Cider cabbage with bacon

This is a recipe inspired by friends and family.  Our friend Pete has a friend, Chris, who produces his own cider on his farm near Ludlow.  Pete describes himself as Chris’ Chief Helper as he often spends his weekends at Farmers’ Markets selling the cider.  He had told us that he was selling it at a market near us, so after years of hearing about this cider we thought it was about time that we gave it a try.  So, off we went and purchased some medium and dry cider.  Now, I am afraid that you can no longer to tempt me to drink cider, (tales of a misspent youth would explain), but I do love to cook with it and Mr OC is more than happy to drink it.

On the way home from the market we called in to see Mr OC’s family and my sister-in-law told me about how she sometimes cooks cabbage and bacon in cider with wholegrain mustard and crème fraîche.  Now this seemed like a very good idea indeed and so this is my take on her recipe, adding a bit of garlic and using the rest of the double cream in the fridge rather than buying some crème fraîche.  It’s a really good way of eating cabbage and I think it would be especially good with roast chicken.  We had it with yorkshire puddings because I had no chicken and I think you can never pass up the opportunity of eating yorkshire puddings.

I only wish the photo had been better and had done the cabbage justice.

1 small cabbage, shredded
4-6 rashers of bacon, snipped into bite-size pieces
100- 150 ml cider (depending on the size of your cabbage)
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
100ml double cream
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat a little oil in a large pan over a medium heat and cook the bacon until golden, add the garlic and cook for a minute.  Add the shredded cabbage and stir well.  Add the cider and cover the pan.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is cooked through.  Add the cream and the mustard and stir to combine.  Cook until the cream is bubbling. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with something to mop up the cidery juices.

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15 thoughts on “Cider cabbage with bacon”

  1. Sounds amazing Kath – will definitely be giving it a go.

    The misspent youth made me laugh – I can’t drink cider either for that very reason – nothing to do with the White and Red Lion Pubs of course!!
    xxx

  2. Hi Kath,
    Fantastic website, glad to have stumbled across it (without any cider). And, three of my favourite foods all in one dish – I’ll be trying this it looks heavenly. Will the girls eat it?

  3. The receipe is amazing ! I had almost the same for Christmas in US and the cook didn’t give me the full receipe so I just followed yours and it was even better. Just did it tonight and me and my fiance loved it ! I just add 250 ml of stock (in cubes) at the end to have more sauce, because I love sauce !
    I’m french and I assure you this one can be in the Julia Child’s book.
    Thanks again

    1. Hi Julie, your comment makes me very happy. I love getting feedback from people who have tried my recipes and have loved them. I am really pleased that your fiance enjoyed it. I like the idea of adding the extra stock at the end for extra sauce. Kath

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