Meal Makeover

When I was younger I had a love of Chef Sauce (or brown sauce as they call it here in Australia). This love had little to do with the sauce itself and everything to do with how it helped me to eat the meal I disliked the most - the dreaded Bacon & Cabbage. My Mother did a fantastic job of raising four children while running a very orderly household. Mum is probably one of the best cooks I know now but back in the day when she had a million things to do, there was a bit of neglect for some dinners. Bacon & Cabbage was my least favourite meal for two reasons – the fat on the boiled bacon and the mushy cabbage. To help this meal go down I would smother it with Chef Sauce which could almost totally mask the flavour of the watery cabbage.

I have never once, ever, considered making this meal as an adult myself. Recently Mum told me about her new updated version of Bacon & Cabbage. I listened but to be honest I never believed this meal would be up to much. So Mum decided to prove me wrong.

For a start she replaced the old boiled fatty bacon with a fantastic leg of cooked ham thickly sliced (after removing even the slightest trace of fat). The cabbage got a complete make over. We bought a head of tight crispy cabbage instead of the floppy old green leaves that Mum used to use. The Cabbage was chopped up after removing the white veins from the crunchy leaves. Some diced bacon was fried up in some butter and then removed from the pan. The cabbage was then fried in the butter and bacon fat for a few minutes until slightly tender. Then the bacon was added back in, along with lots and lots of cracked pepper. Even the mashed potatoes were given a lift with the addition of some seeded mustard.

Now I have to eat my hat (with Chef Sauce of course) because this meal was excellent. J has already requested that I add this to the weekly dinner repertoire. It’s amazing how cooking styles have changed so much over the years. Also we are blessed with the availability of such good quality produce these days. A simple meal like this tastes fantastic mainly because of lovely crunchy cabbage and top quality ham. Now I only need a smidge of brown sauce for old time’s sake.