Red Cabbage, German Grandma Style
I’m reaching back to my youth for a recipe my grandmother made for family gatherings, and I didn’t need to change anything to make it gluten-free!
My grandmother—descended from German immigrants—used to prepare German delicacies for family gatherings, and I had the privilege of enjoying them often during the first few decades of my life. She wrote out several recipes for me, including the German potato salad recipe I previously wrote up for you, but the she didn’t hand down the recipe for red cabbage (rotkohl or blaukraut in German, depending on what part of Germany you’re in). Fortunately, the German recipe for red cabbage is pretty standard, so I easily figured out how to recreate that taste from my childhood. Like many German dishes, blaukraut has a sweet-sour taste from the use of vinegar, fresh fruit, and sugar—I like to use apple cider vinegar, sliced pears or apples, and brown sugar. Unlike some German dishes, which can include wheat flour as a thickener, this one is gluten-free without needing to make any adjustments.
Having a kitchen scale to weigh the cabbage is helpful but not absolutely necessary—try to get an idea of the weight of your cabbage when buying it. You’ll also need a pot large enough to hold all that cabbage. I like to use an enameled cast iron pot (see photo below). The cabbage will cook down a lot during the first few minutes, so you can add it in batches if you don’t have a big enough pot to contain it all at the start.
Blaukraut is typically a side dish in a German meal, and it goes great with things like German sausages (bratwurst, knackwurst, weisswurst, etc.), smoked pork chops, or, my favorite, schweinshaxe (roasted pork shank—yeah, I have a gluten-free recipe for this one too), along with a big scoop of the aforementioned potato salad.
Prep time will be about 10 minutes to slice your vegetables and fruit and measure out the seasonings, and cooking time will be about an hour.
Ingredients:
6 think slices of bacon, diced (12 ounces)
1 yellow onion, sliced (1 cup)
3 pounds red cabbage, sliced
3 pears or apples, cored and sliced (leave the skin on)
1 cup chicken stock
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste (1/4–1/2 teaspoon is good)
You’ll need a large head of cabbage, because my recipe calls for 3 pounds. Of course, you can use a smaller amount and adjust the other ingredients correspondingly, especially watching out for the balance of sweet and sour. I normally use apples for this recipe, but look at those beautiful pears in three colors! How could I not use them? Instructions:
Sauté the diced bacon in the pot
When the bacon fat is clear, or even slightly browned, add all of the other ingredients and stir to evenly distribute them
Bring the pot to a simmer and cover it for an hour
When you uncover the pot at the end of the hour, you may find the red cabbage is very juicy; if you want to reduce the liquid, continue simmering it uncovered until it reaches your desired consistency
The cabbage slices don’t need to be super thin, as it’s going to cook down and soften a lot as it simmers. 
Have a large pot handy that can handle all the cabbage and other ingredients. I used a Le Creuset enameled Dutch oven. 
Your leftover blaukraut will keep for several days in the fridge (and will likely improve in flavor on day 2). Here are my leftovers being reheated for another fantastic German meal!
