Happy New Year! Did you party till the wee hours of the morning? Or did you struggle to stay awake to say “hello” to 2017?
I am writing this before the New Year with hopes that we will do something different this year – something that I haven’t done in many many years. We were invited to a party that is supposed to be epic, with dancing and loud celebrating. Ever since I moved to the United States, New Years doesn’t seem like a big deal to people, at least where we live. There are no fireworks, or anticipation so it’s kind of easy to doze off on the couch. But this year just might be different!
Anyway, since you are going to be reading this on January 1st, which happens to be a Sunday, which also happens to be the day when I post my recipes, I will treat you to a soup. In fact, this whole month is going to be dedicated to soups because frankly, soups are what make winter more bearable and give that extra layer of coziness and warmth from the inside out.
And the first soup of the month is… drumroll please…. the sauerkraut soup or, as my grandfather used to call it, the Hangover Soup.
Sauerkraut, or pickled cabbage, is a popular popular side dish in Eastern European and Germanic cuisine. It was a great source of vitamins during winter before refrigeration of products was available. In Lithuanian, Russian, Polish and Ukrainian cuisines it was also pickled with shredded carrots, and could be used as a filling for rolls/pastries, cooked in stews and, naturally, as the main ingredient in a soup.
Nowadays you can buy sauerkraut at the store whenever you need it. When I was growing up, though, making sauerkraut was a huge event. It wasn’t worth it to pickle just a little bit of cabbage and therefore, we’d get a huge bag of cabbages from the farm, shred them together with some carrots and layer the shredded cabbage with salt in a huge pot. My grandfather would then cover it with a gauze-like cloth for the pickled mass to breathe and we would wait. I vaguely remember my grandfather waiting to pickle the cabbage on a young moon but don’t quote me on that. Better enjoy the recipe:)
I mentioned earlier that this soup also has a different name – the Hangover Soup. There are two reasons: 1. The soup is a bit sour, which sends some much needed vitamin C down your blood stream, if you partied too much; and 2. no other soup warms you up as much from the inside as this, which is a great feeling whether you’re a bit under the weather or just plain want to feel cozy.
So without further ado, please welcome the sauerkraut soup.
Ingredients
Yields 6+ people
10 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
20 minTotal Time
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 cups of water
- 4 tsp broth base or a couple of bullion cubes (I used Orrington Farms Broth Base and Seasoning)
- 1 container of sauerkraut, 32 oz or so (I used Ba-Tampte New Kraut this time but you can use any kind such as the one in the picture above this)
- 4-6 strips of bacon, finely chopped
- 6 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 carrots, shredded
Instructions
- Put the water in the pot and bring it to a boil. Add the soup base.
- In the meantime, peel and dice the potatoes. Once the water is boiling, place them in the pot. It is important to cook potatoes before adding the sauerkraut as they will not cook well if the order in which the ingredients are added is mixed up.
- While the potatoes are cooking, cut up the bacon and fry it on the pan until cooked through (I like it crisp, but you can do it however you prefer).
- Shred the carrots and saute them with the bacon.
- Rinse the sauerkraut in a colander. I noticed that if you don’t and use it liquid and all, the sauerkraut that is sold at the stores in the U.S. is way too sour and the soup will not be as enjoyable. So this step is important:)
- Place the sauerkraut in the pot and let it heat through.
- Once the soup starts boiling again, place the cooked bacon and carrots and stir. Let it cook for a few minutes and then turn off the heat.
- The soup is best when it has had a chance to sit for a while so that all the flavors are intermixed. But you can eat it right away, too.
- Enjoy!
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Do you cook with or otherwise use sauekraut?
Let me know in the comments below!
