UPDATE: Ruthie passed away in 2021 at the ripe old age of 100. A firecracker to the end, her recipes and delight in feeding people live on.
You have to love my Great Aunt Ruthie. A child of The Depression, Ruthie is now a spry 93. I'm not even kidding. At 93, she's complaining that the cancer medication she's been taking for a year has now started making her hair fall out. She's been through like five pacemakers. She still has all her teeth. She's sharp as a tack. She also makes a wicked cabbage soup. Unfortunately, like most of my family, she doesn't commit recipes to paper. They're all locked up in her noggin. When I called her for the recipe, she gave me exactly what I expected: a fairly nebulous list of ingredients with no real amounts specified. Her soup was something to behold. It incorporated a whole pot roast and country ribs. I didn't have some of her ingredients on hand. I took what I did have and ran with her fantastic base recipe. I ended up with a soup that is a fine tribute. I can certainly taste her soup in there, but with new flavors along side. I think it's fitting that two different generations of cooking would combine to make something new, but still honoring the old ways. Maybe it's just cabbage soup. Maybe it's a family timeline that gives you gas. As always, any notes will be in
blue.
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Cabbage Soup
Inspired by my Great Aunt Ruthie |
Ingredients
- 14 ounce bag cole slaw mix (feel free to shred cabbage and carrots to make about a pound if you prefer fresh)
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 2 ounces vodka
- 1 cup corn relish (if you don't have corn relish on hand, just use a cup of frozen corn topped off with some cider vinegar)
- If you're feeling lazy, you can replace the previous 4 items with one pound of prepackaged sauerkraut
- 1 onion, cut into 1" slices
- 1 medium sized green cabbage, sliced thin
- 4 potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 1 can (10.75 ounce) tomato soup
- 1 can (10.75 ounce) stewed tomatoes, with liquid
- 1-1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 large pork neck bone
- 1 tablespoon Old World Central Street Seasoning (available at The Spice House)
- If you can't get the spice blend, it has a mix of the following: paprika, salt, celery seed, garlic, sugar, pepper, onion, dill seed, curry powder, caraway, scallions, dill weed and bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 43 ounces water (just fill and empty the soup can into the pot 4 times)
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine the cole slaw mix, vinegar, corn relish and vodka. Stir and let sit for 30 minutes.
- In a large pan, heat up a bit of oil, brown the neck bone 3-5 minutes on each side. Set aside. Brown the ground beef, draining excess oil. When meat is browned, put it in the biggest damned Dutch oven or pot you can find.
- Add everything else except the the green cabbage. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for one hour.
- Add the cabbage and stir to incorporate. Return to simmer; cover and let simmer for another hour.
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Good times! |
is there any way you can find nutritional info? I'm diabetic and recovering alcholoc so I can't use the vodka...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't have the nutritional info available. It should be fairly low in sugar. Outside of the bit that's in my corn relish (which is optional) I don't think there's really any added sugar. Naturally, the vodka was included on a lark and can simply be left out. No substitute needed.
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