Homemade Sauerkraut

The amount of cooking time is completely up to you.  My rule of thumb is this:  if the green cabbage is lightweight, it will be tender and could be eaten raw, or just cooked until it starts to wilt.  If the head of cabbage is heavy in your hand, it will be dense and slightly tougher, so I will cook it until it’s caramelized.

Ingredients:

2 strips bacon, diced
2 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp caraway seed, slightly ground or crushed.
1 sweet onion, diced
1 very large head green cabbage, cored and shredded
¼ cup apple cider or sherry vinegar

In a large sauté pan with a cover, render the bacon until it begins to crisp. 

If you have a mortar and pestle, use it to slightly grind the caraway seed.  When the bacon begins to crisp, add the olive oil and let it heat through.

Add the caraway seed and the garlic and sauté for one minute.

Add the onion, toss to coat in the oil, and let the onions sauté until they begin to color.

Add the shredded cabbage and toss to coat in the oil.  Let the cabbage sauté until it begins to color (or caramelize, your choice).

Once the cabbage is cooked to your liking, add the apple cider vinegar and cover the pan.

Allow the cabbage to steam for about 10 minutes. (If I am cooking this dish in advance, I turn the heat off and cover the pan.) 

Take the cover off, stir the cabbage around until the pan is “de-glazed” meaning all of the sticky brown mess is now incorporated into the cabbage.  Turn the heat back on, and let it sauté for another 5-10 minutes of cooking time just before serving.  

Corned Beef with Homemade Sauerkraut and Remoulade Sauce

Best made and served immediately.  Leftovers resemble the commercially produced sauerkraut I invented this dish to avoid.

Ingredients

2 slices bacon, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp whole caraway seeds
1 Tbs olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar

• In a large sauté pan, render the bacon until it begins to crisp
• Add the garlic and the caraway seeds and sauté until the caraway becomes fragrant and the garlic begins to turn golden.
• Add the onion and sauté until the onion starts to turn golden.
• Add the olive oil, allow it to get hot, then add the cabbage.
• Turn the cabbage to coat it in the fat and oil, then allow it to start to color on the edges, before turning again.
• Every few minutes (2-3), turn the cabbage until most of the edges have some color on them, adding a pinch of salt and pepper at every turn.
• Add the vinegar, toss, and cover the pan.  
• Cook in the pan for about 5 minutes, until the steam from the cidar and cabbage has dissolved all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. 
• Serve immediately.

Remoulade Sauce

A much more interesting sauce then the American “Russian” dressing, or “special sauce” if that is how you grew up with this stuff.   Also good as a cocktail sauce for cold shrimp.

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise (use what you grew up with)
• 3 fresh, whole garlic dill pickles (in the refrigerator section at your grocers), chopped and drained
• 2 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp capers, chopped and drained
• 2 Tbs chili sauce or ketchup
• 1 inch squeeze of anchovy paste
• 1 tsp hot sauce, more or less to taste

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and chill for a couple of hours.