Frankfurter Rippchen

Cured and never smoked, which is the whole difference from Kassler, and warmed through in the kraut.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains lard, meat the source does not name, pork.

Ingredients

• 4 cured pork cutlets on the bone, about 200 g each
• 800 g sauerkraut, drained
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon lard
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 teaspoon juniper berries
• 1 bay leaf
• 300 ml meat broth
• 600 g floury potatoes, for mashing
• 100 ml milk, warm
• 40 g butter
• yellow mustard, to serve

Method

1. CURED AND NEVER SMOKED, WHICH IS THE WHOLE DIFFERENCE FROM KASSLER, AND WARMED THROUGH IN THE KRAUT. The article makes the comparison itself: the Rippchen ARE SIMILAR IN APPEARANCE AND TEXTURE TO KASSLER, BUT SLIGHTLY MILDER IN FLAVOUR, SINCE THEY ARE ONLY CURED, RATHER THAN SMOKED.
2. SO THE ABSENT STEP IS THE DEFINING ONE. Everything else about the two is near enough identical, and a smoked cutlet in this dish is the Kassler version of it. If you cure your own, stop before the smoker.
3. AND THEY ARE HEATED, NOT COOKED. The article's phrase is SLOWLY HEATED IN SAUERKRAUT OR MEAT BROTH -- the cutlets arrive already cured and cooked, so this is a warming through. Simmer them and they go stringy.
4. THE KRAUT IS THE COOKING VESSEL AND THE SIDE DISH AT ONCE, which is why it is drained first: wet kraut floods the pan and the cutlets poach instead.
5. SOFTEN THE ONION IN THE LARD WITHOUT COLOUR, then the kraut, the grated apple, juniper and bay.
6. THE APPLE IS THE ONLY SWEETNESS AND IT DISAPPEARS. It takes the hard edge off the kraut without making the dish taste of fruit.
7. BURY THE CUTLETS IN THE KRAUT RATHER THAN SITTING THEM ON IT. Covered, they warm evenly; exposed, the top dries.
8. THIRTY MINUTES WITH A LID ON, BARELY BUBBLING. Add broth only if it looks like catching.
9. MASH THE POTATOES WITH WARM MILK AND BUTTER, because cold milk makes mash gluey.
10. SERVED WITH SAUERKRAUT, AS ON ITS OWN PAGE, mashed potato and yellow mustard, which is the article's own trio -- and with Apfelwein, the Frankfurt cider, which it says is normally drunk alongside.

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