Beer Braised Cabbage with Bacon

Although the recipe I used said that bacon was "distracting" when added to this, I decided to give it a try anyhow, and I gotta say, I didn't think it was distracting at all. I thought it was delicious. The recipe is fairly quick and straightforward, and tasty. However, I ended up having to make quite a few modifications, so I'll give my version, with some discussion to follow.

Beer Braised Cabbage with Bacon

4-6 slices bacon, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 beer

2 tbs whole grain mustard

1 tsp thyme (preferably minced fresh)

4 tbs cider vinegar

1 small head cabbage, cored and chopped

salt, pepper

Fry up the bacon. Drain some grease, but only some - you want a good tablespoon or two still in the pan. Add the onion, saute until softened over medium heat. Add the thyme, beer and mustard and simmer for a minute or two until thickened. Add the cabbage and cider vinegar and cook covered, stirring occasionally, until tender - about 8 minutes. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

So, the recipe I used called for half a cup of beer, preferably a light-bodied lager. All I had in the house were a few bottles of porter and cream stout and a can of Busch light that someone left behind. So in went the Busch light. This was somewhat unfortunate, because, ahem, it doesn't have a whole lot of flavor. So next time, I'd definitely pick something with more character. However, half a cup didn't seem nearly enough. Same with the cider vinegar, which I doubled - though I wouldn't do more than that, because it'll get too vinegary. I also increased the thyme and mustard, because they weren't especially noticeable, and I might even increase them more if I do it again. I might also up the onion, come to think of it - it called for one medium, but you could do two. You might wanna do them on low heat into a more buttery brown kind of onion style. Also - don't assess until you've really seasoned it up with salt and pepper - that made a huge difference.

Overall though, definitely tasty, and definitely quite improved by the bacon, in my opinion.