Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional Irish dish that features corned beef slowly simmered with onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, beef broth and beer. But Caribbean people know it as something completely different, mainly because we use canned corned beef, like this one from Target.
There’s something beautifully nostalgic about that odd-shaped tin that requires a key to open it.
Gerard Low Foon, owner of the pop-up dinner series 6 Plates TT, gives this easy weeknight meal an upgrade by taking the cabbage one step further and making sauerkraut before sautéing everything together in the pan. First, he mixes salt into finely sliced cabbage and massages it until it starts to lacto-ferment, a process in which bacteria break down the sugars in foods and form lactic acid. It tastes insanely good.
Ingredients
For the sauerkraut:
1 quarter head cabbage, sliced into thin strips
1 pinch of non-iodized salt (kosher or sea salt)
For the corned beef:
1 can Target corned beef
Cooking oil
1 pimento, minced
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 2-inch knob ginger
2 tablespoons ketchup
Black pepper, to taste
2 leaves. bandania/chadon beni, chiffonade
Hot pepper (optional)
Utensils
Kitchen scale (in an ideal situation)
Cutting board
Knife
Pot
Mason jar/airtight container
Directions
For the sauerkraut:
Clean everything! When dealing with fermentation, you don’t want any bacteria. Wash your utensils and sanitize your work space. And as if you needed to hear it again, wash your damn hands. You’ll be using them to massage salt into your cabbage.
Wash the cabbage thoroughly, save one large leaf and slice the rest of it into thin ribbons.
Transfer the cabbage to a big bowl and sprinkle salt over top. Begin working the salt into the cabbage by massaging and squeezing the cabbage with your hands. At first, it may seem very dry but within a few minutes, the cabbage will soften and begin to spring water.
Place the cabbage into a mason jar or airtight container, pouring all the liquid released by the cabbage into the jar.
Place the cabbage leaf you reserved over the top of your sauerkraut and press down. This works like a blanket, keeping all the cabbage submerged in the water.
Cover the jar. This allows gas to build.
Leave it in a dark cupboard and let it ferment for 3 to 10 days. “Burp” the cabbage by pressing down on it every 12 hours.
Start tasting it after 3 days — when the sauerkraut tastes good to you, stick it in the refrigerator.
For the corned beef:
In a medium pot over medium-high heat, pour a tablespoon of oil.
Once the oil is hot enough, throw in pimentos, onion, garlic and ginger. Cook until the garlic and onion are translucent.
Add the sauerkraut to the pot.
Add the corned beef to the cabbage and cook for 5 minutes.