Bayrisch Kraut

The sourness is poured in rather than fermented, which is what separates it from sauerkraut.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains beef stock, lard, pork.

Ingredients

• 1 white cabbage, about 1 kg, shredded fine
• 2 tablespoons pork lard
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 apples, peeled and grated
• 300 ml beef stock
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• black pepper

Method

1. THE SOURNESS IS POURED IN RATHER THAN FERMENTED, WHICH IS WHAT SEPARATES IT FROM SAUERKRAUT. The article gives the whole dish in one sentence -- SHREDDED CABBAGE COOKED IN BEEF STOCK WITH PORK LARD, ONION, APPLES, AND SEASONED WITH SALT, BLACK PEPPER, CARAWAY, SUGAR AND VINEGAR -- and then places it: IN GERMAN CUISINE IT IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO SAUERKRAUT.
2. SO TWO SOUR CABBAGES, ARRIVED AT TWO DIFFERENT WAYS. Sauerkraut, as on its own page, gets its acid from lactobacilli over weeks; this gets it from a spoon of vinegar in half an hour. The vinegar is in the article's own seasoning list and no fermentation is anywhere in it.
3. WHICH MAKES THIS THE ONE YOU CAN DECIDE TO COOK TODAY. That is the practical consequence and the reason the comparison matters.
4. FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE CHARACTERS OF ARTICLE, AND NOTHING MISSING. It has no sections at all, and the method, the seasonings and what to serve it with are all in it. Length is not the test.
5. SHRED THE CABBAGE AS FINE AS YOU CAN. Thick ribbons stay squeaky in the time the dish takes.
6. MELT THE LARD AND SOFTEN THE ONION WITHOUT COLOUR. Brown onion makes this taste roasted, which is the wrong direction.
7. THE CABBAGE GOES IN DRY AND IS TURNED IN THE FAT FIRST, five minutes, until it slumps. Stock poured onto raw cabbage boils it instead.
8. THE GRATED APPLE IS THE SWEETNESS AND MOST OF THE BODY. It disappears entirely and thickens the liquid as it goes.
9. CARAWAY IN WHOLE, NOT GROUND. Ground, it dominates within minutes; whole seeds give way slowly.
10. THEN STOCK, VINEGAR AND SUGAR, LID ON, THIRTY MINUTES. Taste it at the end and correct the vinegar and the sugar against each other -- that balance is the dish, and the article gives no proportions for either, so it is yours to set.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes