German Dinner Pt. 1...Rotkohl (Red Cabbage)

(See my segment on this, Spaetzle and Schnitzel on WLUK Fox 11's "Good Day Wisconsin" by following this link:  http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/good_day_wi/Cooking-With-You-Mike-Kohn)

Ach du lieber!  It's October!  And that means it's time for Oktoberfest...lots of good German food, beer that stands up to the rules of the Reinheitsgebot, and perhaps an Oompah band or three.  Ein Prosit!

The meal that I'll be preparing for my television debut is a very simple meal of food that the common people would prepare...Wienerschnitzel, Spaetzle and Rotkohl.   This recipe is for the Rotkohl.  I'm doing this one first, as it's much better if it sits for a day or two than it is on the day that you prepare it.  It's also hard to make just a little, but it does freeze well, so you might wish to freeze half of it for later.  I love the sweet/sour flavor of this dish and it's a perfect compliment to a lot of German dishes.

Note:  Technically, this should be called Blaukraut, as Rotkohl is known in Bavaria and southern Germany.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

1 small head red cabbage, shredded
4-5 slices of bacon, cut up into 1/2 inch pieces
2 T butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 raw apple, diced (I used a Door County Honeycrisp)
1/2 cup vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used one cup of real maple syrup, but you may not have that luxury)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup red wine
1.5 T flour
Dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Fry bacon til it begins to crisp, add onions and butter and simmer til onions clarify.  Meanwhile, in a medium pot, add all the other ingredients except the flour.  When onions are clarified and bacon is done to your satisfaction, dump in with the rest of the ingredients in the pot and cover.  Simmer for about 45 minutes. Then add the flour a little at a time, stirring well.  Adjust seasonings to taste, simmer for another 10 minutes and remove from heat.

You can serve it at this point, or refrigerate it and reheat it for the next day's German meal (which is ideal...as mentioned before, it gets better as it sits).