Pork and sauerkraut
I need comfort food today. For me, that's pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. I see that Jerzee Tomato and PerkyMac named pork and sauerkraut as their traditional New Year's food last year.
So, how do you cook it? Years ago I started sauteeing the pork (bony ribs, neck bones) with onions before adding a little water and the sauerkraut. I know some people add caraway seeds. Other suggestions? I could eat this stuff once a week in winter. Thanks, guys.
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21 Comments:
I'm as likely to saute a shredded head of cabbage and add it to the braise as I am to use the sauerkraut. Either way, I like to add apples to the mix. And I've been wanting to try using fennel. Seems like it would be a perfect match.
Dill seeds are a yummy sub for caraway.
LoCo at 6:31PM on 12/01/08
I take a pork roast whatever I can find (4-8 pounds), season it and brown it. Stick aside
When I remove it then I cook the onions about 3 good sized ones.
Cook them down nice then add to this 1 cup of water or ale
2-3 tablespoons if apple sauce OR 1 quartered apple
3 cloves of garlic smashed
one rib of celery (I chop it in 4 pieces) You can add caraway seeds instead
crushed pepper flakes about 1 tablespoon (more if you like)
2 bags of cold sauerkraut
Mix this all up and then remove half the kraut mixture to a holding bowl
add the roast back in and cover with the other half
You can do this stovetop or oven.
Cover and simmer for about 3-4 hours or until the roast is tender and falling apart.
Or in the oven in the oven, in a covered roasting pan, oven temperature to 300ยบ and roast for about 3 hours.
Low and slow is your friend.
Serve this with mashed potatoes.
This is great comfort food.
JerzeeTomato at 6:31PM on 12/01/08
I was wondering when/where/how this combo became a New Years Day stable. I never heard of it until we were invited to an event last year, where the main event was the pork and sauerkraut. There were MANY other dishes traditional to the family who invited us, but the pork and sauerkraut was the big draw for the day. Could you please enlighten me?
izatryt at 6:37PM on 12/01/08
I like to get some meaty pork ribs, salt and pepper them, then broil them until browned on both sides. I place them in a casserole and cover them with sauerkraut. Then I cover and bake them for about 45 minutes. They are so tasty.
yankeesgal at 7:33PM on 12/01/08
@Jerzee: thanks! I will try that next week. I love pork and apples but never thought of apples with the sauerkraut. I did add a bunch of garlic today because I have an awful cold.
@ LoCo, will try fresh cabbage too, soon.
@iz: I never heard any special symbolism for the ingredients. I suspect it is just a favorite traditional dish which can be made for a crowd and holds well, same as black-eyed peas or red beans and rice. Also, before there were telephones out in the country, families dropped in on each other on New Year's Day, so it made sense to have something ready when anyone showed up.
Thanks to all!
Blue Iris at 7:40PM on 12/01/08
my bf"s family is from west virginia. their company drop's off squirrel pie. and they are very proud when they tell ya they shot it themselves.
dearrie at 7:53PM on 12/01/08
@Izatryt: Pork roast and sauerkraut is known to be a Pennsylvania Dutch/German tradition on New Year's to bring good luck in the New Year. I don't know how long it's been around but I know it's been our tradition many generations.
Something about the harvest being good and plentiful, and the fact that pigs move forward unlike chickens which (supposedly?) move backwards, meaning looking forward into the new year--my mom doesn't seem real clear on the reasons either--just tradition! roll with it! :-) And Enjoy!
bobcatsteph3 at 8:12PM on 12/01/08
bob is right its PA dutch. The apples takes the sourness out of the kraut and impart a smooth pectin which makes a good gravy. I use applesauce, the no sugar organic kind.
I throw garlic in my recipe because I love pork with garlic.
You guys are making me hungry.
JerzeeTomato at 8:45PM on 12/01/08
@lzatryt: What bobcat said. it's a Pennsylvania Dutch/German tradition that's suppose to bring good luck in the New Year. I don't know why it's good luck, I just know that's why my mom would make it. My family would put hot dogs in the dish as well, but that just might have been to try and tempt me to eat it. I really, really didn't like my mom's sauerkraut, and caught grief whenever I refused to eat it.
MerMade07 at 8:52PM on 12/01/08
BTW, this is delish with a meaty ham bone if you have one and don't feel like making beans or soup or whatever.
LoCo at 8:59PM on 12/01/08
My mother would first soak the kraut in water over night to rid the sourness. Then she would seive the kraut and put into a big roasting dish and yes she added caraway seeds along with a roux that also had alot of paprika in it. Then she would sear pork chops and then layer it on top of kraut, you could bake it at ow heat then and there covered, but she would then make a zillion stuffed cabbages and put that on top of all and cover and bake at low temp. She would then make kenudrls (sp) about the size of baseballs to serve with this when it was almost done. So when dinner was served she served this whole dish with sourcream and a cucumber salad on the side.
pjracz10 at 3:00AM on 12/02/08
I prefer using what's known as "raw sauerkraut" in dishes like pork & sauerkraut as raw sauerkraut gives it a really nice flavor. This is the stuff your grandma used to make. No vinegar or anything like that, it's just cabbage and some salt, left to ferment. Here in the Toledo area Hirzel Canning makes their SilverFleece Sauerkraut, which you can get at Kroger and food service stores around here. (I'm not sure if it's available outside the Toledo area.) We drain it and give it a light rinse before using it in pork & sauerkraut, Reuben pizza, etc.
LunaPierCook at 4:15AM on 12/02/08
Wow, you guys do some amazing things with this dish. I brown a pork shoulder in oil with maybe a couple of onions. I toss a whackload of sauerkraut (juice and all right out of the jar) (my in laws are partial to Silver Floss, which is very strong and vinegary) into my crock pot, and place the pork on top. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Crack open and add a couple packages of knockwurst for the last hour or so - they split open and soak upt the liquid. Yum!
Maureen at 7:58AM on 12/02/08
OMG!... did someone say sub carraway seeds? toast the carraway seeds and use a pepper grinder to coarsely grind them... man I love carraway seeds!
Pavlov at 9:52AM on 12/02/08
@jerzee - OMG that sounds good! I have to make it!
caramel at 10:06AM on 12/02/08
In Polish tradition, sauerkraut (cabbage) is served on New Year's day and symbolizes money/wealth. We eat it and hope to draw it to ourselves in the coming year. We also put coins on the window sill on NYE to bring good fortune in the new year.
I don't know what the pork is about, though.
Kerosena at 10:35AM on 12/02/08
i throw sauerkraut, pork, kielbasa, and sometimes cut up hotdogs along with a can of dark beer into my crockpot and let it slow cook for 10 hours or so. it's what i eat every january 1st.
gastronomeg at 10:59AM on 12/02/08
I like to add just a bit of ground sausage (bratwurst out of the casing is best) to the sauerkraut, and then roast it all together with the pork, and apple or two, and plenty of onions.
Pork and kraut also turns out well in the slow cooker, if you're into those things. Just brown the roast first so it seals in the juices.
TheCheapChick at 10:56PM on 12/02/08
Not that there's anything wrong with slow cookers. I just get teased for using one, and I don't know if Serious Eats is pro-slow cooker or not.
TheCheapChick at 11:07PM on 12/02/08
@TheCheapChick start a topic on that. I hear people are using them more and more, that they are a comeback. They were big in the 70's I remember when I was a kid everyone had one and used it all the time they turned it on befre going to work and when they got home dinner was ready. In those days we called them a "crock pot".
pjracz10 at 3:45AM on 12/03/08
@Yankeesgal - I make mine the same way. I also liberally pepper the pork steaks and sometimes add a little soy sauce to the kraut. We like our kraut savory, not sweet.
As far as why we eat this on New Year's Day, my German Grandma always said that you MUST have at least one thread of sauerkraut to bring luck throughout the new year. It didn't matter what it was mixed with (brats, keilbasa, pork roast). Sauerkraut was the key. I'm getting hungry for New Years as I speak!
Josdean at 1:30PM on 12/10/08