How to Make Grilled Cabbage With Ginger-Miso Dressing

I never thought in my life I'd see cabbage and think, "I absolutely must have that." I'm not a cabbage hater by any means—I give it tons of love in coleslaw—but I never thought it had the power to elicit such a response from me until I saw Kenji's grilled cabbage article. I could tell by just looking at the blackened, crisped edges that this was something I needed in my life, and pronto. So the next chance I got, I grabbed a head of cabbage and fired up the grill.

I followed the process precisely by first charring each of the three sides of my cabbage wedges, then roasting them until crisp-tender over indirect heat. Next I moved the wedges to a board, brushed on a little olive oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Finally I applied my own idea for a dressing—a ginger-miso sauce that I punched up with brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and white pepper.

My expectations were correct: the cabbage was freaking incredible. The contrast between the cabbage leaves' soft and crunchy spots was spot-on, and made even better by the fragile charred edges that had a light smoky flavor. The dressing elevated it even more as it seeped between the leaves, making each bite a complex mixture of sweet, salty, earthy, and tangy. As I was eating it, I had a hard time fathoming that I was eating lowly cabbage...and that it was stealing the spotlight from the grilled meats I had alongside it.

If that isn't an argument for it, I don't know what is.