Vinegar Braised Cabbage with Caraway

When I was younger,  my grandmother would make a vinegar cabbage every Christmas as a side dish. It wasn't exactly like this. Her's was just vinegar, salt and pepper. Her version of cabbage also took several hours to make. She got the recipe from my Uncle's wife, who made it as an Atkins diet, German heritage kind of side dish. We all liked the dish, but I never wanted to put the effort into making it. 

I adapted this recipe from my most awesome Polish/German/Russian cookbook. It only takes half an hour to make and might even taste better. The flavors are more complex. There's a great sweetness atop the sour and it smells exactly like rye bread from the use of so much caraway. Make sure to adjust the amount of seasonings and vinegar to taste and you'll have a great side dish. It goes especially well with good pork chops (what we had for dinner that evening)

Vinegar Braised Cabbage

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 small red cabbage, shredded
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp caraway seeds
• 1 large apple, peeled and cubed.
• juice of one lemon
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• ¾ cup water
• ½ cup honey
• salt, pepper, fresh chives

Directions

1. Onion until translucent in desired oil/fat. I used duck fat for this, but you can use vegetable oil or 3 strips of cubed bacon
2. Add cabbage, garlic, caraway and ½ cup water. Cook for 10 minutes
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add apples, lemon, honey, vinegar and remaining water. Simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Add additional vinegar or water as necessary
4. Adjust seasoning to taste and garnish with chives/caraway seeds.