When I was younger, my grandmother made cabbage weekly. Cabbage fried in soy sauce and topped with ketchup or cabbage stuffed with ground beef, cabbage soups, and coleslaw. Always with that particular smell that accompanied a hot, steamy kitchen.
Everytime I see I recipe that calls for cabbage, I remember how much I like it and wonder why I don't cook it. In fact, I couldn't even remember the last time I had cabbage short of coleslaw. It was something that fell off my food radar as an adult. My diet has gotten bland, relying heavily on foods flavored with sugar and salt. Many fermented foods were dropped so I'm now making a more conscious attempt to add them back in again because they're delicious and provide good health benefits.
Fermented foods can improve digestion, boost immune systems and have inflammatory properties among other benefits. For this recipe, I replaced the sour cream with plain yogurt to really up the probiotic count (okay, so I just happened to have a ton in the fridge I needed to use up.). Any kind of sausage would go good in this but kielbasa is amazing, I used Field Roast Italian with good results. This recipe is from 500 Delicious Dishes from Leftovers, 1940.
WW2 Sauerkraut Viennese
Ingredients:
- 3 Cups Sauerkraut
- 1 Pound Link Sausage
- 1 Cup Sour Cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 Cloves
- 1 Bay Leaf
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place sausage in a casserole dish and make until browned.
While the sausage is baking, add sauerkraut, bay leaf, and cloves to a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Stir periodically to avoid burning. Remove from heat when the water from the sauerkraut has cooked off.
Remove the bay leaf and the cloves and stir in the sour cream. Serve on a platter, topped with the sausage.
Yum! I tried a new recipe calling for sour cream and used greek yogurt because it's what I had. :-) I didn't grow up with sauerkraut, but our family has grown to love it, and kimchi too. I'd like to try making more of my own fermented foods. It's really not that hard! I remember them teaching me about making sauerkraut at a historical village and how to deal with the mold and such. I love that it's a food staple that has lasted the centuries!
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