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Pickled Cabbage
Mrs. A. N. Arnold.
Select solid heads, slice very fine, put in a jar, then cover with boiling water; when cold, drain off the water , and season with grated horse-radish, salt, equal parts of black and red pepper, cinnamon, and cloves whole ; cover with strong vinegar. This is convenient and always good.
A quick vinegar pickle of the sort kept in a crock on a cellar shelf and eaten within weeks. The instructions assume knowledge the modern cook has to supply: quantities, vinegar strength, and where to keep the jar.
- The hinge: drain thoroughlyThe boiling-water scald wilts the cabbage and drives out air; any water left behind dilutes the vinegar and shortens the keeping life. Press the drained cabbage in a colander before it goes back in the jar.
- "Strong vinegar"Nineteenth-century household vinegar varied widely in strength, and "strong" here means undiluted, sharply acid vinegar rather than a weak one. Any modern bottled vinegar at 5 percent acidity will do; do not dilute it.
- Quantities are absentThe recipe gives no weight of cabbage and no measure of seasoning. As a working ratio, two medium heads (about 3 lb sliced) take roughly 2 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons grated horseradish, a teaspoon each of black and cayenne pepper, and a tablespoon each of whole cloves and broken cinnamon stick, with about a quart of vinegar to cover.
- "Red pepper"In this period red pepper means cayenne, not paprika and not sweet peppers. Equal parts black and red makes a genuinely hot pickle by modern standards; halve the cayenne if that is not wanted.
- Whole spices, deliberatelyWhole spices -- The recipe specifies cinnamon and cloves whole. Ground spice in their place will cloud the vinegar and discolour the cabbage.
- HorseradishFresh grated root is what is meant. Prepared horseradish from a jar already contains vinegar and salt, so reduce the added salt slightly if using it.
- This is not a canning recipeThere is no processing, no sealing and no measured acidity, so treat it as a refrigerator pickle: cover, chill, and eat within a month. Do not seal it in jars and store at room temperature.
- Yield and servingOn the quantities suggested above, expect upwards of two quarts. A pickle of this kind would have been eaten as a relish in small quantities beside cold or fried meat rather than as a salad.
This is a quick spiced vinegar pickle rather than a fermented kraut: the cabbage is scalded, drained and covered with vinegar, skipping fermentation entirely in favour of speed. That is the sense of Mrs. Arnold's closing line, "convenient and always good" — an afternoon's work with a cheap winter storage vegetable, drawn on for weeks without the watching and skimming a crock of kraut demanded. Recipes signed with a contributor's name, and giving seasonings without quantities, are characteristic of community cookbooks assembled from members' contributions.