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Flemish red cabbage with apple

Name: Flemish red cabbage with apple
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 0.5 piece red cabbage, core removed, grated or finely shredded; 2 piece onions, finely chopped; 2 tbsp lard (smout); 1 piece large cooking apple (for example Reinette), peeled and grated; 100 ml red wine; 2 tbsp redcurrant jam (aalbessenconfituur); 1 tbsp brown sugar; 2 piece cloves; 4 piece juniper berries, lightly crushed; 2 piece fresh bay leaves; 3 sprig fresh thyme; 1 tbsp natural (spirit) vinegar, a splash to finish; salt and pepper

rode kool met appeltjes

Red cabbage and grated apple stewed slowly in lard with onion, red wine, redcurrant jam and brown sugar, perfumed with cloves, juniper, thyme and bay and sharpened at the end with a splash of vinegar. This is the cabbage from Jeroen Meus's 'worst met rode kool' on the VRT programme Dagelijkse kost, a Flemish winter side for sausages, chops and boiled potatoes.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 15 min
Cooking: 1 h 10
Total: 1 h 25
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Large heavy pot or casserole with a lid
Mandoline or coarse grater
Tea infuser (perforated metal ball) and kitchen string

To drink & serve with

Meus serves it with sausages browned in butter, boiled floury potatoes and mild mustard. Editorial suggestion: also good beside a pork chop, game or black pudding.
Kriek (Oude Kriek)
Editorial suggestion: a glass of kriek, whose sour cherry echoes the jam and vinegar.

Substitutions

Lard → Butter or neutral oil (vegetarian).
Red wine (no alcohol, no sulphites) → Apple juice or water with a little extra vinegar at the end.
Redcurrant jam → Another tart red jam; Meus has also made red cabbage with cherry jam and kriek beer.

Common mistakes

Cooking on a high heat: the cabbage catches and the apple scorches before the cabbage is tender.
Leaving out the acid: without vinegar the cabbage turns dull blue-grey and tastes flat.
Forgetting the infuser: whole cloves and juniper are unpleasant to bite on.

Storage & reheating

Keeps well and is often better the next day. Cool quickly, refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days (UK FSA; US USDA allows 3–4 days). Reheat until steaming hot.

Safety

Contains sulphites (wine, vinegar). Lard makes it unsuitable for vegetarians; use butter or oil instead.

Allergens

Sulphites

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

A Flemish winter side

Red cabbage stewed with apple is everyday winter food in Flanders, served beside sausages, chops or black pudding with boiled potatoes. Jeroen Meus has cooked it several ways on the VRT programme Dagelijkse kost: with raisins and cinnamon for black pudding (2014), with kriek beer and cherry jam for pork chops (2017).

The version here is the plainest, from his worst met rode kool (sausage with red cabbage) of 2011. The cabbage is grated rather than shredded, the apple is grated into it, and the sweetness comes from redcurrant jam and brown sugar, held in check by red wine and a last splash of vinegar.

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Slow and sweet-sour

Two things decide the result. The first is heat: the onion is softened without colour and the cabbage then simmers very gently for about an hour, so that it collapses into the apple and jam without catching. The second is acid. Wine goes in early and vinegar at the end, which keeps the cabbage a deep red and stops the sugar and jam from tasting cloying.

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How it connects

Region

origin Belgium

Style

pairs with Kriek (Oude Kriek)