Boiled Bacon and Cabbage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove some of the thick stem without disturbing the leaves.
Soak the cabbage in cold water until needed.
Cook the cabbage and bacon
In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil and add salt and bicarbonate of soda.
Cook the cabbage in boiling water for 30 minutes.
Clean the smoky parts off the bacon and boil it in cold water for 30 minutes.
Drain both the cabbage and bacon, then place them in one pot and cover with fresh boiling water.
Cook slowly for another 30 minutes.
Remove the cabbage carefully and drain thoroughly.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the bulk of the dish and turns soft and tender as it cooks.
- Back bacon
- Adds savoury, fatty flavour and meaty texture to the cooking liquid and dish.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Makes the cooking water alkaline, which helps the cabbage soften and keeps its colour.
The step that matters
Cook slowly for another 30 minutes. A gentle simmer cooks the bacon evenly and keeps the cabbage leaves intact. A hard rolling boil breaks the cabbage down into mush and toughens the meat.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.