Gru:en Kohl with Rabbit Sausages Cooked with Smoked Meat
From Ein New Kochbuch, 1581, by Marxen Rumpolt
© 1999 by M. Grasse

By Gwen Catrin von Berlin
Barony of Carthe Arts & Sciences Competition, Culinary Division - November 1999

Category - Side Dishes

The second course lists Ein gru:enenKo:el mit Bratwu:ersten vnd mit gera:euchertem Fleisch gekocht - A green cabbage with bratwursts and cooked with smoked meat.

Based on the suggestion I combined several recipes for this entry. The rabbit bratwurst, from the section on rabbit (the transliteration is already webbed on Dr. Glonings site;) and a green cabbage cooked with smoked meat. I grew the cabbage and used pork I cured and smoked myself.

Cabbage with smoked meat

There are several cabbage recipes listed in Ein new Kochbuch.

110. Braunko:el mit gera:euchertem Ham{m}el fleisch. Mit guter Rindfleischbru:eh
angemacht. Vnnd damit gekocht/ so ist es gut vnd wolgeschmack.

110. Brown cabbage (a name, not truly brown) with smoked mutton meat. Prepared with a good beef broth. And cooked therewith/ so it is good and welltasting.

112. Gru:en Kraut mit gera:eucherten Hennen

112. Green cabbage with a smoked chicken

113. Gru:en Ko:el mit Schweinen fu:esse/Ohren/ vnd guter Rindfleischbru:eh
angemacht/ mit gantzem Pfeffer/ Muskatenblu:et/gestossenen Jngwer/
vnd kleinen geschnittenen Knobloch. Lasz darmit auffsieden. So wirt es gut vn{d}
wolgeschmack.

113.Green cabbage with pigs feet/ears/ and prepared with good beef broth/ with whole pepper/ nutmeg blossom/ crushed ginger/ and minced garlic. Let it cook therewith. So it becomes good and welltasting.

All of these use cabbage, two use smoked meat, and two use beef broth so I combined:
2 small head of cabbage (I used homegrown savoy)
1-2 cups beef broth
1 lb smoked pork (home smoked in this case)

Rinse your cabbage, remove tough outer leaves and stalks, and shred. Place in a large heavy pot, add the smoked meat, the broth (do not cover with liquid, the cabbage will shrink down as it cooks) and some salt and pepper to taste. Simmer till tender.

Vom Hasen Wildpret seind zwentzigerley Speisz vnd trachten zu machen.

8. Nim{m} die Da:erm vom Hasen/ Sa:eubers sauber/ vnnd schleim sie ausz/
nim{m} von dem hintertheil desz Hasen/ scheidt das Fleisch herab/ hacks klein
mit frischem Speck/ wenn du es klein gehackt hast/ so thu gestossen Pfeffer
darein/ fu:ell die Da:erm damit/ leg sie in ein kaltes Wasser/ vnnd lasz darinnen
ligen/ so werden die fein steiff/ hengs auff/ vn{d} lasz trucken werden. brats oder
kochs/ du kanst auch wol ein Knobloch darvnter hacken/ wenn du bist in Vngern
oder Polen/ so muszt du mit Zwibeln vnnd Knobloch das meist theil
kochen.

8. take the intestines of (a) rabbit/ clean (them) clean/ and slime them out/
take of the back end of the rabbit/ cut the meat therefrom/ chop (it) small
with fresh bacon/ when you have chopped it small/ so put cracked pepper
thereto/ fill the intestines therewith/ lay them in a cold water/ and let them therein
lie/ so they well become well stiff/ hang them up / and let them become dry/ fry them or cook (them)/ you can also well chop a little garlic thereunder/ when you are in Hungary
or Poland/ so you must cook with onions and garlic most things.

My interpretation
2 rabbits (2-3 lb each, before removing bones, etc.)
3/4 lb side pork (unsalted, un-cured bacon meat)
2-3 T cracked pepper (add till it looks right, don't just dump it all in!)
(salt to taste (again it is not specified, but assumed you know to add salt)
2-3 sausage casings (if you are lucky they are available at the local grocers, otherwise you may need to mail order - plan ahead)
Sausage casings (ideally rabbit or lamb, if not available use hog, but know that they have a larger diameter than the original calls for).

Clean your casings (extremely important if using fresh!) If using commercial/ store-bought or salted casings you just need to rinse well in cold running water.
Take the meat from the back end of the rabbit (I admit to using the whole thing - each rabbit being only 2-3 pounds before removing the bones); remove the meat from the bones and chop it finely with some fresh bacon (I used fresh - not salted - sidepork).
Mix cracked pepper under the meat and fill the casings.
Lay the filled casings into a bowl of ice cold water to firm them up.
Hang them to let them dry. (I did this under refrigeration - this recipe does not mention saltpeter, and while they might have been looking for some sort of fermentation to flavor the meat I chose not take chances with food poisoning.)
Fry them or cook them.
You may add some chopped garlic to the sausage mixture (I find this leaves too raw a taste in the finished product)/ if you are in Hungary or Poland/ you must cook most things with onion and garlic. I chose to simply fry the resultant sausage, without benefit of onions or garlic.

The transcription, translation from the German into English and recipe re-creation are all from Ein New Kochbuch and are my original work

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