Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Spirited cooking: boozy sauerkraut

Spirited Cooking is another one off foodblogging event hosted by slashfood. Very appropriate at this boozy spirited season:)

I guess it is too late to put forward my penne alla vodka - very popular in my kitchen during 2005 - or ubiquous Estonian kama truffles seasoned with our national creamy liqueur. Assuming it has to be something recent and seasonal, I put forward our Christmas food staple: sauerkraut. And instead of cooking it simply with a large chunk of pork, I made a delicious hotpot with beer.

Boozy sauerkraut
(Õlles hautatud hapukapsad)
Source: Postimees, December 2005



1 kg fresh sauerkraut
100 grams of sugar or honey
1-2 tsp salt
300 ml porter or other dark strong beer
300 ml apple juice
a generous pinch of caraway seeds
50 grams butter

Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan and put on a medium heat. Simmer, stirring every now and then, until the cabbage is slightly golden and soft.

Serve with fried or roasted black pudding/blood sausages and pork roast and roasted potatoes. Or turkey, if that's what you usually have on your Christmas table.

Head over to SlashFood for the round up of the Spirited Cooking event!

6 comments:

Kalyn Denny said...

Nice idea for an unusual spirits/food combination.

Joycelyn said...

hi pille, that looks so wonderful and warming - makes me want to rush out for some sausages right now to go with it!

Anonymous said...

very interesting way of preparing it, with the beer. I like!

Paz

Anonymous said...

This sounds wonderful - enjoy your holiday!

Anonymous said...

This is making me crave for sausages and sauerkraut! Yum!!! Happy Holidays Pille! :)

Pille said...

Kalyn - it's quite unusual for us as well, usually we don't waste beer with sauerkraut either:) But it worked very well - even my uncle, who makes his own fresh sauerkraut, as only then it suits his tastebuds - a real sauerkraut purist then - liked it a lot..

J - remember that black pudding/blood sausages go best with sauerkraut - not a problem for you, as you said once you really like them!

Paz - I'm glad you like the sound of this recipe!

Rorie - thanks, and I'm indeed having great time at home. If it only weren't so cold..

Joey - happy holidays to you, too!