The Cabbage Wedges That Turn Into Candy at the Edges

Buy a firm green cabbage with tight leaves and no soft spots. You want one that feels heavier than it looks, like it has been keeping secrets. Red cabbage works too, but green cabbage gets sweeter and more tender in the middle.

Heat the oven to 450°F. Cut the cabbage through the core into wedges about 1½ inches thick. Leave the core attached; it holds each wedge together while the edges roast into frilly, browned ribbons. Put the wedges on a heavy sheet pan—my cast iron skillet also does an excellent job, because cast iron understands the assignment—and brush both sides generously with olive oil. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper.

Here is the step people skip: dry the cabbage before it meets the oil. If you rinsed it, pat it with a towel. Wet cabbage steams, and steamed cabbage is pale, floppy, and vaguely apologetic. Dry cabbage hits the hot pan and starts browning immediately. That is where the good stuff happens.

Roast for 20 minutes, then turn the wedges carefully. Roast another 15 to 20 minutes, until the outer leaves are dark at the tips and the cut sides have brown patches the color of toast. A few nearly black edges are not a crisis; they taste pleasantly bitter, like the best part of a grilled steak.

While it cooks, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a small pan with one minced garlic clove and a pinch of red-pepper flakes. Let the butter foam and smell nutty, but do not let the garlic turn brown. When the cabbage comes out, spoon the butter over it and finish with a squeeze of lemon. If you have grated Parmesan, scatter it on top. If you have toasted breadcrumbs, even better.

The finished cabbage should be crisp and crackly around the edges, silky in the center, and sweet enough to make you reconsider every boiled cabbage memory from childhood. Serve it beside roast chicken, sausages, or beans, with the browned leaves picked off first by whoever is standing nearest the pan. That person is me. I have no regrets.