Wilmer X
SG-smasher
Every time I pass through Alsace I eat their version of sauerkraut; choucroute. It´s fresher and chrunchier than the German one. They boil it in Riesling. With sausages and ham and strong French mustard it´s very nice to eat, with some glass of well chilled Riesling wine.
It´s interesting that choucroute/saurkraut has it´s origin in Eastern Asia, and arrived to Europe first with Attila and his Huns. A second time it came with Djingis Khan and his Mongoles. It´s still a national dish in Korea and Northern China, and is also used for the US Reuben sandwich. The fermented cabbage is often said to be very healthy, and good for the metabolism, but it´s not so easy to find where I live - at least not in ordinary grocery stores.
So, now when it´s Spring time, I decided to make my own choucroute. It´s not difficult. One need some cabbage and salt, a large can of some sort, and a plate to press down the cabbage so it´s always covered with water. I cleaned everything carefully before I started to cut down the cabbage in small slices. Then I packed it in the can in many layers. Every layer should be salted and then sligtly beaten and pressed down with the fist. After some layers one start to hear a watery "splash" from the cabbage when it´s pressed down with the fist. The treatment and the salt makes the water come out of the cabbage. It should be salty; one needs some 20 gram salt for every kilo of cabbage, so it´s quite much, but not oversalted. When the can is almost full, a big plate should be pressed down over the cabbage, and then the water from it will cover the cabbage. The fermentation should be made under the cover of water; no oxygen. The salt makes it difficult for ordinary bacterias to attack the cabbage. Instead a fermentation starts if the can is put in a slightly warm environment. The fermentation can be helped with two spoons of sour milk, but it´s not absolutely necessary.
Ok, it took me some hours to fix after breakfast. Wife and kids were quite interested and was studying the process on a distance. When I said that a fermentation should start tomorrow morning they looked worried, and wifey asked if it was necessary to have the can in the kitchen. I said that it should be no serious smell from it, and that I had to have it in the kitchen because it´s the warmest place in the house - and that I should move it as soon the fermentation had started. She said OK but looked suspicious, to say the least. I will report on the further development. It will take some three weeks before it´s ready to boil and eat. Perhaps it´s necessary to find something that makes wifey in a better mode. Perhaps some sort of party with the choucroute as a theme?
It´s interesting that choucroute/saurkraut has it´s origin in Eastern Asia, and arrived to Europe first with Attila and his Huns. A second time it came with Djingis Khan and his Mongoles. It´s still a national dish in Korea and Northern China, and is also used for the US Reuben sandwich. The fermented cabbage is often said to be very healthy, and good for the metabolism, but it´s not so easy to find where I live - at least not in ordinary grocery stores.
So, now when it´s Spring time, I decided to make my own choucroute. It´s not difficult. One need some cabbage and salt, a large can of some sort, and a plate to press down the cabbage so it´s always covered with water. I cleaned everything carefully before I started to cut down the cabbage in small slices. Then I packed it in the can in many layers. Every layer should be salted and then sligtly beaten and pressed down with the fist. After some layers one start to hear a watery "splash" from the cabbage when it´s pressed down with the fist. The treatment and the salt makes the water come out of the cabbage. It should be salty; one needs some 20 gram salt for every kilo of cabbage, so it´s quite much, but not oversalted. When the can is almost full, a big plate should be pressed down over the cabbage, and then the water from it will cover the cabbage. The fermentation should be made under the cover of water; no oxygen. The salt makes it difficult for ordinary bacterias to attack the cabbage. Instead a fermentation starts if the can is put in a slightly warm environment. The fermentation can be helped with two spoons of sour milk, but it´s not absolutely necessary.
Ok, it took me some hours to fix after breakfast. Wife and kids were quite interested and was studying the process on a distance. When I said that a fermentation should start tomorrow morning they looked worried, and wifey asked if it was necessary to have the can in the kitchen. I said that it should be no serious smell from it, and that I had to have it in the kitchen because it´s the warmest place in the house - and that I should move it as soon the fermentation had started. She said OK but looked suspicious, to say the least. I will report on the further development. It will take some three weeks before it´s ready to boil and eat. Perhaps it´s necessary to find something that makes wifey in a better mode. Perhaps some sort of party with the choucroute as a theme?
