Red Cabbage

Serves 6-8 as a vegetable course.

Red cabbage is common dish in Germany, and it has become a common dish here in America.  It is a rich and inexpensive, just the thing for our immigrant German ancestors.  This is one of Grandma Debra New's favorite dishes.  It is served in older German communities as a vegetable or, if you include good German bread, as a main course.  It all depends on the amount of money that Grandma had to spend for dinner.  It still does!

Ingredients

6 thick slices bacon (diced) 1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced 2 heads red cabbage, about 3 pounds total 3 apples, cored and thinly sliced (do not bother to peel) 1 cup chicken stock or used canned 4 tablespoons red wine 4 tablespoons distilled white vinegar 4 tablespoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

In a 8-quart stove-top covered casserole saut the bacon until clear. Add the onion and the sliced cabbage to the pot, along with the apples.  Saut, uncovered, until the cabbage begins to collapse a bit.   Add the remaining ingredients and covered.  Cook over medium heat, stirring now and then, until all is tender, about 1 hour.