As in broccoli rabe. I think it’s pronounced “rob”. Interesting that dictionary.com and wikipedia were of no help. I’m sure one of you guys will have an excellent answer.
Noun
- broccoli rabe - plant grown for its pungent edible leafy shoots
- broccoli rabe - slightly bitter dark green leaves and clustered flower buds
It’s a leafy vegetable, used in Italian cooking. Here’s the wikipedia article about it:
The common confusion is that broccoli rabe is some sort of preparation of the vegetable broccoli when in fact broccoli rabe is a completely different vegetable.
[QUOTE=neorxnawange]
The common confusion is that broccoli rabe is some sort of preparation of the vegetable broccoli when in fact broccoli rabe is a completely different vegetable.
[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly what I was confused about. I first heard about it on some Food Network show where some guy was making Philly cheesesteaks and he put “a broccoli rabe” on one of the sandwiches. It looked like a broccoli cheese preparation, and he referred to it as one would a preparation. Then I heard it again used in the same context. I think both incidents were on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown.
Take that ignorance!
The botanical family Brassica is a confusing mess, especially when approaching it from the culinary direction - for example, some things colloquially called ‘cabbage’ are technically the same as some things called ‘mustard’ and other things called ‘turnip’ - all that’s happened is that various cultivars have been developed to emphasise or exaggerate different attributes of the same species.
Broccoli (the tree-shaped green kind) is Brassica oleracea - so is ordinary cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohl rabi and kale.
Broccoli rabe is Brassica rapa - as are Chinese cabbages and turnips (but not swede/rutabaga, which is a variety of Brassica napus.
It’s made even more confusing by the fact that these species will quite readily interbreed to produce fertile offspring.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
…Broccoli (the tree-shaped green kind) is Brassica oleracea - so is ordinary cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohl rabi and kale…
[/QUOTE]
Let me get this straight:
cabbage = cabbage
brussel sprouts = Mini-cabbage
broccoli = bunches of nano-cabbage
kohl rabi = giant mini-cabbage
cauliflower = bunches of fucked-up white nano-cabbage
kale = giant leaves of cabbage
mustard = proto-cabbage
Broccoli rabe/Rapini = Something completely different
Pretty much (except maybe the mustard).
But not completely different, no. Different enough to warrant being called a different species, but only just - as I said, it’s a confusing mess and rather than being nice species consisting of distinct and uniform members, they’re huge diverse somewhat-overlapping splodges of widely-variable members.
[QUOTE=garygnu]
cauliflower = bunches of fucked-up white nano-cabbage
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If I ever get a TV cooking show, I am so using this!
[QUOTE=garygnu]
Let me get this straight:
cabbage = cabbage
brussel sprouts = Mini-cabbage
broccoli = bunches of nano-cabbage
kohl rabi = giant mini-cabbage
cauliflower = bunches of fucked-up white nano-cabbage
kale = giant leaves of cabbage
mustard = proto-cabbage
Broccoli rabe/Rapini = Something completely different
[/QUOTE]
Well to be more accurate:
broccoli = juicy green cabbage flowers and stems
cauliflower= juicy white cabbage flowers and stems
kohl rabi = mutant giant cabbage stem
Some rabbis are women, and some of those are gorgeous. When a rabbi is a babe, she’s a rabe. Simple as that, though I suppose some guys call them RILFs.
And if a gorgeous rabbi became President, they’d call her Rabe-re-ham Lincoln.
I don’t know much about botany, but I can correct an error here. I don’t know what dish the guy on the food show was making. It may even have been a tasty dish. But whatever it was, it absolutely wasn’t a Philly cheesesteak. The only vegetables on or in a Philly cheesesteak are mushrooms and onions (both optional), and maybe, maybe peppers.
Next you’ll be telling me that he sliced the bun in two. shudders
Nice OP. I was actually going to post this very thing a couple of days ago.
Because I had some at a restaurant.
It looks like broccoli with tiny little florets and a long stringy stem. It was delicious, but quite bitter.
So could you say the cabbage/broccoli family is kind of analogous to the chihuahua and mastiff both belonging to the dog family?
Fascinating.
So far, no one (except AskNott :)) has explained the word “rabe”.
If anyone can answer that, here’s a related question: Is broccoli rabe a type of broccoli, or it is a type of rabe? In other words, which word is modifying which?
[QUOTE=Chronos]
The only vegetables on or in a Philly cheesesteak are mushrooms and onions (both optional), and maybe, maybe peppers.
[/QUOTE]
Mushrooms are vegetables?
[QUOTE=Keeve]
So far, no one (except AskNott :)) has explained the word “rabe”.
If anyone can answer that, here’s a related question: Is broccoli rabe a type of broccoli, or it is a type of rabe? In other words, which word is modifying which?
[/QUOTE]
Broccoli rabe is formed from the Italian broccoli di rapa, which translates as flowering tops of the turnip. So says my unabridged Merriam Webster.
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
Mushrooms are vegetables?
[/QUOTE]
Well, they’re not animals or minerals, but I think I know what you mean; they’re taxonomically distinct from plants, IIRC.
Culinarily, yes. Taxonomically, they’re as different from vegetables as we are, but by that definition, the bun is a vegetable too.