While visiting in England, I watched my friend Chris Bell prepare this marvelous dish.  She passed the recipe along before I left her charming home.

Ingredients

• A large head of red cabbage, shredded and chopped
• 2/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 rasher of bacon for every person sitting down at table
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 - 3 tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks
  (Granny Smith apples will do here in the U.S.  The British use a variety called a Bramley.  They are large,  tart, cooking apples used for things like apple sauce. (When I say large, I mean VERY large... about the size of a small soccer ball!) They are great for all sorts of baked apple recipes, as they stay firm enough (but not too firm!) and have that sharp edge allows you to caramelize sugar on them without it getting too sickly sweet.  When Chris prepared this recipe, of course, she only needed one Bramley apple.)
• 1 cup water
• 3 tablespoons dry red wine
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf

Wash the head of cabbage under cold running water, remove the tough outer leaves, and cut the cabbage into quarters.  Shred the cabbage by cutting out the core and slicing the quarters crosswise into 1/8"-wide strips.  Turn the strips sideways and chop the shreds into 1/2"-long bits.

Put the cabbage in a large pot.  Sprinkle with vinegar, sugar and salt.

Cut the rashers of bacon into 1" pieces.  In a large skillet, cook the bacon; remove from the skillet - BUT DON'T TOSS THE BACON FAT OUT!  Add the chopped apple and onion to the skillet and, stirring frequently, cook until the apples are lightly browned.  Combine the apples and onion (and the remaining bacon fat.... mmmmm) to the cabbage.  Toss in the bacon pieces, cloves, and bay leaf.  Add a cup of water and the dry red wine.  Cover with a well-fitting lid and simmer several hours on low heat, stirring occasionally for the pure pleasure of smelling the fine aroma coming from the pot.

Serve with pork chops and a thick slice of black bread.