Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

Monday 7 December 2020

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

Even though this year most people's Christmas's are going to be on a much smaller scale, a lot of us will be looking for quick and easy meals to prepare for our family bubble's in the run up to the holidays.  Simple dishes like this Smoked Sausage and Cabbage fit the bill perfectly! 

Dishes that go together quickly and easily and that use simple every day ingredients. Recipes that are not a lot of work for anyone! Recipes that are delicious and that the family will enjoy. Recipes without a lot of faffing about!


Today's recipe comes from one of my sister's cookbooks. It is called the Irish Cooking Bible, more than 120 delicious recipes from pub fare to country classics. There are a lot of good recipes in this book. I have already mentally flagged quite a few of them to try at some point!

I love this book so much that I ordered a used copy for myself. I hardly ever buy new books. You can quite often get used copies in very good shape for a fraction of the cost of the new ones.  We can all appreciate being able to save a few pennies when we can these days!


Sometimes these used books are available in almost new condition.  Often they are available as "very good" condition. I usually pick those.  So far I have been very lucky. Most come from non-smoking environments and can even be ex-library copies, so well cared for.

I have only ever been disapointed once.  I received a book that someone had gone to great lengths to very carefully remove the pages of all the best recipes from. They used a razor blade. Unless you looked very closely you wouldn't have noticed.

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

 I might not have noticed but one of the recipes I had really wanted and had specifically purchased the book for, the roast chicken, was one of the missing pages.  Shame on them.

There are some very unscrupulous people about I have to say.  I am glad that I am not one of them!

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

This recipe really appealed to me for several reasons. One, I love smoked sausage.  I also love cabbage, in any way, shape or form!

Two I loved the simplicity of it and its easy of preparation.  Other than seasonings, there are really only four simple  ingredients.


Smoked Sausage.  Cabbage.  Garlic. Onion.  All four are ingredients that I almost always have readily available to me in my kitchen.  Well, the cabbage, onion and garlic at any rate.

One might have to go out and shop for the smoked sausage. I used Schneiders Original Recipe Smoked Sausage. There were about 8 sausages in the pack. I used four and froze four for a future date!


Smoked sausage is quite different than hotdogs.  A hotdog is usually made from a smooth textured paste-like filling which is encased in a fragile skin.

Sausages are normally filled with a ground more composite type of meat filling, with texture and they are encased in a thicker skin.  Usually a skin which will snap a bit when you eat them.


Whilst hotdogs (frankfurters) are always smoked, a sausage can be either smoked or plain. I enjoy them both ways.  Today, for this purpose, you need the smoked.

Smoked sausage, really good smoked sausage, was one of the things I missed when I was in the UK. You could get all kinds of polish sausage, but I was never quite sure which was the best one to use for something like this.

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

 While they are not something which should form a regular part of your diet, they are something which can be very enjoyable from time to time.  Both sausages and hotdogs.  And yes, I do know what goes into a hotdog. 

And some sausages for that matter!  I always try to buy only quality, known types of either one. You do get what you pay for in a case such as this.  If you don't want to pay a bit more, you get cheap and nasty.


I am not fond of cheap and nasty and would rather pay more to get a quality product. Of course I do understand that not all people have that option.

But while I can, I will. Its as simple as that.

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

There are many kinds of cabbage available to us these days. I recommend using the hard white cabbage or a winter king cabbage. You want one which will hold its shape well when it is cooked, and not go to mush in the longer cook time.

A savoy or Chinese cabbage would go to mush, and be quite unpalatable. These are more suited to quick cooking methods and do not take very long to cook at all.

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage


 I cut my cabbage into 1-inch chunks which worked perfectly for this purpose.  It cooked evenly and was beautiful with the smoked sausage. I did not have to add any oil to the pan as the sausage had rendered out just enough to cook the cabbage in.  

When Dan got home from work, the first thing he said was, "What smells so good!"  High accolade indeed!  We served it with potatoes, which we had simply boiled.  They were perfect together. I am thinking a nice crusty rye bread would also go well, and perhaps some mustard on the side.

This was a MOST enjoyable meal! The simple things in life really do bring us the  most joy.

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

Print
Smoked Sausage and Cabbage
Yield: 4
Author: Marie Rayner
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 20 Mininactive time: 5 Mintotal time: 35 Min
A delicious supper dish that uses simple ingredients, and goes together very easily. We enjoyed with some boiled potatoes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of smokd sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 6 cups coarsely chopped white cabbage (1 small head)
  • 1 large onion, peeled and cut into wedges
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and  minced
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Add the sausage to a large skillet. Cook and stir over medium high heat for about 3 minutes, until nicely browned.  Scoop out and set aside.
  2. Add the cabbage, onion, garlic, sugar, caraway seeds (if using), salt and black pepper to the pan drippings.   Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to brown. (about 5 minutes)
  3. Add the sausage. Cover the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and let stand for five minutes.  Serve hot.
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Smoked Sausage and Cabbage

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6 comments

  1. This sounds like something hearty that my mum would make in the winter. She used rookworst (a type of Dutch smoked sausage). Sometimes we'd have it with sauerkraut, mashed potato and gravy. But sometimes we'd have it in a cabbage dish like this (or perhaps in a cabbage soup). Simple food, but always both tasty and filling.

    I like the addition of caraway seeds - perfect with cabbage and sausage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would have loved to add them, but apparently they are not popular here in this house. I love simple food most of all! xoxo

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  2. I have bought quite a few secondhand books online and like you have had mostly a good experience. Lately I bought one that was in pristine unused condition except that it had had some pictures cut out, as if by a child for a scrapbook! Several of my purchases have had extra recipes tucked inside, magazine clippings or handwritten. Some of these I have felt compelled to make, it's all quite a voyage of discovery, the world of secondhand books!
    Your cabbage dish sounds delicious and right up our street, perfect for the time of year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks very good Marie...and worthy of a try. I am not cabbage-saavy LOL...it was not something we had a great deal of growing up for some reason. Other than in cole slaw or sauerkraut, I only first had cabbage as a an adult when I tried corned beef and cabbage for the first time (it was creamed cabbage...and to die for).... It was love at first bite on both accounts LOL. And as far as "types" of cabbage...hmmm...we have one and only one choice...whatever the local grocery stocks over and over. No clue what "kind" it is. ~Robin~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If its hard as a rock and heavy, its the right kind Robin! I love corned beef and cabbage. Its a favourite with me! xoxo

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  4. What a wonderful thing to have in the cold room Laurie! xoxo

    ReplyDelete

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