Kale With Bacon

Certain foods bring my grandmother to mind, like spinach salad with a sort of sweet and sour bacon dressing, parsnips, and kale. I've had this recipe for more than twenty years and I use it at least twice a year, although with my own adjustments to it, which I'll note. It is from "The New German Cookbook" by Jean Anderson and Hedy Würz, published by Harper Collins, New York 1993, and in German the recipe is called "Grünkohl mit Speck" (see "Word History" below), which simply means "Kale with Bacon." Kale is especially popular in northwestern Germany in the East Frisia area (German: Ostfriesland) and around Bremen, where a very common recipe has it served with a regional sausage specialty called "Pinkelwurst," which has oats added to the meat mixture. The name I know for this type sausage in German is "Grützwurst," and the "grütz" part of the compound is closely related to English "groats" and "grits." But this recipe today is for "Kale With Bacon:"

2 lbs. fresh kale, trimmed of coarse stems and well rinsed
4 strips of good meaty smoked bacon cut into 1/4" pieces
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups of good beef broth, store bought or homemade
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (I use more than that)
2 tablespoons potato starch (I just use corn starch mixed with water and my German relatives haven't disowned me ... well, not over this recipe anyway.)
I add some quartered small red potatoes, but this is not in the book recipe (see more below).

The book calls for parboiling the kale in some salted water for 5 minutes, then squeezing it dry and setting it aside. Using a 12 inch skillet, "cook the bacon over moderate heat for 4 to 5 minutes," remove to a plate with power towels to drain. "Add the onion to the skillet and saute for 10 minutes, until lightly browned." Add the kale and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, until slightly wilted. Return the bacon to the skillet. Add 2 cups of the beef broth and bring to a simmer." Simmer gently, "cover, and simmer about 1 hour, until the kale is tender and almost all of the liquid has cooked away. Blend the potato starch with the remaining 1/2 cup broth..."  "Add to the skillet along with the salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until thicken and smooth." Remove cover and reduce heat to low and cook for 5 more minutes.

I skip the parboiling of the kale. I use a 12 inch skillet and I heat the bacon for a couple of minutes, but I leave the bacon in the skillet, then I add the onion and saute for a couple of minutes, until the onion softens a bit. Then I add about half of the broth and let it heat up before I add the kale, a little at a time, until it starts to cook down. Add more broth and more kale until the kale is all in the skillet. If you add all of the kale at once, the mounded kale will be difficult to mix so that all of it gets exposed to hot broth, which will make it gradually collapse. I then add the potatoes, cover and simmer, pretty much as the book recipe calls for, except that you will need to be sure both the kale and the potatoes are tender. Add the salt and pepper. I like the broth to make a sort of sauce, so while much of it may have cooked away, I add more, if needed, and then I stir in the corn starch and water mixture to thicken it. By adding the potatoes, you get a substantial dish that can serve as a meal in itself, and the potatoes have lots of flavor.

WORD HISTORY:
Kale-The ultimate origin of this word is uncertain, but Greek "kaulos" meant "stem," and Latin "caulis" meant the same. Latin had a number of borrowings from Greek, but was this one of them? If so, where did Greek get the word? If not, where did Latin get the term? Some Germanic dialects borrowed forms from Latin, which then spread throughout the Germanic speaking parts of Europe, and this gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cawel" and "cawl" (both with long "a" sounds), which meant "cabbage," but also "kale." These later became "kale" and "cole," but with the separate meanings of "kale" and "cabbage." "Cole" is still used dialectically for cabbage, including in the salad name "coleslaw," but that actual dish name was borrowed from Dutch in anglicized form. Common in the Germanic languages: German has "Kohl" (cabbage) and "Grünkohl" (kale; literally "green kale"); Low German Saxon has "Kohl" (cabbage) and "Gröönkohl" (green kale); Dutch has "kool" (cabbage) and "boerenkool" ^ (kale); West Frisian has "koal" (cabbage) and "boerekoal" (kale); Danish has "kål" (cabbage) and "grønkål" (green kale); Norwegian has "kål" (cabbage) and "grønnkål" (green kale);  Swedish has "kål" (cabbage) and "grönkål" (green kale) and Icelandic has "kål" (cabbage), I did not find a specific word for "kale" in Icelandic.

^ English also has the term "borecole" for kale in Britain, but it is rare in modern times.