Norwegian Christmas Cabbage

Happy Hippie's Note:

A favorite I'm posting from Allrecipes.com. I'm posting this for ZWT III. This recipe was submitted by Finn Roed who stated: "Norwegian Christmas Cabbage is essentially a kind of sweet and sour sauerkraut, spiced with caraway seeds."

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 8 slices bacon
• 1 cabbage , large head, cored and shredded
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon caraway seed
• 1 pinch salt and pepper (to taste)
• ½ cup white vinegar (or to taste)
• ½ cup white sugar (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Lay two slices of bacon across the bottom of a large pot.
2. Cover with a layer of cabbage.
3. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour and a pinch of caraway seed.
4. Season with a little salt and pepper.
5. Repeat layering as many times as possible until you run out of room.
6. Fill the pot with enough water to come about 3/4 up the side.
7. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 45 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft, stirring occasionally.
8. Let cool slightly, then stir in the vinegar and sugar.
9. Use your own judgment. Add sugar carefully to taste. The idea is to strike a balance between the sweet and the sour, and therein lies the trick.
10. Note:.
11. Use a head of cabbage that has been in your refrigerator a while; try not to use a new cabbage. Why? The old one seems to hold up better in the cooking. Age has its rewards.
12. A tasty sausage, sliced, or smoked pork hock can also substitute for the bacon, but there ought to be some flavor and fat in it. I sometimes add a couple of bouillon cubes too.

Reviews

[kiwidutch]

We liked this.. it smelled especially wonderful as it was cooking, but DH and I felt that it delived a bit less in taste once it was done. 45 minutes cooking time seemed rather rextreme and left the cabbage a lot more limp then we personally prefer. That is the main reason for the lower rating... I wouldn't mind to try this combination again with the bacon lightly grilled first and then the cabbage cooked until fractionally still crisp. Please see my rating system: 4 stars for a recipe that, as it stands would need some major tweeking for us to enjoy it again. The smell of this while it cooks however is amazingly good, so I will try it again some time. Thanks!