Once or twice every winter I get a hankering for this dish and make such a large vat of it that, even after distributing large containers of it to family and friends, I eat enough so that I don't need to eat it again until the following year.
Some people add bacon, onion or caraway to this dish but I like a version that really makes you concentrate on the sweet and sour flavor. In today's recipe, I achieved this with brown sugar and red wine vinegar but I have also tried this in the past with pomegranate molasses with red wine, orange juice and marmalade with cider vinegar and honey with distilled vinegar. They all worked. The most important thing is to achieve the balance of sweet and sour that works for your taste buds.
12/07/19 - Check out another version of this: delicious and even simpler.
1 head of red cabbage
1 red apple, grated skin on up to the core
1/2 cup water
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons red wine
Salt to taste
Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut in half and remove the core. Slice very finely and set aside.
In a large stockpot heat the other ingredients except for the apple over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the brown sugar has melted.
Add the cabbage and grated apple and cover. Lower the heat.
Cook until the cabbage is soft but still has a tiny bit of give, stirring from time to time and pressing the cabbage down into the liquid before you place the cover on again. This took me about 15 minutes.
If you are lucky, as the cabbage cooks down, the liquid will reduce to a nice, shiny sauce. (If not, strain it from the cabbage once you have the cabbage to the tenderness that you like, place it in a small saucepan and boil the bejeezus out of it until it is reduced and thickened before mixing it back into the cabbage). Check the cabbage for salt and whether or not the ratio of sweet to sour works for you. Adjust sweet or sour if it does not by adding more sugar or more vinegar.
In my opinion, this dish tastes particularly good with pork chops or baked ham but would also be a nice element in a vegeterian salad with roasted vegetables and some sort of grain.