Braised Cabbage with Meat
My husband is a big fan of braised cabbage, especially of its simplest version, the Dutch oven braised cabbage with meat, like his mom used to cook it. I like to use pork - a fatter cut, like the picnic roast or the Boston Butt, but you can replace with any other meat you prefer - beef, turkey, chicken, duck etc. If you choose less fatty meat, I only suggest using a bit more oil when braising the cabbage in the skillet/Dutch oven. I use raw cabbage and in the winter I might combine it with Sauerkraut, for extra taste and flavour.
Cut meat into big cubes, transfer to a skillet/Dutch oven, add oil and place over heat.
For this recipe I use a large, 7 litre Dutch oven, so that I have plenty of space to stir all the ingredients well. If your cooking pot is smaller, reduce the amounts proportionally - cabbage needs more space to braise properly, otherwise it might not be as good.
When meat starts to cook, I reduce the heat to low and place the lid on. Let cook slowly, in the steam and the juice released by the meat, until tender and cooked through.
This trick applies to any meat that requires longer cooking time - pork, beef etc. If you chose store-bought chicken, it's enough to simply braise it in oil, until brown, without a lid on.
When the meat is tender and completely cooked, I remove the lid and turn the heat to high so that water evaporates and meat turns brown.
Add a finely chopped onion to the browned meat, stir periodically and cook for 5 minutes.
Now it's time for the tomato paste/tomato bouillon - mix and cook for 5-10 minutes more.
Meanwhile, cut the cabbage into medium sized slices - I don't like it too fine, but that's just a personal preference.
Add it to the cooking pot, as much as you can at first.
Put the lid on and cook over high heat, the cabbage will soon shrink.
Remove the lid and stir well.
Add some more chopped cabbage to fill the pot, put the lid back on, let steam for 5 minutes, mix again.
Repeat for the whole chopped cabbage or until there is no more room in the pot. It all depends on the cabbage - the summer cabbage will shrink a lot, but the winter one is harder and it won't shrink that much.
Once the cabbage is in the pot, put the lid back on, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook slowly. This way it will steam, release the juice and you won't need to add extra water.
Periodically stir, check/taste from time to time - when it's cooked and tender, remove the lid.
Adjust the taste with salt and your favourite spices - ground black pepper, bay leaves, paprika etc.
Mix well, cook for 5 more minutes, then turn the heat off and let in the pot without the lid on for 20-30 minutes for the flavours to blend before serving.
It's simply fantastic, you can combine it with anything, but we like it simple, with homemade bread.
Enjoy!
