On Danish-Westrian Cabbage
Feb. 10th, 2010 12:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lwoodA few minutes ago, I started cooking six pounds of (pre-shredded! the decadence!) red cabbage, to which I added apple cider vinegar, honey, and a bit of water. The recipe is cited as "Danish", as opposed to the one on the facing page which is "German". The cookbook was written by Danish-American expats living in Southern California, with a little help from their friends, as I'd mentioned before.
The smell wafting through the apartment right now touches me in some deep, comforting place—even though my mother's cabbage expertise began and ended at "white cabbage boiled until dead". I admit to a certain nostalgia for the sulfurous plume that arises from a good boiled dinner (e.g. corned beef and the aforementioned Really Most Sincerely Dead cabbage). The red cabbage smells like and unlike that, which is probably for the best.
Soon, I will (in accordance with theprophecy recipe) add a dollop of pomegranate jelly, which was probably some kind of lingonberry preserve back in Ye Olde Country.
But I didn't "back-correct" it, even though I have a jar of lingonberry preserves in the refrigerator.
No, I find the pomegranate is a nice touch, withal: a reminder that we're not, in fact, in Ye Olde Country, and that, just as our foremothers of spirit cooked tasty, healthful food with what was to hand, so can we--with what comes to hand here in California, which does not include bog berries like lingonberries, but does include cabbage, apple, onions--and pomegranates.
Some other day, I will make the one from the "German" page.
It has bacon.
I'm making red cabbage because![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
auntiematter won't be here to make and serve it herself--I don't have her recipe, but when she makes it, no matter how much she makes, she simply cannot make enough.
May mine go half so well.
-- Lorrie
PS: In the Chronicles of Westria,dpaxson immortalized the Santa Ynez Valley as the Danehold, a heathen enclave on Westria's southern border--hence the title here.
PPS: Well, Westria's southern border except for those years when the summer is rather too long and boring, and the young lads do what young lads do, which, given the givens, means "go raiding into Elaya and accidentally capture Santibar". What, doesn't every jarl want a deepwater port of his very own as a Midsummer present?
The smell wafting through the apartment right now touches me in some deep, comforting place—even though my mother's cabbage expertise began and ended at "white cabbage boiled until dead". I admit to a certain nostalgia for the sulfurous plume that arises from a good boiled dinner (e.g. corned beef and the aforementioned Really Most Sincerely Dead cabbage). The red cabbage smells like and unlike that, which is probably for the best.
Soon, I will (in accordance with the
But I didn't "back-correct" it, even though I have a jar of lingonberry preserves in the refrigerator.
No, I find the pomegranate is a nice touch, withal: a reminder that we're not, in fact, in Ye Olde Country, and that, just as our foremothers of spirit cooked tasty, healthful food with what was to hand, so can we--with what comes to hand here in California, which does not include bog berries like lingonberries, but does include cabbage, apple, onions--and pomegranates.
Some other day, I will make the one from the "German" page.
It has bacon.
I'm making red cabbage because
auntiematter won't be here to make and serve it herself--I don't have her recipe, but when she makes it, no matter how much she makes, she simply cannot make enough. May mine go half so well.
-- Lorrie
PS: In the Chronicles of Westria,
dpaxson immortalized the Santa Ynez Valley as the Danehold, a heathen enclave on Westria's southern border--hence the title here.PPS: Well, Westria's southern border except for those years when the summer is rather too long and boring, and the young lads do what young lads do, which, given the givens, means "go raiding into Elaya and accidentally capture Santibar". What, doesn't every jarl want a deepwater port of his very own as a Midsummer present?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 04:19 pm (UTC)I'll be over for dinner by 6p.
:)
B
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Date: 2010-02-10 05:22 pm (UTC)There's about a gallon of it, as I made a double batch. o.O
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2010-02-10 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 05:29 pm (UTC)And yes--lingonberries are often swapped for cranberries, as both are bog berries. The pomegranate swap, however, was a new one on me, but works--they have similar colors and taste profiles.
At the actual restaurant, though, they've gone to grape jelly. GRAPE! Which, I grant, makes differently good sense, because the Santa Ynez Valley is also a wine-growing region, but I'll bet a nickel that it's not a local grape jelly, but a vat of Welch's-or-similar--which would be Concord grapes, and very much sweeter than pomegranate or lingonberry. Pomegranate jelly is rather tricksy to find (Berkeley Bowl West won out here), but thanks to the rise of IKEA, lingonberry preserves are getting quite simple, although perhaps not available in food service quantity, and almost certainly not at grape jelly prices.
-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 06:21 pm (UTC)1 head of red cabbage
2. around 6 whole allspice's(bits? nuggets? :-)
3. an equal number of whole cloves
4. Approx 1/2 cup of either orange or cranberry juice(IME the cranberry tastes better and it might have been APPLE juice instead of orange)
5. 1-2 apples
Chop up your veggies, throw everything together in a big pot and cook on low heat for 1-4 hours.
It's really, really yummy. :-) I made it all the time as a kid 'cause I couldn't get enough of the stuff.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 05:38 pm (UTC)I just followed the link to the Westria webpage, and the comments about the book covers are wonderful!