German Pottage
Ingredients
- 1 diced beef Polska Kielbasa
- 1 small corsely chopped green cabbage
- 1/2 tbsp caraway seed
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 can cream of potato soup
- 1/2 soup can of milk
- 1/2 soup can of water
Directions
- In a large pot, melt butter down and toast caraway seed over medium heat.
- Add kielbasa dices and begin to brown them.
- Once mostly browned, add cabbage and cook until tender.
- Pour cream of potato, milk and water into pot. Stir occasionally.
- Mixture will thicken slightly. Keep on low-medium heat to simmer.
- Serve warm.
Not everyone is a fan of cabbage. I had no idea when I was a kid because this was my favorite dish to eat on a cool, autumn day. I fully in the mindset that everybody’s mom made pottage and served it. My rude awakening was in middle school, when I took leftovers, from the night before, to eat at lunchtime.
A couple of kids near me commented on how it smelled and asked, with disgusted faces, what I was eating. Confused, I told them it was German Pottage, and, of course, one kid who wasn’t in the conversation had to make an anti-semitic remark. I don’t think I brought leftovers often after that.
My mom said she found this recipe in . Then she jazzed it up after a few times of cooking it and finally wrote down the measurements. I’m thankful for it too, because when I asked her for recipes a couple year back, she rummaged through her stash and sent me this and a few others.
My husband, I came to find out, isn’t a fan of cabbage either. I was suddenly back in my middle school lunchroom, beginning to sweat and preparing to say that I wouldn’t make it again. But then, he took a bite and his face lit up.
“Wow, uhh, this is good. Mmm, yeah… wait, are you sure this is cabbage?”
He hadn’t had good experiences with cabbage. Most of the times it was prepared, it wasn’t put in dishes or cooked well to accompany the food put in front of him. When he said he liked it and wouldn’t mind having it again, that’s when I knew.
This is the dish that surprises people. The one that changes minds. It’s not as simple as it appears and even though can be easily made, has layers. I’m sharing this recipe to promote changing minds.
There might be preconceptions that you may have towards something or someone, but it’s okay to revisit and explore to maybe change your feelings about it. Who knows 🤷🏽♀️ you may try this and solidify that you don’t like cabbage and that’s okay.
What’s not okay, is writing it off simply because it’s cabbage.
Leave a Reply