Haluski New Year!
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 7:49PM No, this isn't a resolution post. I'm just not that kind of guy who's into empty promises. I do have a personal continuous improvement system, which involves periodically embracing my heritage. This post is about that system, and haluski. Haluski is [sweet] noodles with bacon, onion, and cabbage. Haluski is good.
I'm not sure what the most traditional way is to make haluski, but I've figured out a damn good one. I don't see the point in boiling the cabbage, getting multiple pots dirty, and using butter when rendered pork fat is readily available. Start by browning diced bacon--while this is going on, start the mise.
;)
Mise begins with the cabbage--a very high waste product. Little over a year ago, I had a consulting gig with a section of YUM! Brands in Salt Lake City. I wrote an integration piece that collected store requests for inventory at a distribution center, that then filled the orders, put them on a truck, created a route for the truck with each stop being a store, et cetera et cetera. While doing this, I got to tour the coleslaw manufacturing facility responsible for 350 restaurants, and see serious cabbage shredding. Long boring story short, when it came time to calculate yields, only 40ish% of the head was useable. The cabbage core is rough, dense, and heavy--so remove it.
Cut long thin strips from the cabbage, then the onion similarly.
Normally, I cook bacon briefly, so it's still chewy. Bacon cooked this way makes a wonderful replacement for chewing gum, and can be enjoyed longer than crisp bacon, making it ideal for use during showering. This is not the time for that kind of bacon. Haluski demands crisp bacon for textural contrast. Also, more fat will be ultimately be rendered this way, further enriching the produce.
;)
Once the bacon is rendered, pull it from the pan leaving several tablespoons (or more) of fat. Save any excess in a jar, which can be used in salad dressings, or to expedite future bacon renderings. Next, add the onion and cook until translucent. Then, add the cabbage, and cover till wilted. The pan should start heaping with cabbage, but end with a small wilted down volume. Add the bacon back, and half a pound of cooked egg noodles.
With proper basic seasoning along the way, the end result is an inexpensive, yet filling, mountain of Polish joy.
Reader Comments (1)
Cabbage and bacon indeed make wonderful companions! GREG