Non-sweet red cabbage recipe

[BarkminsterBlue]

Please can anyone recommend a good red cabbage recipe (beyond just braising in butter) with absolutely no sweetness? Everything seems to have raisins (wtf) / sugar / apple etc. Not vegetarian so meat ingredients (e.g. bacon?) are very acceptable.

I’ve fried red cabbage with leeks in a pan this evening in olive oil and cracked black pepper. Very easy to do.

Thanks all. I really can't bear very sweet flavours in a savoury meal. I think I am still dealing with the trauma when I spent several Christmases with a Danish boyfriend and had to sit through multiple Danish Christmas dinners with caramelised potatoes.

Thankfully cooking my own this year means no-one can sneak random bits of sugar into my roast dinner. Honey-roasted parsnips are the devil's work!

I agree @BarkminsterBlue!

And it's really quite shocking how many people seem to think that savoury food needs sweetness added. 'Carrots for sweetness' - or adding honey or balsamic - all of which are just sugar replacements.

@BIWI

I agree *@BarkminsterBlue*!

And it's really quite shocking how many people seem to think that savoury food needs sweetness added. 'Carrots for sweetness' - or adding honey or balsamic - all of which are just sugar replacements.

It’s not an evil trait.

Why is it ‘shocking’? Lamb is sweeter than beef. All starchy veg contains sugars. A range of flavours (including sweetness) often add depth and complexity and don’t need to result in a ‘sweet’ overall flavour. People aren’t saying they can’t stomach a meal without it tasting like hating.

And not all fruit is sweet….

Actually I think it is becoming an evil trait. Our palates are being trained more and more to want sweet things. A big dopamine hit in the brain!

@BIWI

Actually I think it is becoming an evil trait. Our palates are being trained more and more to want sweet things. A big dopamine hit in the brain!

From carrots? Vinegar? Cooking apples?

Yes we should avoid refined sugar, hidden refined sugar in processed foods, eating sweets etc.

But creating great flavours in dishes home cooked and including a range and depth of flavours is not an evil trait.

There is refined sugar addiction, there is great food, well cooked, as part of a healthy diet, and there is orthorexia and other neuroses.

As it happens I don’t like sweet and savoury together, maple syrup on bacon, pineapple on pizza, sultanas in curries etc. And if the OP prefers red cabbage without any sweetness, fine, that is her taste preference.

But the addition of carrots is hardly ‘shocking’ or an evil trait.

Orthorexia can be shocking, can mask anorexia or other forms of disordered eating, so I will challenge carrots being defined as evil.

I never said carrots were evil! I like a good carrot as much as the next woman

What I do think is becoming an issue is the need to add sweetness to so many foods. I absolutely take your point about well balanced flavours in dishes. But we don't need to be routinely adding sweet elements to food. I'm always astonished at things that contain sugar - if you have any Chinese 5 Spice in your cupboard, check that. At least one brand has sugar in its list of ingredients.