I'm looking for a great recipe for cabbage soup. For those of you familiar with the chain Big Boy - we had them in Michigan, their cabbage soup is what I'd like to try to duplicate - I love the taste of it. My cabbage soup never seems to have much flavor.

So, how do you make yours?
Cindy

Hey Cindy,
I've never had Big Boy's cabbage soup but I'm gonna try it now that you've asked about it.

I searched for it on the internet and found this recipe at:

http://www.thatsmyhome.com/soupkitchen/cabbage.htm

Cabbage Soup like Big Boy’s

1 (12-ounce) can V-8 juice
4 ribs celery cut in 2-inch pieces
2 cans (14 ounces each) sliced stewed tomatoes
2 cans (14 ounces each) clear beef broth
1 broth can water
1 smoked pork hock (3/4 pound) or ham steak in bite-size pieces
1 onion, about the size of a lemon, diced
1/4 of a 2 1/2-pound head cabbage, diced and cored and outer leaves discarded
1 (14-ounce) can sliced carrots, undrained and finely diced
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 teaspoon dry minced parsley
Generous dash pepper
Salt to taste if desired

Put V-8 juice and celery into blender and blend on high speed, about half a minute or until minced. Pour into 6-quart kettle and add each remaining ingredient as listed.

Bring to boil.

Cover and reduce to gentle simmer — simmering two hours or until cabbage is tender.

Serves 6.

Recipe may be cut in half. Freezes well. Thaw and reheat within six months.

does this sound like what you're looking for?
it sure sounds good to me.
Cathy

The soup in the "cabbage soup diet" is the same soup you get at Big Boy's. I will dig my recipe up and post it for you.

I make cabbage soups alot. Or rather vegetable soups with lots of cabbage (I think a vegetable soup without cabbage is disappointing). I use half V-8 and half chicken broth as my base and then just dump tons and tons of veggies of any kind I have on hand and want to throw in. Sometimes I add bits of meat or chicken to the broth and I add a bouillon cube or two to boost the flavor (or powdered soup base I buy in bulk).

To me, onion, V-8, the cabbage and the bouillon/soup base, are the secrets to the flavor developing. Sometimes I use spicy V-8.

The advantages of a "dump" soup are that you can use whatever you've got on hand without a recipe, but the disadvantage is that you have to experiment a bit with it to find out. I've added canned, fresh, or frozen veggies, and use any non-starchy veggies. Although I sometimes add potatoes, corn, beets, peas and/or podless beans, I keep it minimal to keep the calories down.

ok, found it. This is the basis of the Cabbage soup diet. Hated the diet, love the soup. And it's just like Big Boys.

1-2 large onions
2 green peppers
1 large can whole tomatoes
1/2 head of cabbage
1 large stalk of celery
2 Mrs. Grass onion soup mix and 3-5 beef boullion
oregano optional, but I love it, so I always put it in
pepper

In a large soup pot cut vegetables and cover with water.
add dry soup mix. boullion. black pepper and seasoning if desired. Boil 10 min, cover and simmer untill vegetables are soft. Aroound 30 min.

Basically, it's just throw eveything in a pot and cook it untill the cabbage is done.

Thanks everyone! The common theme here seems to be some onion soup mix or soup base - I've not used either typically, so maybe that's my problem. I do think that spicy V8 might help - Big Boy's does seem to have a bit of a peppery punch to it that I really like.

Quick-simmered soups usually do need a bit of a flavor-punch, and often taste very bland without some bouillon or soup base.