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Braised red cabbage..any tried n tested recipies ? :)

(16 Posts)
bikergran Mon 08-Oct-18 17:51:07

Went to a lovely carvery last week and there was a dish of red cabbage, think it had bits of apple in it, it was delicious! and thought its must on the Christmas dinner table.

Have looked at few recipes but they seem to differ, some say red wine vinegar,some white what vinegar, I don't want it tasting like pickled cabbage lol (it was served warm)

J52 Mon 08-Oct-18 18:06:14

I’ve always used Delia’s.

kittylester Mon 08-Oct-18 18:26:03

I use delia's too but sometimes sub sultanas for some apple! Or as well!!

winterwhite Mon 08-Oct-18 18:28:57

I use an old Elizabeth Dvid recipe, perhaps from French Country Cooking. Very long slow cook in oven in casserole dish with good lid, with (for a small red cabbage) a chopped onion a large sliced Bramley apple and the juice and grated peel of a largish orange. Poss tbsp of white wine vinegar, wh stops the colour from leaching from the cabbage. Smells v aromatic when cooking.

To this the orig recipe adds for the last hour or so sausages, separately cooked in oven or fried - cooking from scratch with the cabbage would be much too greasy. Very popular Saturday lunch when my children lived at home.

Cherrytree59 Mon 08-Oct-18 18:29:20

To keep the colour I add Red currant jelly

Grannynise Mon 08-Oct-18 19:26:46

A bit of balsamic vinegar and some orange juice. Chopped apple, sultanas, onion - depends what floats your boat really. It needs to be acidic to keep the colour. It freezes well too.

Scribbles Mon 08-Oct-18 19:40:00

I use this one, from Ginny Barnfield's Steam in the Kitchen

1 small red cabbage, thinly sliced
12 shallots or small onions, peeled
2 or 3 cooking apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
About 90 ml vinegar - raspberry, cider, wine or malt according to taste and availability
About 500 ml water
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

Optional
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon caraway seeds OR freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Put half the liquid and all the remaining ingredients except the sugar in a large covered pan and cook gently for an hour (approx) until tender.
Add the sugar and remaining liquid and boil, stirring, until the liquid is reduced to a thin, syrupy consistency.

I've found this works really well in the slow cooker - just throw in everything except the sugar and switch it on for as long as it needs, about 5 to 6 hours on Low, IME. You will need to reduce the liquid quantity a little. At the end, stir in the sugar and leave to cook for a further 30 minutes or thereabouts.

It keeps for ages in the fridge and also freezes well.

Bathsheba Mon 08-Oct-18 19:41:57

I'm really not keen on the recipes with vinegar - very Austrian sauerkraut style, which has never appealed to me. The way I cook red cabbage is to slice it very finely, as if for coleslaw, together with a red onion, similarly sliced, and stir fry in sunflower oil in a wok until tender with 8-12 crushed juniper berries. Really tasty! Half a glass of red wine added towards the end is quite good too - but not red wine vinegar ?

JackyB Mon 08-Oct-18 19:54:44

It is a staple food throughout the winter here in Germany. Traditionally it is supposed to taste better the more often it is warmed up.

When I was au pairing with a German family, I was taught to cook the whole head of cabbage (took about 45 minutes), then chop it and re-heat it with onions and apples cut into fine strips, a shot of vinegar, a pinch of sugar, and absolutely no added water.

I have never cooked it this way myself since, but cut it into fine shreds whilst still raw, and cooked it with the apples, onions, sugar and vinegar, adding salt as well, but, again, no water at all. Cook for ages over a very very low heat.

Last Christmas I was given a pomegranate balsamic vinegar which I used. I have also tried a recipe using port wine.

With game, goose, or a roast dark meat it is a very traditional winter meal. Usually complemented with stodgy dumplings and a thick dark gravy.

Fennel Mon 08-Oct-18 20:28:38

A few years ago we had some red cabbages in the garden and I cooked them like most recipes above (plus apples onions raisins etc.)
Then ruined it by adding too much mixed spice.
I put it into plastic bags in the freezer but we never ate it.

Hilltopgran Mon 08-Oct-18 22:15:59

We grow and eat a lot of red cabbage, it freezes well so I often freeze ready to cook with red onion and grated apple added. I also sometimes add sultanas. I cook in a cast iron casserole dish in the oven on low heat for about two hours in orange juice, with a stick of cinemon and stir in red currant jelly before serving. I make a large enough quantity to serve at two to three meals as it tastes good reheated on the following days.

silverlining48 Tue 09-Oct-18 08:00:47

It’s my favourite veg and I cook it to my German mums recipe, like Jacky. It freezes really well and I think tastes even better when reheated. Also looks attrActive on the plate with green veg.

MawBroon Tue 09-Oct-18 09:05:27

I share your German parentage smile and try to recapture my mum’s wonderful Rotkohl. Sometimes she added juniper berries instead of cloves, but the sweet/sour thing is very typical of East Prussia where her family was from.
Delia’s s recipe is good too and foolproof.
Sauerkraut I think of as German or Alsace-Lorraine (choucroute garnie) rather than Austrian though,

bikergran Tue 09-Oct-18 09:31:11

ohh lovely jubbly..going to print these off,will try a combination and test thanks all smile

Katek Tue 09-Oct-18 10:24:18

Cracking up - read title as bruised red cabbage. I need more sleep.

fiorentina51 Tue 09-Oct-18 10:38:45

My Belgian mother in law passed on her recipe to me.
Shred the cabbage into smallish strips and add to a pan with some melted butter.
Toss and coat the cabbage in the butter, add chopped bramley apple, a pinch of nutmeg and a bay leaf.
Put the lid on the pan and simmer on a very low heat until the cabbage and apple are tender, stir from time to time.
It freezes well and tastes better if left for 24 hours after cooking.