Fried Cabbage

Irish week continues today with another great recipe on Susi's Kocken und Backen. If you've read my blog the last couple of days you have already seen two great dishes with a little twist on the old classics. I started with Glazed Corned Beef  and yesterday continued with Irish Colcannon Potatoes. Today I'm going to talk about my Fried Cabbage which is not an Irish dish in the traditional sense.

The Irish dish is called Bacon and Cabbage. The dish consists of boiled bacon (this refers to back bacon which is cured and/or smoked. It does not refer to sliced bacon which one might fry) served with boiled cabbage and potatoes. Historically, this dish was common fare in Irish homes as the ingredients were readily available (many families grew their own vegetables and reared their own pigs), nourishing and satisfying. The dish continues to be a very common meal in Ireland. There are many different variations on the theme of bacon and cabbage, but in general the dish tends to involve slicing the back bacon after it has been well boiled and serving it with whole boiled potatoes and boiled cabbage (which is often boiled with the bacon for flavor).

Since I already had potatoes in the dish with the Colcannon and quite some leftover bacon and cabbage I decided to go a slightly different route and make fried cabbage. It is a simple straight forward dish that gets its flavor from frying the cabbage in bacon grease. A little salt and pepper along with a pinch of sugar are added along with the rendered bacon bits and you have the perfect accompaniment to any meal.

We enjoy cabbage very much in our house so this was a no-brainer that turned out very well.

Fried Cabbage

~serves 4~ 
(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

1/4 pound (about 3 slices) thick cut bacon, chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 pounds cabbage, shredded

2 tablespoons water

1 pinch white sugar

Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Place bacon in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown and crisp. Remove bacon, and set aside.

Cook Onion in the hot bacon grease until tender. Add cabbage, and stir in water, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cook until cabbage wilts, about 10 minutes. Stir in reserved bacon. Serve immediately.

Coming up tomorrow: Irish Soda Bread