Hiya, early risers!
I inherited the big orange enamel-coated steel soup pot and big black enamel cooking spoon my mom used when she made her Soups. One was a beef-barley-mushroom, which we all liked very well. But The One we waited for, and were gifted with about twice a year, was the sweet and sour cabbage and flanken soup.
First she braised some short ribs (flanken) in the bottom of the pot, then covered them with gallons of water to simmer while she chopped cabbage and tossed that in. It went on all day, the simmering. There was something about tomato paste and kosher sour salt and sugar at some point, late in the day - with my dad standing over her, kibbitzing the seasonings. Apparently, HIS mother made it with raisins and lemons.
Sometimes, she would boil whole cabbabe leaves in water, then meticulously roll a mixture of lean chopped meat and matzoh meal and other stuff in the soft cabbage leaves - like "Pigs in a Blanket" - and drop those into the sweet and sour broth to cook for what seemed like hours. The flanken was taken out, to be used for something else.
The whole house smelled of soup for days, and the scent, wafting out through the kitchen windows, brought my father's brother - Oy! AGAIN he drops in without calling! Set another place! Bring me another bowl.
I will attempt this soup next fall in LA, I think. I'll drive down with the pot and the spoon - and the jar of kosher sour salt, which I also inherited...
