("Une merveille avec les gibiers", a miracle of good taste to game!) - According to Marc Haeberlin, L'Auberge de l'Ill, Illhaeusern, Alsace
For 4 people: 1 firm head of red cabbage, approx. 800 g heavy; 8 dried figs, 200 g onions, 25 cl red wine, 10 cl red port, 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 3 slices fresh ginger, 1 pinch sugar, 10 cl olive oil.
Quarter the cabbage head, cut out the stalk and shave the quarters into fine strips. Mix with sugar and vinegar, salt and let marinate covered overnight. The next day, preheat the oven to 150°. Peel and finely chop the onions and cut the figs into small pieces. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan and sauté the onions until golden. Add the marinated red cabbage and figs. Pour over the red wine and port and add the ginger. Place the covered pot in the hot oven for an hour and a half, until the red cabbage is tender. Stir through, remove the ginger and season to taste before serving.
With Waldemar Thomas at Red Cabbage Schaefer
A lot has changed at the Schaefer Nursery in its more than 90 years of existence. From the time the great-grandfather founded it in 1906 until 1990, when Benno Schäfer took over the business from his father, they relied on a relatively small number of crops and sold the salads and vegetables to the co-op. Benno and Ellen Schäfer then switched the nursery to direct marketing, as it was no longer possible to expand the farm area in the residential area that had been built up in the meantime. Feeding their own market stall requires a wide range of produce, and so today, on the 4.5 hectares of the nursery and in the 3000 m2 greenhouses, the entire range of lettuce is grown, as well as a variety of vegetables, from aubergines to courgettes, including the cabbage varieties and, of course, red cabbage.
Who can think of much to say about red cabbage? Nevertheless, no one wants to miss the Cinderella among vegetables, and Adenauer's remark, "Dicke Behnen mag doch jeder", applies all the more to red cabbage. It is closely related to white cabbage, only the selenium and vitamin C values of red cabbage are somewhat higher and the carotene values somewhat lower than those of white cabbage. It is an autumn and winter vegetable, says expert Benno Schäfer, although summer red cabbage is already available on the market at the beginning of June and can be used for salads. With the red late cabbage, the actual season of the vegetable begins, which accompanies game, duck and goose so well. The fresh sale of red cabbage, observes Schäfer, is meanwhile declining; probably because one gets red fingers when slicing the cabbage; also many are too convenient to prepare red cabbage fresh, the canned tastes "auch".
But it is worthwhile to give the red cabbage, red cabbage or blue cabbage the due attention and to prepare it fresh, because as a result of the long cooking time it needs, it combines much better with spices and aromatics, unlike the canned food, which can only be heated for a short time. There is nothing at all wrong with the classic German way, with vinegar, sugar, cloves, bay leaf, apples. Although Henriette Davidis, in her cookbook that has become a classic, recommends all kinds of measures to counteract the "flatulent effect" of red cabbage. She warns against the addition of apples, pointing out that this would increase the unpleasant properties of the vegetable. Bloating has probably been removed from red cabbage by means of breeding; I, at least, have never felt anything of it.
In fine cuisine, honor is done to the good red cabbage in various ways. Harald Wohlfahrt, chef of the 3-star restaurant "Traube Tonbach" in Baierbronn, caramelizes the sugar with orange juice, port and red wine, adds juniper berries and cinnamon. At the "Auberge d l`Ill" in Illhäusern, Alsace, Marc Haeberlin uses figs instead of apples, spices with ginger, and so this red cabbage, when paired with game, is indeed a "miracle of goodness".
Vegetable Farm
Benno and Ellen Schäfer
Blierweg 19
65201 Wiesbaden
Phone: 0611-24447
Fax: 0611-261254
Öffnungszeiten: Wiesbaden weekly market only, Wed and Sat from 7am to 1.30pm
from Waldemar Thomas