Notes to Self re: sauerkraut

[lwood]

• Call Whole Foods in the morning about that order for five pounds of shredded cabbage.


• Hrafnar is delighted to eat and enjoy sauerkraut as long as the cabbage is shredded finely enough AND not red. Red cabbage makes pink sauerkraut, from which people back away slowly, white cabbage makes beige sauerkraut which attracts a throng. Know the difference!


• Call that German restaurant in Eureka Springs, AR, the one where you had that awesome Cream of Sauerkraut Soup during the weekend of dr_beowulf's wedding to evilwenchesinc. Shake them down for the recipe, because you misplaced it the last time they gave it to you. If you start now, the kraut should be soup-able in plenty of time for Hrafnar Yule, even if you'll miss Winternights.


• Taunt trogula about how a certain town in Ohio holds a sauerkraut festival every year.

Comments

[hljod-huskona.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmm!
I would *love* to hear how you make your sauerkraut. I haven't made it since I was a kid with my grandmother. This past Spring I picked up a nice container to make the kraut in. Unfortunately my grandmother cannot help me with making the sauerkraut. I'm trying to remember the process in my mind...the only part I am drawing a blank on is the salt brine.
I've been looking it up, but something drawn from experience of a friend would be great, too! =)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I've been using Alton Brown's recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_27001_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html), which should be a nice starting-off point for you.

You don't add salt brine, and this might be where your memory fails you. You add salt, and this pulls enough moisture from the cabbage to make brine. The other key is weighting the cabbage so that none of it is above the level of the liquid; this keeps that "scum" from forming.

-- Lorrie

[hljod-huskona.livejournal.com]

Makes sense!
I remember my grandmother made some sort of salt brine, which she added into the shredded cabbage. I think that's where my confusion came in at...all the recipes I've since read always discussion the salt brine "after" fermentation...and never "how to make the salt brine." So I guess there was some sort of additional recipe there she used. I wish I could remember! Hers was very good.

For weighing the cabbage down, I remember she used to take some of the whole leaves, and then had a piece of wood that my grandfather made to fit in the crock. She weighed that down with some stones that she thoroughly cleaned and had permanently designated entirely for the sauerkraut fermentation. When I was a kid, I used to lift up the layers of the cabbage and steal some fermenting sauerkraut. =P

As an adult looking back, that seems so simple, at least compared to the more modern supplies found on Lehman's, for example, LOL. Regardless, I'll stick to Brown's until I am re-familiarized with the process again. Hopefully I might remember something through the process, thanks!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

She may have been under the impression that you had to add water to the cabbage--that's not actually so. All the water you need is in the cabbage, the salt only teases it out. Still, if it wasn't enough water to drop the salt below the magic number needed to keep out the undesirable bacteria, it wouldn't've hurt anything.

Oh, in Alton's recipe, you'll see "pickling salt". If what you happen to have is kosher, a spin through the coffee grinder will turn it into pickling salt in no time. The real criteria are that the salt crystals are fine and you have no anti-caking agents in play--so no "table salt" or "iodized salt", as both of these have cellulose flakes added.

You're welcome!

[hljod-huskona.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it wasn't much...more like a paste of sorts, because she had some other stuff in there too. I know she used juniper berries...who knows what else! LOL.
Table salt...hmmm, what's that? LOL!

We've been using sea salt for years now...and recently found a supplier for sea salt blocks. Literally...blocks of sea salt, anywhere from 2 to 5 inches in size. My boys have been so thrilled with this, that even after using this for a few months now, the novelty of grating their own salt still has not worn off. =P

When I read "pickling salt" I was a little unsure (thought of my salt-based pickling spices initially, hehe). Fine-grated salt. Got it! Excellent.
Thanks for the tips and help again!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Sea salt should be fine, just make sure to grind it teensy tiny, until it makes you think of flour and powdered sugar instead of sand. 8-)

Yes, one may buy "pickling spices", but better to compile your own on a per-case basis, IMO.

You're welcome!

-- Lorrie

[arianrhodstorm.livejournal.com]

I know I may be in the minority here but...

YECK!!!

I grew up in Wisconsin, and by all rights should love the stuff, but if you've ever smelled cabbage rotting in the fields after a spring thaw, you might just agree with me about its sheer in-edibleness.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Oh, I had a peanut butter-bearing cookie at just the wrong part of my recovery from a stomach bug, and couldn't stand peanut butter cooked into anything for years, up to and including the humble Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

So I get it, and as a result you can't have NONE of my sauerkraut! So there!

-- Lorrie

[illuviel.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely, and I've been looking forward to making more 'kraut once the weather cools a bit.

When you rassle the soup recipe out of them, please share?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

If I get the recipe out of them (forgot to call today), I'll be sure to let you know!

-- Lorrie