Ingredients:
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 slices thick center cut bacon, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 small to medium head cabbage, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon until just browned. Drain off excess fat, add the onion and saute until the onion is translucent. Stir in the cabbage and caraway seeds,

Cover and cook 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover tightly and cook 45-60 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is well wilted. Stir before serving.

My thoughts:

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to get in touch with our roots. I had been tossing around many ideas for themes (I think this is my 8th year creating new Thanksgiving recipes for Coconut & Lime) and didn’t really get excited about any of them until I thought of making Eastern European inspired dishes. It could be that cabbage is honestly one of my favorite foods and I love an excuse to cook with it! Sweet and sour cabbage dishes seem to be pretty popular in most Eastern European counties and I can see why. This one isn’t very sweet (I’ve seen ones with tons of sugar and even fruit) but there is a hint of sweetness that contrasts with the tang of the vinegar.

I thought it was the perfect dish for Thanksgiving because it was easy to prep (I find slicing the cabbage to be easier, quicker and less knuckle scraping than grating although you could grate it) and cooked forever with little interaction needed. It did get done slightly before I was ready to serve and it was just fine on the stove with the flame on the absolute lowest setting. You could also keep it warm in a 4 quart slow cooker on warm or low if you’d like to make it earlier in the day. The results are amazing! The texture of the cabbage gets so soft, almost velvety after the long braise and is transformed into something even cabbage haters would enjoy.