5.2.18

COOKING WITH SAUERKRAUT

Sauerkraut and cabbage - can you tell which is which? 

Not every tradition is worth hanging onto. One of my pet peeves is how Hungarian recipes handle sauerkraut dishes. With the passage of time, sauerkraut gets increasingly sour. That is why recipes containing sauerkraut will instruct rinsing the sauerkraut before cooking. But that's just removing the health benefits fermented foods provide... like moving things along. Why not mellow the sauerkraut with fresh cabbage instead? If you still rinse sauerkraut, you are discarding the good stuff. You may be thinking that brining the green cabbage and discarding the cabbage juice is the same thing. Well not quite. Fresh cabbage juice cannot produce the same probiotic and enzymatic benefits of sauerkraut juice.

COOKING WITH SAUERKRAUT
1 cup sauerkraut
2 cups thinly sliced fresh green cabbage  
Salt to taste

  • Brine the fresh cabbage first.
  • To brine it, rinse the thinly sliced green cabbage under running water. 
  • Next, sprinkle it with salt. The amount of salt used is a matter of taste. 
  • Let the cabbage brine in salt for at least an hour, it will let some of its juices.
  • Squeeze it out really well.
  • Place the sauerkraut in a bowl.
  • Add the brined cabbage and stir to combine.
  • If you have time let the mixture sit for an hour or longer.
  • The mixture should taste pleasantly sour.
  • Use this when the recipe calls for sauerkraut.
  • Always taste sauerkraut dishes before salting. There is a good chance the dish will not need additional salt.

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It began with posting a few recipes on line for the family. "zsuzsa is in the kitchen" has more than 1000 Hungarian and International recipes. What started out as a private project turned into a well visited blog. The number of visitors long passed the two million mark. I organized the recipes into an on-line cookbook. On top of the page click on "ZSUZSA'S COOKBOOK". From there click on any of the chapters to access the recipes. For the archive just scroll to the bottom of the page. I am not profiting from my blog, so visitors are not harassed with advertising or flashy gadgets. The recipes are not broken up with photos at every step. Where needed the photos are placed following the recipe. Feel free to cut and paste my recipes for your own use. Publication is permitted as long as it is in your own words and with your own photographs. However, I would ask you for an acknowledgement and link-back to my blog. Happy cooking!