Red cabbage recipe wanted please.

meritaten

did you rinse off all the salt hun? sometimes, if you dont rinse it well it softens the cabbage.
er - to me pickled red cabbage just tastes of vinegar anyway! I hate the stuff! my OH loves it which is why I buy a red cabbage every year and pickle it for him! I use the cheapest malt vinegar I can find. the cheapest salt - and OH says my red cabbage is the best!
How long have you left it to pickle? less than three weeks and it isnt enough! I do mine six weeks before I know I will need it.

Linda32

meritaten wrote: »

did you rinse off all the salt hun? sometimes, if you dont rinse it well it softens the cabbage.

Well, I think I did but perhaps not.

meritaten wrote: »

cabbage just tastes of vinegar anyway! I hate the stuff! my OH loves it which is why I buy a red cabbage every year and pickle it for him! I use the cheapest malt vinegar I can find. the cheapest salt - and OH says my red cabbage is the best!
How long have you left it to pickle? less than three weeks and it isnt enough! I do mine six weeks before I know I will need it.

Pickled 4th September so about 10 weeks So you pretty much do as I did. Does your OH say yours is still crunchy?

meritaten

I wouldnt say it was crispy crunchy - but like well cooked veg - still got a bit of 'bite' to it! as long as it isnt sloppy or slimy and you have to 'bite' into it - its probably about right. the vinegar will soften it to some extent. can you compare it to a 'bought' pickled red cabbage? does it seem similar?
OH and dont forget - if the cabbage wasnt REALLY fresh - then you wont get a really good result! I bought one the other day and it was a bit 'tired' to say the least! I ended up cooking it rather than pickling it. as I took off the outer leaves they seemed very lax - the cabbage wasnt very firm inside - you need a cabbage that is really fresh to pickle. perhaps the one you had wasnt at its best?

Linda32

meritaten wrote: »

can you compare it to a 'bought' pickled red cabbage? does it seem similar?

Hi again, thanks, no it dosn't taste like bought pickle at all. I know home made dosn't really compare, but usually its in a good way.

meritaten wrote: »

OH and dont forget - if the cabbage wasnt REALLY fresh - then you wont get a really good result! I bought one the other day and it was a bit 'tired' to say the least! I ended up cooking it rather than pickling it. as I took off the outer leaves they seemed very lax - the cabbage wasnt very firm inside - you need a cabbage that is really fresh to pickle. perhaps the one you had wasnt at its best?

Cabbage home grown, so couldn't have been fresher when I started.

I reckon it must be just how pickled cabbage must be. Maybe the shop bought has something added in the processing to keep it crispy, which wouldn't surprise me.

I think what I shall do, is next time we have some, (I've got two jars of the stuff)! I'll leave some out to drain before we eat it - might help.

HelenYorkshire

It's not "homemade vs shopbought" as up until a couple of years ago my dad's pickled cabbage was amazingly crunchy. However the last couple of years it's been tasty but soggy. I've tried a couple of recipes with no happiness (Delia let me down!).
We could only guess that the cabbage supply chain had changed and we'd been getting older cabbages, but it's certainly odd.

Are there different varieties of red cabbage at all??

foxgloves

I make pickled red cabbage basically as you describe & it comes out fine, but it does seem to take a lot of rinsing to get off all the salt, so that's the only thing I can think that there has maybe been too much left on there? Otherwise, it's a mystery!

meritaten

I could slap myself! I just realised that although I said I used the cheapest vinegar - I DO use Sarsons white malt vinegar - If you use the one that just calls itself 'non-brewed condiment' THAT could be why the red cabbage isnt nice and crisp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you DO need a good strong vinegar to pickle PROPERLY!
DOH - my only excuse is that I havent been well and am still taking antibiotics!

MR T does a cheaper substitute - they just call it Distilled Vinegar, I have used it and its as good as Sarsons.

FarmersWife_2

Hi

I deal with maybe 6 or 7 red cabbages a week at the moment. The tractor lads bring them in and I do them for them.

I do them 2 ways...

I pickle one... all I do is chop the cabbage and put in a kilner jar with pickling vinegar... no salt no washing nothing... Bearing in mind these cabbages probably left the field that day..... Mine is crunchy and Ive never had any complaints...

The other one I do is...

Slow Cooker
Red cabbage sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tblspn wine vinegar/ I have been known to use balsamic lol
2 apples peeled & grated...
3 tablespoons water

Cook on low over night.... I pack into those foil take away tub things... and thats how our tractor lads get their red cabbages back lol

It freezes well.. when defrosted heat in oven or microwave and stir in 1 tablespoon of cranberry or redcurrant jelly... simples

Cx

meritaten

FarmersWife - that sounds similar to the red cabbage and apple my nan used to make - but as I am positive she didnt have a slow cooker 40odd years ago, could she have made it in a casserole dish and left in in a low oven overnight (or all day?). she wouldnt have used wine or balsamic vinegar either. maybe a drop of cider vinegar though.
I am going to try that if you say that the way I think nan did it would work! I cannot believe I havent tasted red cabbage and apple for over 45 years! I wonder if its the same...........oh happy days if it is!

FarmersWife_2

Yes you could cook it in a casserole dish... Delia smith does

Delia cooks it in a casserole with a tight fitting lid at 200 for 2 - 2 1/5 hours... stirring a couple of times... Of course Delia outs loads of other stuff in.. onions, garlic, cloves, butter,

I just put cabbage, apple, cinnamon and nutmeg and wine vinegar and brown sugar thats it...




C x