Chou Rouge / Red Cabbage

One of the best things about the colder months is red cabbage. This is classic French, from Lorraine, in the north east which is full of dairy farms and orchards. In Britain we tend to just have it pickled which under utilises this lovely vegetable. 

1 red cabbage

2 onions

125g smoked bacon lardons

1tbsp lard

300ml red wine

300ml chicken stock

Salt  pepper

A bay leaf

A large apple

Unsurprisingly, the boy isn’t that fond of cabbage, but the apple sweetens it so he doesn’t mind this if he isn’t given too much. Quite a bit of chopping so a Saint Saens cello concerto on the CD player to keep me company as there is no way the boy is helping.  First core the cabbage. Quickest way to do this is hold it in one hand at the top and bash it core side down, on the counter, quite hard. If you have done it hard enough, you can just pull the core out. Remove a few outer leaves and chop quite coarsely. Blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain.

Chop the onions and core and chop the apple. Sweat the bacon and onions in the lard. If you can’t find lard, a decent olive oil would do and streaky bacon could substitute for the lardons, though make sure it’s dry cure so it isn’t half water.

Tip the onion/bacon mix into a large casserole along with the cabbage. Add the stock, wine, salt, bay leaf and pepper (lots of pepper) and the apple. Mix well.

Cook in a medium oven – 190 / Gas 5 for 60 to 90 minutes. The French would have traditionally done this for 2 hours but I think tastes have moved on so check after an hour. Jane Grigson says that the longer it stews the more nutty the flavour, but even so....

Elizabeth David offers a dish similar to this but omits the bacon, stock and wine, and adds another apple, 2tbsp port, 2tbsp wine vinegar and 2tbsp sugar. Instead of any pre-cooking, layer the cabbage, onion and apple in a casserole and add seasoning and salt as you go. Push a bouquet garni in the middle and spoon on the port and vinegar. Personally I think it needs another tbsp. of each and another of water. Cover and cook in a low oven (150/Gas2) for 3 hours. Again I think tastes have changed so check after 90 minutes. How good would this be with some small Toulouse sausages and potatoes fried with sage? I think the boy would really like this version though he would miss the bacon.

I’ve read various other versions that seem to be variations on these, dating from 1806 onwards. The only temptation is the one that adds some brandy. We have about an inch in the bottom of a bottle of Spanish brandy that has been gathering dust for months. Hope the boy hasn’t been keeping an eye on it for anything else. Calvados would be good – wish we had some.