Sauerkraut Viennese Food

BAVARIAN SAUERKRAUT

Steps:

• Heat bacon drippings in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Place sauerkraut with juice into a large bowl and cover with water. Stir and use your hands to squeeze out as much of the water and juice as possible. Add squeezed sauerkraut to onion.
• Stir brown sugar, caraway seeds, chicken stock, and cooking sherry into the sauerkraut mixture. Reduce heat to low and simmer until almost all the liquid has evaporated, 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

MOTHER'S AUSTRIAN-STYLE WINE SAUERKRAUT

Steps:

• Chop peeled apple into roughly bite sized cubes; set aside.
• Chop onion; set aside.
• Measure out butter or margarine, sugar, caraway seed and wine and have ready in separate containers to add at appropriate time.
• In large, deep skillet, melt butter over medium heat. When heated add caraway seed and onion. Sauté three to four minutes until onion starts to get translucent.
• Add apple cubes in with onion and butter and caraway. Cover frying pan and with heat between medium and high, let the apple and onion caramelize for about five minutes or however long it takes to see the onion and apple start to brown. The heat will also bring out the flavor of the caraway seed.
• When onion and apple have become soft and starting to brown, add sugar and mix onion and apple and sugar until they are evenly
• mixed. Let sauté another minute to get the sugar into the other ingredients.
• Add the sauerkraut and with cooking tongs and a spoon, gently toss sauerkraut in the butter, fruit and onions and caraway seed mixture until it is evenly distributed and coated.
• Deglaze with white wine and again stir around until it is all mixed.
• Cover the skillet, reduce to simmer and let the sauerkraut steam for another 10-15 minutes on simmer, letting the flavors thoroughly blend.
• Adjust for balance between sweet and sour. If too sweet, add a bit of sauerkraut juice and stir it inches If too sour, add a bit more sugar to a ½ cup of hot water and dissolve, mixing that into kraut.
• Cover and let sauerkraut simmer a few minutes more to let it blend.
• **Note: if you want you can fry bacon in small strips until crisp. Retain 3;8 cup of bacon fat and use instead of margarine (as per recipe above). You can then cook the sauerkraut, onion, apples and caraway seed in bacon fat then follow the other steps of the recipe same as above.
• Crumble the bacon into the sauerkraut at the last minute before serving and toss.

HOW TO MAKE SAUERKRAUT

Steps:

• Thoroughly wash a large tub or bowl (we used on the size of a small washing-up bowl), then rinse with boiling water from the kettle. Make sure that your hands, and everything else coming into contact with the cabbage, are very clean. It's wise to use a container that will comfortably fit the softened cabbage, allowing several inches of room at the top to avoid overflow.
• Shred the cabbage thinly - a food processor makes light work of this. Layer the cabbage and the salt in the tub or bowl. Massage the salt into the cabbage for 5 mins, wait 5 mins, then repeat. You should end up with a much-reduced volume of cabbage sitting in its own brine. Mix in the caraway seeds and the peppercorns.
• Cover the surface of the cabbage entirely with a sheet of cling film, then press out all the air bubbles from below. Weigh the cabbage down using a couple of heavy plates, or other weights that fit your bowl, and cover as much of the cabbage as possible. The level of the brine will rise to cover the cabbage a little. Cover the tub and leave in a dark place at a cool room temperature (about 18-20C) for at least five days. It will be ready to eat after five days, but for maximum flavour leave the cabbage to ferment for anywhere between 2-6 weeks (or until the bubbling subsides).
• Check the cabbage every day or so, releasing any gases that have built up as it ferments, giving it a stir to release the bubbles. If any scum forms, remove it, rinse the weights in boiling water and replace the cling film. You should see bubbles appearing within the cabbage, and possibly some foam on the top of the brine. It's important to keep it at an even, cool room temperature - too cool and the ferment will take longer than you'd like, too warm and the sauerkraut may become mouldy or ferment too quickly, leading to a less than perfect result.
• The cabbage will become increasingly sour the longer it's fermented, so taste it now and again. When you like the flavour, transfer it to smaller sterilised jars. Will keep in the fridge for up to six months.

SAUERKRAUT VIENNESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Place sauerkraut, cloves, bay leaf and salt in sauce pan; cook until the liquid has evaporated.
• Remove cloves and bay leaf, add sour cream and reheat.
• Bake sausages in oven until brown.
• Place sauerkraut on a platter and top with baked sausages.