A Universal Trinity?

Mike’s (Pitrow) thread on a Dutch stamppot using kale, potatoes, and sausage ( http://www.foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/boerenkool-met-worst-kale-with-sausage topic4509.html?SID=98140741e8317d7667879z7a6bdaa7054282407 ) got me thinking about how perfect a match those ingredients are. And I wondered if pairing kale with potatoes and pork wasn’t more common than using regular cabbage.

I still don’t know whether or not it’s more prevalent. But the pairing of those three is incredibly common, in almost all countries and cultures. This isn’t to say that they’re paired in the same way.

Sometimes, as with Colcannon and Boernkool, they’re in the form of a mash. In Minnasota there’s a hotdish that’s prepared virtually the same way. Grunkohl is a German dish that combines kale, sausages, and potatoes, seasoned with bacon or speck. Otherwise it takes the same approach.

More often we find that trinity combined in a soup. This is, perhaps, the most common method. The Portuguese classing Caldo Verde is made that way, for instance. Rather than smoked sausage, Italy’s Zuppa Toscana uses Italian sausage.

Thicken the soup into a stew and you find numerous versions, including an Hungarian Goulas.

And sometimes, as with the Danish Gronlaugkal, the three are served separately on the plate. Gronlaugkal conisists of a kale stew, with carmelized potatoes and smoked ham on the same plate.

Interestingly, sweet potatoes are sometimes used instead of Irish. Both Russia and the Ukraine have soups made that way. Which potato to use is, apparently optional.

My researches have just begun. But I’m sure I’ll find that central Europe has versions of this trinity in all its countries. And perhaps we’ll find it in the Mid-East as well?

What about your own ethnic backgrounds? Is there a special dish in your background that combines these three? I’d like to hear about it. And if you have recipes, especially if they’re the way Grandma made it, so much the better.

Drinks, I think you're missing the point, here.

I'm not looking for variations on three ingredients. Rather, I'm attempting to uncover the prevalence of pairing kale, potatoes, and pork, and how that compares to regular cabbage rather than the kale.

I wonder if climate doesn't cause variance in this trinity. Where I live in the agricultural Midwest with its long, hot summers and often frigid winters, we are limited in what spring and fall crops we can grow reliably. Cabbage is about it among the brassicas, though with some care you can grow cauliflower and broccoli. I've never known anyone to grow kale around here. It is a brassica, isn't it? Perhaps that's just cultural, though. The similar trinity I grew up with was sauerkraut and some kind of pork served over mashed potatoes. Ribs, chops, neck bones, wieners, smoked sausage, whatever. Since it's just me and Wonder Woman most of the time now when I barbecue ribs, I cut the rack in half before cooking, season the short end for BBQ, and smoke both parts. The second, plain smoked part gets thrown in the pressure cooker with kraut for a second meal midweek.