Recipe: Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage is a traditional German side dish. I have to admit… in recent years I’ve gotten lazy … I would buy the one in the glass jar in the supermarket… which by the way .. is very good. Warren and I were talking recently about red cabbage… he recalled how wonderful his mother’s red cabbage was… I have a pdf file of the recipes his mother gave his sisters and him… so I went digging through them… unfortunately it wasn’t there.

So based on what I had in my Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage recipe and what he remembered… I made him red cabbage.

The result was really very good…. the only change from the recipe I always liked, was the addition of a little bacon…. what’s not to love about a little addition of bacon?

It is surprisingly very easy to make and requires very little ingredients….

The smell in house was divine... reminded me of my childhood... Sunday dinner...

TIPS

You can shred the cabbage in a processor… or if you have “issues” with your processor (mine has all those new fangled safety features that drive me nuts… I’m thinking of swapping this new one for my old one that I gave my son)… you can carefully… keyword here is… carefully.. cut the cabbage in half then chop very thin slices with a sharp large kitchen knife.

I lot of recipes call for sliced apple… I prefer to use applesauce instead.. I like the taste but didn’t want the actual apple in the red cabbage.

You can use regular vinegar but I really think cider vinegar is best.

Remove all but about two tablespoons of bacon grease after cooking the bacon… I used pretty lean bacon.. I don’t think I even had two tablespoons… you want just enough to cook the onions in.

If you want to leave the bacon out… melt 2 tablespoons butter and cook the onions in that instead of the bacon grease.

I cooked it slowly over low heat until it was the desired tenderness… I think it gives all the flavors a chance to mingle.

This was a really delicious side dish to Oven Fried Pork Chops and Creamy Mashed Potatoes… with a side of applesauce… I hope you try it!






Recipe: Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

All you need:

4 slices of thick sliced smoked bacon, diced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium sized head of red cabbage, shredded
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup water
¼ cup plain applesauce
3 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)
A pinch of ground cloves
Salt to taste

All you need to do:

In a large pot, cook the diced bacon over medium heat until a good bit of the bacon grease has been rendered… stirring frequently… make sure the bacon remains soft not crisp.

Remove all but about two tablespoons of bacon grease.

Add the onions and stir well… cook until onions are soft and translucent.

Add the shredded red cabbage and stir well.

Add the remaining ingredients except the salt.. stir well and cover with a lid.

Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes or until cabbage is soft. Stir occasionally.

Add salt to taste.

Makes about 6 servings depending on the size head of cabbage you use.