Blaukraut

Method

1. Pull off the outer leaves. Quarter the cabbage, cut out the core, and shred it into strips 3 to 5 mm wide. A mandoline is faster than a knife here and gives a far more even result, which matters because uneven strips cook unevenly.
2. Peel and dice the first onion. Peel the small onion and press the cloves into it so they stay together and come out easily later. Peel, core, and coarsely grate the apple.
3. Melt the Butterschmalz in a wide pot. Cook the diced onion and the grated apple with the sugar over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the sugar just starts to catch on the bottom.
4. Add the cabbage and pour the vinegar straight over it. Toss immediately, before the cabbage has time to sit in the hot fat. The acid going in early is what fixes the color.
5. Pour in the apple juice and red wine. Add the clove-studded onion, the bay, the juniper, and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat for 50 to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes and adding a splash of water if the pot runs dry.
6. Fish out the studded onion, the bay leaves, and the juniper. Stir in the lingonberry preserve if you are using it.
7. Take the lid off and cook 5 to 10 minutes more, until the liquid has reduced to a glossy coating rather than a puddle.
8. Season at the end: salt, pepper, more vinegar, more sugar. Keep adjusting until the sweet and the sour sit level against each other. This last step is the recipe.

Notes

• Blaukraut in Bavaria, Austria, and much of the south. Rotkohl in the north, Rotkraut in between. Same cabbage, same dish, different dialect.
• The color is real chemistry, not folklore: the anthocyanin pigment in red cabbage works as a pH indicator, so acid from the vinegar, apple, and wine holds it red, while alkaline conditions push it blue-purple. Hard tap water alone can dull it, which is why the vinegar goes in with the cabbage and not at the end.
• It is better on the second day. Cook it a day ahead, cool it, and reheat gently. It also freezes well in portions.
• In Germany, Butterschmalz and Boskop apples are in every supermarket. In Canada, use ghee or clarified butter, and a Northern Spy, Granny Smith, or any apple that stays tart. Goose or duck fat is excellent if you have it from a roast.
• Preiselbeeren are the German default. Whole-berry cranberry sauce is the closest Canadian substitute, but cut the sugar in the recipe if you use it, because it is sweeter.
• Cooking it longer does no harm. If the main course runs late, leave the cabbage on the lowest heat with the lid on.

Sources used

• Thomas Sixt: Blaukraut, Rotkraut, Rotkohl
• REWE: Rotkohl nach Omas Art
• Emmi kocht einfach: Klassischer Rotkohl ganz einfach
• Selbstgemacht: Rotkohl wie bei Oma
• Quarks: Der Unterschied zwischen Rotkohl und Blaukraut

Passt gut zu

• Rinderrouladen
• Sauerbraten
• Zwiebelrostbraten

Von Christoph Mayer