Polish Saurkraut

After Growing up in a Polish home, I was amazed to see my husband
open up a jar of saurkraut and serve it out of the jar. I just never have seen it done that way. In my home you either knew how to make a good saurkraut or you didn't. There was nothing worse then Bad Saurkraut, it would spoil the whole meal. I'm sure many have their Special Recipe for a Great Saurkraut, In my opinion my fathers was the best & I never was able to make mine taste like his. This is the way I prepare mine. Feel free to add your own special touches and make it your own specialty. Saurkraut is a great side dish for any meat, mixed with dumplings or any type of noodles, with fried or boiled potato's.  I usually make mine a day or so ahead of time, It always tastes better the second day.

Empty your saurkraut into a large pot & cover with water 1/2 of the way. Bring to a quick boil, cover & simmer for 1/2 hour.

In a pan, melt your margarine & throw in your onion, fry till onion softens. let sit till needed.

When the saurkraut has cooked for a 1/2 hour, Our in your margarine & onions, add your bay leaves, chopped garlic or garlic salt, seasoned salt. Mix well & cook on low heat for 25 minutes. Now add your Brown Sugar, stir well, cook 15 more minutes.

Now take a spoonful out, let cool slightly & taste. Add more salt, pepper or brown sugar till your satisfied. You don't want it overly sweet, so be careful if you add more sugar.

When it's done, you can either serve immediately, or let cool thoroughly & refrigerate and serve the following day. Once it's cool, you can drain any excess liquid  to your preference. Now you can serve it as a side dish as is or mix it with potato's, dumplings or noodles.

More ways of making and using saurkraut:

Saurkraut & Ribs:
Take your ribs (cut up) and place in large pot of water, bring to a quick boil, remove from heat, drain & rinse. In the same pot, add enough water to just cover the ribs & bring to boil again, lower heat & cook for 1 hour. If the ribs are still too tough after an hour cook for 30 minutes more. Now add your rinsed saurkraut to the water, usually 2 or 3 jars, you can also add a small chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, clove of chopped garlic, salt & pepper. Let this all cook together for 30 minutes more. If it looks to dry, add more water. When you see that the meat is almost falling off the bone or very soft, It's Done! Serve with fresh boiled potato's or dumplings.
(Beef Tips work well in this too)

*** To make any saurkraut taste better, cook with meat in water, (pork chops, ribs, beef tips, pigs feet,) or save the bone from a ham and add to your saurkraut as it's cooking.

*** To use as filling for pielogi, Use my original recipe, omit the brown sugar, Drain Thoroughly After Cooking. Let cool & put in a container & refrigerate for a day before using. The saurkraut need to be moist.

Enjoy!

If you try this recipe & would like to comment on it,
Please use our comment form here
Thank You!