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Stewed Red Cabbage
Wash well a head of red cabbage, cut the leaves apart, trimming off all tough parts; peel and slice one onion, put it over the fire in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter, a breakfast cupful of cold gravy, and half a saltspoonful of pepper, and two teaspoonfuls of salt. Put in the cabbage, four tablespoonful of vinegar over it and cover the pan closely. Cook gently for an hour or until the cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally, and serve hot.
A straightforward braise that depends on two things the original states without emphasis: acid and a tight lid. Both are worth attending to.
- The vinegar is not optionalRed cabbage owes its colour to anthocyanins, which turn dull blue-grey in neutral or alkaline conditions. The four tablespoons of vinegar keep the dish red; add them early rather than at the end, and use a non-reactive pan (stainless or enamel, not bare cast iron or aluminium).
- Breakfast cupfulA breakfast cup is larger than a teacup, usually reckoned at somewhere around 8 to 10 fluid ounces. Take it as roughly a cup to a cup and a quarter of liquid, which is enough to keep the pan moist for an hour without stewing the cabbage to soup.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so half a saltspoonful of pepper is an eighth of a teaspoon — a whisper. Grind more to taste at the end.
- Two teaspoons of salt is a lotTwo teaspoons of salt -- For a whole head this is on the generous side, and the gravy may already carry some seasoning. You may prefer to start with half the quantity, taste after the first twenty minutes, and correct near the end when the liquid has reduced.
- Cold gravyThis assumes yesterday's roast-meat gravy in the larder, thickened and jellied. Beef or veal stock works, with a spoonful of pan drippings if you have them; a lightly thickened stock comes closest to the original texture.
- Cut the leaves apartWhole trimmed leaves will take the full hour and give a soft, folded texture. Shredding across the head, which is the more usual modern treatment, cuts the time to roughly 35 to 45 minutes.
- Cover closelyWith only a cup or so of liquid to an entire head, a loose lid will scorch the bottom. Use a heavy pan, keep the heat low, and stir every fifteen minutes or so.
- YieldA medium head serves four to six as a side dish. It reheats better than most vegetables and is arguably improved the next day.
Braised red cabbage with vinegar is Central and Northern European household cooking — German Rotkohl, Danish rødkål, the Flemish and Alsatian versions. This version is notably plain: no apple, no sugar, no cloves or juniper, none of the sweet-sour balance that the domestic versions usually carry. What it has instead is a breakfast cup of cold gravy, a dish built from what the last roast had left over.