Cabbage Stew

A camp stew reduced to its bones: sausage, aromatics and water in one pot. The instructions leave the cook to judge quantities and time, so a few numbers help.

• The cabbageDespite the title, no cabbage appears in the ingredient list at all; the cook is left to supply it. If you do, roughly one medium head, cored and cut into rough wedges or thick ribbons, suits the quantities here. Add it in the last 15-20 minutes rather than at the start, or it collapses into strings before the sausage has flavoured the broth.
• Sausage choiceEight sausages is about 1 1/2 to 2 lb, enough for four to six people. A coarse fresh pork sausage or a smoked kielbasa both work; small, finely ground breakfast links are more likely to break down and cloud the pot.
• Brown first if you canNothing in the text calls for it, but rendering the cut sausage in the dry pot for a few minutes before adding water gives the broth colour and depth. Simmering raw sausage in water yields a pale, thin result.
• "Cover with water"Use just enough to come level with the solids, not to float them. Sausage releases fat and salt as it cooks, and too much water leaves you with a soup wanting a reduction.
• Simmer, don't boil"Simmer tender" means a bare tremble at the surface for 30-40 minutes total. A rolling boil bursts the sausage casings and turns the fat cloudy and greasy.
• Seasoning orderThe recipe puts everything in together, salt included. If you prefer, hold the salt back: between the sausage and any reduction, the pot may need very little, and it is easy to overshoot early.
• Potatoes and other vegetablesWaxy potatoes in 1-inch chunks need about 20 minutes and can go in with the cabbage. Carrots and turnips take a little longer and are better added ahead of the cabbage.