Traditions
Welcome…Its been a long time since I have written about the 3 “F’s”..Flavors, Food and Fun! Being Sunday, I wanted to share a story of Traditions…My mom grew up in an ethnic household, Slovak-Ukrainian, and the cooking consisted of worldly flavors of cabbage, onions, bacon, mushrooms. Oh there were lots of other great goodies, but that’s another blog…smile
We grew up eating sauerkraut with just about anything..hot dogs, sausage, pork…but there was a certain taste, that only neighborhood knew of, that salt pork, onion cabbage goodness. The church bazaar would always have my mom and the ladies cook up pounds and pounds ..as the years go by, people always say they hate saurkraut..But I say, taste mine!
Ahhhh…Traditions! The one thing that keeps family alive in spirit!
within this tradition, I was able to come up with a vegetarian style, made with mushrooms, onions and french onion stock….I give you both versions:
sauerkraut w/salt pork or bacon
To make about a pound of it: 1 can or pkg. of sauerkraut, 1 small onion, 4-6 slices of bacon or salt pork, cut small, salt pepper and smoked paprika to taste
Open pkg of Sauerkraut and drain all liquid. Run it under cold water, squeezing and getting all the sour out of the kraut..Set aside. Brown the onion and salt pork together, till both are nice and browned. Add in the kraut, and about 2 cups of water to start simmering. Add the paprika, salt and pepper. Let simmer about an hour, checking and adding a little water, not to burn it. Turn it off and let the flavors set. The more it sits, the tastier it is.
No Meat style…All directions are the same…except use mushrooms and onions, browned in a little onion stock and about 3 tbl. Olive oil. For simmering, mix equal parts of Onion stock and water…The end result taste is light and fresh…enjoy!
Maybe there is a special tradition in your household, that you can switch up…Let me know!!
