Surkål

Name: Surkål
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Norwegian
Ingredients: 1 kg green cabbage, finely shredded; 2 tbsp caraway seeds (karve); 2 tsp salt; 2 tbsp sugar; 2 tbsp vinegar (7%); 200 ml meat broth or water

Finely shredded cabbage braised with caraway, vinegar and a little sugar — the essential Christmas side.

1 hrEasy

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Cultural Context & History

The bright, caraway-scented braised cabbage that partners ribbe and pinnekjøtt, surkål cuts the richness of the Christmas roast with its gentle sweet-sour edge.

Ingredients

1 kg green cabbage, finely shredded24 kcal · 1.2 g protein · 0 g fat · 5.9 g carbs per 100 g
2 tbsp caraway seeds (karve)
2 tsp salt0 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 1330 g carbs per 100 g
2 tbsp sugar523 kcal · 10.3 g protein · 31 g fat · 50.5 g carbs per 100 g
2 tbsp vinegar (7%)
200 ml meat broth or water3 kcal · 0.2 g protein · 0.1 g fat · 0.3 g carbs per 100 g

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

Heavy lidded potTraps the steam that softens the cabbage evenly.
MandolineShreds the cabbage fine enough to turn tender.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

1
Finely shred the cabbage.
2
Layer the cabbage with the caraway seeds in a heavy pot, sprinkling salt and sugar between the layers.
3
Pour over the vinegar and meat broth, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and bring to the boil.
4
Reduce to the lowest heat and simmer for 45–60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is soft and sweet-sour.
5
Taste and adjust the balance with a little more sugar and vinegar before serving.

Chef's Tip

Make it a day ahead — surkål deepens and mellows overnight, and reheats beautifully beside the Christmas ribbe.

Chef's Tip

Norwegian húsholdningseddik is a bracing 7 percent; if you only have ordinary wine vinegar, add it a spoonful at a time and taste, since that sour edge is what balances the sweetness.

How this page was made

Written by: The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked: 2026-07-21 — “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context: Østlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources: No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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