German Side

Red Cabbage & Apple
Rotekraut und Apfel
(Serves 6)

Sweet, buttery and delicious. Apples dress up the ordinary cabbage.

3 slices bacon
1 medium onion (sliced)
3 lb. red cabbage (shredded)
3 medium tart apples (peeled, sliced)
1/4 C cider vinegar
1/2 C apple cider
2 T brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven, till crisp. Remove, drain, and crumble bacon. Pour off all but 2 T fat. Cook onion slices 3 minutes, till barely soft. Add cabbage and cook 3 more minutes, stirring and coating with fat. 

Add remaining ingredients, including crumbled bacon. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat, cover simmer on low-heat for 30 minutes till cabbage and apples are tender. Delicious hot or cold. Serve with Potato Dumplings and as an accompaniment to roast pork.

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Tips & Glossary

Beets: how to peel and cook beets is a matter of personal preference. You can cut off the tops, peel them with a vegetable peeler and boil them. Another method: leave on about 1" of the tops, wrap them in foil, and bake for 1 hour in a 350 oven. Cool and use rubber gloves, or handle with a paper towel, to prevent hands from turning...well, beet-red. The skins will slip right off. Most cooks say baking- then-peeling is the tastiest way to cook beets.

Ginger: dried ground ginger is far more potent than freshly-grated from the root. Sweet dessert recipes call for ground powder. If you wish to use freshly grated ginger, use 6 times the amount of ground called for in the recipe.

Nutmeg: use small whole nuts and store them, tightly covered, in a dry dark area. Grate what you need using the smallest grating edge or grind in a food processor. What a difference from store bought ground nutmeg!

Wurst: German sausages— more types than you can shake a stick at. Here are several:
• Bockwurst: smoked; with veal, chives & parsley.
• Bratwurst: pale; with veal, pork, ginger & nutmeg.
• Knockwurst: short & plump, smoked; with pork, beef & garlic.
• Weisswurst: "white"; with veal, pork, cream & eggs.
• Wienerwurst: with beef, pork, coriander & garlic.
• Frankfurter: smoked; with lean pork & bacon fat.