Have plenty of boiling water ready salted, now cut off the stalk part where it is thickest and throw this in first.

Wait till the water comes to the boil again and let it boil for a few minutes.

Then throw in the next thickest part and again wait till the water re-boils, and so on, reserving the thin leafy part to be thrown in last of all.

By this means, and this only, do we get the cabbage boiled uniformly.

Had we thrown in all at once one of two things would be inevitable--either the stalk would be too hard to be eaten or the leafy part over-boiled.