We were gifted a red cabbage the other day which has plunged me into another culinary unknown. What to do with a red cabbage?
The first thing that came to mind was ‘Can I use this to make my reuben? – that has some kind of cabbage thing right?’
You see, for years I have been on the quest for the ever-elusive tasty vegetarian reuben. As a lifetime veg I have never had a ‘real’ reuben, but I have had a couple veg mock versions and I can imagine the flavours that corned beef provide (the best one I’ve had out was a tofu reuben at a random stop here on a roadtrip that took us through VA – if you are ever at VA Tech, go!). I really want to make a delicious, cheesy, ooey-gooey, sour, yummy take on a reuben – the perfect sandwich – it will be different, and arguably not a reuben anymore but it would give the non-veg version a run for its money. First problem; I have no idea what I’m doing and I don’t even know if this red cabbage has any potential here…I decided to start by reading up the history and components of the reuben. I learned that much like the chopsuey, it would be difficult to argue for a solid ‘authentic’ version – the first recipes purported to include roast turkey and ham! One thing that I believe most people are sure of is the basic components of the contemporary classic reuben being russian dressing, corned beef, swiss, rye and sauerkraut.
So here we are, but if I want to use my red cabbage for kraut then I will have to ferment it…holy moly! Things just got serious. Pickling? Braising? No thanks, I’d much rather take a deep foray into the process of fermenting for the very first time thanks! Ah! So, looks like I’m not going to get my reuben today but I DO get to document the multiple day process on here!
Day 1: Acquire mason jars. Look at a million recipes for fermenting.
Day 2 (it was actually more like a week later until I was ready to commit to this):
Cut off a couple outer leaves, shred up red cabbage. I ended up with about 4 cups worth, toss into mixing bowl. Add in half a tbsp of salt, a dash of cumin and a dash of black peppercorns (because I’m a rebel who doesn’t want to buy caraway and juniper berries for one recipe). Squeeze, massage, squeeze and repeat for about 10 minutes, until the cabbage has softened and there is a large amount of brine.
Press the cabbage into the jar, pour the liquid over. It is apparently crucial to ensure that all of the cabbage stays submerged, otherwise it will spoil so we used the outer leaf to stuff over the top of the shredded and then made an impromptu weight from a baby rammekin and some pebbles from a succulent plant (washed and sanitized). We gave it a burka and left in a cool dark place for the night.
Day 3: We tried it…not really sure what to look for, but it tasted ok, like crunchy cabbage sitting in brine…leave it.
Day 4: Day 3 of the ferment, it has started to bubble! Woo! I added cumin initially because I’m not a fan of caraway…feeling a little nervous about that now as it is a little in my face cumin. Flavours really seem to be bumpin now. Leave for another night? Nick has gone to the store to buy some rye and ingredients for the major part two of this reuben fixation, the ‘corned beef’!
Day 5: Bubblin’ like crazy now. Tangy as f***, perhaps too salty? Did we mess up? Damn it, lets put it in the fridge and hope it relaxes….
Day 6: Ooh, it seems to have mellowed…it’s pretty good actually! Let’s see how it is over the rest of the couple weeks or however long it will take me to eat all this kraut and call this a success?
IN SUMMATION: I have learnt that the scary, fun, exciting part of fermenting is all in the beginning and getting things prepped correctly – then, it is just about letting it do its own thing and hoping that you didn’t mess something up. In the end, you have sauerkraut, one of the least glamorous vegetable dishes I can imagine. BUT it will make a nice addition to my condiment selection of love and above all, I am just a step closer to my dream veg reuben.
Click here for abridged recipe!
UPDATE: I made this and thought “meh, ok I fermented, we can scratch that off the bucket list but I will probably never try this again because it’s just OK”. Now, a week later, our whole jar has almost gone! It is pretty delicious, good for your internal flora and makes a wonderful addition to almost all of my lunches. I would say that day 12-14 is when it really gets tasty so be patient! 
Show us yer Reuben! x