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Belgian Red Cabbage
5 tart apples 1 medium sized red cabbage 2 sticks cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cloves 1 bay leaf 1 sliced onion 3 tablespoons fat 2 cups water 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons vinegar Peel, core, slice apples. Slice cabbage very thin. Combine ingredients, except sugar and vinegar, and cook 3 hours. Add sugar and vinegar, cook 5 minutes longer. Serves 10.
A straightforward braised sweet-sour cabbage. The only real problem is the cooking time, which belongs to a coal range rather than a modern burner.
- Three hours is too longOn a modern gas or electric burner, thinly sliced red cabbage with two cups of water should be tender in 45 minutes to an hour, covered, over low heat. Cooked the full three hours on a modern hob it is likely to go to mush and the pan to run dry.
- Add the vinegar earlier if you want colourRed cabbage turns bluish-purple in the alkaline conditions of plain tap water and only reddens again with acid. Holding the vinegar back until the last five minutes, as written, gives you a duller pot than adding half of it at the start.
- "3 tablespoons fat"In a book of this date that means lard, bacon drippings or butter, whichever the household had. Any of the three works; bacon fat is the most idiomatic for this dish.
- Whole spicesTwo cinnamon sticks and a bay leaf are easy to fish out at the end. The half teaspoon of cloves may be whole or ground; the teaspoon measure fits either. If whole, tie all the spice in cheesecloth or you will be picking cloves out of the finished dish.
- Cabbage sizeA "medium sized" red cabbage is roughly 2 to 2 1/2 lb trimmed. Five apples is a good deal of fruit against that, and the finished dish will be markedly fruity.
- Pan and lidUse a wide heavy pot with a tight lid, and keep it covered. Check the water once or twice; the apples release liquid at first and then the pan can catch as it reduces.
- Yield and servingTen portions as a side dish, traditionally with pork, goose, duck or sausage. It reheats better than it cooks fresh, and the flavour improves overnight.