Sauerkraut

In The Old Mermaid’s Tale, Clair and Baptiste often have dinner at a restaurant behind the Customs House where he works, at a little restaurant called the Hofbrau House. They order pork with sauerkraut and dumplings and a lovely, crisp, white wine. Sauerkraut is a treasured part of my life.

I have often thought that if our family had a coat of arms, it would have a barrel of sauerkraut on it. Some of the best times I can remember growing up was when we made huge barrels of homemade sauerkraut at the end of the summer when the cabbages were huge and fresh from the garden.

(Above: The John Werner Family, 1915, seated, John Werner and Anna Groll Werner, my great-grandparents,
back row: Alfred G. Werner, my mother's father, Jane, Edward, Rose, and Leo Werner)

Dad would bring the cabbage up from the garden and hang it upside down from rafters in the shop until we were ready to have a sauerkraut making day. He and I would clean them, saving the tough outer leaves, and cut them into wedges. There was a huge crock that had been in the family for generations. Mom would scrub it out and line it with those outer leaves. There was an enormous shredder that had also been around for a couple generations that we used. It was made of wood with a metal blade set into it and the cabbage would be swiped back and forth along the wooden slide over the blade to shred it. We all helped with that. Sometimes a relative would stop in and take a turn at the shredding just for nostalgia’s sake.

The shredded cabbage was layered into the crock with occasional layers of coarse salt to help it work. There was a big stone that fit on the top of the crock to weight it down but Dad had an improvement on that. He would take a heavy-duty garbage bag, fill it with water and tightly close it and put that on top of the shredded cabbage. This added the weight to press down on the cabbage while sealing off the air at the same time. The crock was then stored in the dark under the basement steps for several weeks until the cabbage fermented into kraut.

When it was fermented and “sauer”, Mom packed the sauerkraut into sterile quart jars and processed them in a boiling water bath. We made a fifty gallon crock full but no matter how much we made it was always gone by the following summer.

We always had sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. It was a tradition and even the rare person who didn’t like sauerkraut was urged to eat at least one bite of it for good luck. Personally, I have always loved sauerkraut raw, straight from the jar. I use it as a relish in sandwiches and as the base for salads. Following are two recipes for using sauerkraut — one each from my two grandmothers:

Gram Werner’s Sauerkraut with Pork and Dumplings
In a large, deep Dutch oven place 3 lbs. Of rinsed sauerkraut. Sprinkle with 1/4 c. brown sugar. Nestle a 2-1/2—3 lb. Pork roast in the sauerkraut and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder and pepper. Seal the pot and place over a medium flame. Let simmer for a couple hours until the pork falls apart with a fork.
In a bowl combine:
2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 3 eggs, a little water if needed.
Knead gently until well mixed.
Remove the pork (as much as you can) and set aside. Bring the sauerkraut which is quite juicy by now to a boil. Pinch off pieces of the dough and drop into the bubbling juice. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes. Cover and Gobble up!

Grandma Valentine’s Sauerkraut and Pork Chops
In a large, shallow, oven-proof dish place 2 lbs. Of rinsed and drained sauerkraut. Sprinkle it with ½ cup brown sugar. On top of the sauerkraut place enough thick-cut pork chops to cover it. Sprinkle them with onion salt and pepper and place in a 350 degree oven and let bake until the chops are crispy. I have often placed a slice of apple on top of each chop for the first 45 minutes of baking. This keeps the chops very moist and flavorful but, since the apple absorbs excess fat, they should be discarded before serving.

Sauerkraut & Soltz on Parlez-Moi Blog: Part 1 & Part 2