Serves 6

1 medium red cabbage
40g butter
Large-flaked sea salt and black pepper
3 bay leaves
4 cloves
100ml white-wine vinegar
25g unbleached white sugar

Remove any offending outer leaves from the cabbage and discard. Halve the cabbage down the centre, from stalk to top. Cut out the white core. Slicing across the cabbage, shred it — from top to bottom — as thinly as possible. Rinse under cold water in a colander and let it drain. The object of this is to take only the water left on the cabbage to the pan.

Get a big, heavy-bottomed pan that can easily accommodate all the cabbage. Place on a large ring at full heat and add the butter. When it has melted, throw in all the cabbage. You should hear a frying sound — this is good. Add 2 tsp salt, a heavy grind of pepper, the bay leaves and cloves. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, and add a flick of water here and there.

Now add the vinegar. Step away briefly as the initial steam shoots up: it will be unpleasant. Once the vinegar is stirred in, it snatches back the vivid purple of the cabbage. Keep on cooking and stirring until all the vinegar has evaporated.

Only when it has completely evaporated should you sprinkle in the sugar. Now watch the cabbage like a hawk. In the absence of water, the sugar will melt and start to caramelise. Keep on stirring so each sliver rests only fleetingly on the bottom of the pan. If you ignore it, the sugar will catch and start to burn.

After 5 minutes of constant attention, the cabbage should be done. Taste it. It should have a pleasant sweet-and-sour flavour, a moistness with a bit of bite. And it should be something that you won’t try to hide beneath your knife and fork.

Times Recommends

• Seville orange and almond cake
• Gordon Ramsay’s aubergine bhajis
• How to make the perfect Thai green curry