax.
What was the cabbage soup diet 1950? ›
The following decades saw the rise of the grapefruit diet (1930s), which promised weight loss if a grapefruit was eaten at each meal; the cabbage soup diet (1950s), which allowed the indulgence in as much cabbage soup as one could consume; and the macrobiotic diet (1960s), based on a Japanese diet of soy, brown rice ...
What is the theory behind the cabbage soup diet? ›
Simply put, the cabbage soup diet is a calorie-restricted plan that's low in fat and high in fibre. The aim of the diet is to restrict calories by limiting the foods you eat while filling up on fibre-rich soups. Daily calorie intake is estimated to be about 1000-1200kcal per day over the seven days of the programme.
Roast your pork bones at 180 degrees celsius for approximately 30 minutes, or until thoroughly roasted and dark brown.
Dice two larger shallots and saute them in a large pot. When the onions are just starting to caramelize, add your roasted pork bones to the pot.
Add cold water until it barely covers the bones. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer. Have a ladle ready to skim off any foam that forms on the top. This is the stock for your soup.
Add a handful of thyme. Optional: add a diced apple, dash of white wine or chopped and sauteed garlic.
Let your stock simmer for at least 30 minutes before straining the liquid into another pot. Let the liquid reduce until you have a taste and thickness that you’re happy with. This is going to be the base of your soup, so you’ll want strong flavors.
Using a knife, mandolin slicer or food processor, shred the white and savoy cabbages. Add the shredded cabbage to the stock and let it simmer.
Now it’s time to process the other vegetables. Leaving out the brussel sprouts, chop all your remaining vegetables to bite size pieces. Drop the pieces into boiling, salted water. After 10-20 seconds, remove and drop them into iced water for the same amount of time as blanching (10 – 20 seconds). This will immediately stop the cooking process and keep your vegetables at the perfect texture. Once vegetables are blanched, put aside.
Halve the brussel sprouts and fry them on the cut side in a thin layer of olive oil. Remove from frying pan and put aside, combining them with the blanched vegetables.
Brush the blanched cavolo nero (black kale) generously with olive oil and bake on a tray at 120 degrees celcius for 10 minutes or until crispy. You can also do this in a food dehydrator overnight if you’re very fancy. Once done, remove from baking tray and combine with all other vegetables.
By the time you have your other vegetables ready, the savoy and white cabbage should be cooked. Make sure of this by pressing some of the shredded vegetables against the side of the pot to see how easily the pieces break. When the fibers of the cabbage are broken down so that they pieces easily come apart, use your hand blender until the ingredients are smooth.
If the soup is too thick, just add a splash of water or milk. When the consistency is to your liking, add salt and pepper to taste.
Layer and mix your seven different kinds of cabbage in the bottom of your bowl, then pour the stock into the bowl along the side. This way you have a soup base with all your favorite kinds of perfectly cooked kale and cabbage in the middle.
