Pork With Cabbage (one-pot, simple + easy)

A simple, flavorsome, old-fashioned Greek dish of sweet and sour pork with cabbage. Similar to stir-fry in texture but actually slowly cooked in its juices along with white wine and lemon.

The best part? The strong-flavored concentrated sauce that collects at the bottom of the pot. Containing all the delicious sweet and sour flavors of this dish.

Table Of Contents

• Ingredients + Substitutes
• Preparation
• Recipe Tips
• Serve With
• Recipe

This pork and cabbage recipe is a local specialty dish from the island of Kefalonia in Greece. It was served during Christmas long before the Christmas turkey made its way to the Greek Christmas table.

In Greek, it's called Poutrida and many times it is made with cauliflower or broccoli instead of cabbage (depending on what's available in the winter garden).

This simplistic dish with its humble preparation may not have anything in common with the usual fancy main dishes we serve on Christmas day. But it's a real cozy wintry-flavored dish that's very simple to make and nutritious.

I make this cabbage pork often during winter because a). there's always cabbage available in my fridge. b). Apart from the cabbage, you don't need many ingredients to make it.

Ingredients + Substitutes

• Pork: shoulder or neck cuts without bone.
• Cabbage: It's made with white cabbage but that of course doesn't mean you can't use red cabbage instead. And as mentioned above you can use cauliflower or broccoli instead to make it. If using broccoli add it in towards the last 15 minutes of cooking.
• Sweet paprika: hot can be used instead if you like spicy or even smoked paprika which goes so well with the pork.
• Onion
• Garlic cloves
• Leek
• White wine: Semi-sweet to enhance the sweetness of the cabbage and leeks and give the dish a sweet and sour flavor in combination with the lemon.
• Lemon juice: if you want to make this dish more festive try adding orange or clementine juice. In that case, make sure to add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar as well, to make up for the sour taste of the lemon.
• Bay leaf: Sage goes also well here.
• Dried oregano: you can substitute it with dried thyme or dried marjoram.

Preparation

To make pork with leeks first season the pork with salt, pepper, and paprika (sweet, smoked, or hot is up to you).

Sear the pork in a cooking pot with hot olive oil and then add in the vegetables, onion, garlic, and leeks, and once they soften, add the cabbage in batches. Season the cabbage with a bit of salt to help it soften and release its juices. Then add the wine and lemon juice and slowly cook it covered until the pork is fork-tender.

Recipe Tips

• For tender pork let the meat reach room temperature before cooking it.
• Avoid high cooking temperatures that make the meat tough keep a moderate heat when searing and low and slow when cooking together with the vegetables.
• You can leave the pork to marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. This will flavor the meat deeply but also soften it.
• The pork shoulder is leaner than the pork neck. This means pork neck is a bit more tender when cooked due to the fat membranes it contains in the middle.
• You can toss in some sauteed smoked sausage (like the German Bratwurst and Sauerkraut) or bacon for a stronger meaty flavor.

Serve With

Pork and cabbage can simply be served along with some toasted sourdough bread or you can serve it with some Roasted Greek Potatoes With Feta, Mashed Potatoes With Yogurt, or with Prasorizo (lemony rice with leeks).

Recipe