‘Székely’ cabbage, VKF! XIV. második kör: a gyakorlat
Ever since my childhood, my favourite winter dish is székely
cabbage ('székelykáposzta'). Maybe it is because it is
lighter than other, calory-bomb one-course meals that make you
produce heat. I love it being sour and the way the taste and texture
of cabbage and sour-cream mingle.
An anecdote from the 19th century sheds light on the
conception of this dish. As the story goes, József Székely,
an archivist, and Sándor Petőfi (a national poet of Hungary)
arrived to Székely's favourite restaurant, Komló-garden
at a late hour. The kitchen had already closed, and there was nothing
available apart from some leftovers. When the restaurator had
enumerated what was left, Székely chose sauerkraut and
goulash, and got them mixed. This forced marriage proved a successful
combination, so much, that Petőfi himself ordered the dish he
himself named Székely-goulash. This is how kitchen-leftovers
triumphantly turned into one of the basic dishes of Hungarian
cuisine…
Székely cabbage
1 kg sour cabbage
0.75 kg leg of pork
1 big onion
3 cloves of garlic
red pepper
3 teaspoons of pepper
2 bay leaves
I braise the onion on oil, make the meat (previously cut into
small cubes) become white, then I scatter the red-pepper on it. I put
the pepper in a spice-ball, and together with the garlic I place it
in the pan. I add water so it takes the meat, then I cover the pan
and cook it slowly.
When the meat becomes soft, I salt it, lay the
cabbage on top (using its fluid as well), then add the bay leaves,
and keep the stew cooking slowly, under the cover. When the cabbage
has become soft in the steam, I stir it with the meat, and take the
panoff the cooker.
I wrap the pan with kitchen clothes and leave it
like this until the morning. I serve it with sour cream.
