/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.19793285]

Easiest way to make sour cabage/sauerkraut/etc at home?
I know slavs do it, but they ferment it for months. And I love kimchi, but it has too many meme ingredients. Can I just try with a jar and some shredded cabbage in my kitchen?

[Anonymous No.19793370]

Yeah, you can just add salt to shredded cabbage and it will turn into sauerkraut in about a week.

[Anonymous No.19793469]

>>19793370
Only that? Anything else, like vinegar, etc?
I presume no need of water, since the salted cabbage would release a lot?
What kind kf spices would you add?

[Anonymous No.19793493]

>>19793469
You can add whatever spices you want depending on if you want to make a specific style, but yeah, just adding salt to the cabbage will draw out enough water to completely cover the cabbage and become a brine. All you need to do is put a weighted plate or something on top to keep it all submerged, and maybe give it a little stir once or twice a day. It's really that simple.

[Anonymous No.19793509]

>>19793285
>Can I just try with a jar and some shredded cabbage in my kitchen?
Yes, literally what I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwC7bTjLkQ

[Anonymous No.19793552]

>>19793493
Best weight is a brick or a bottle of water: not too heavy, not too light. Put it in a reversed pan cover that is slightly smaller than the recipient you're using.
>>19793469
You add spices (juniper berry, clove, thyme, bay leaf), wine (Riesling, preferably from the Mosel region) when cooking. As the Sauerkraut keeps for months and even improves over time, it also stays "neutral", allowing you to make different preparations (with cumin, coriander seed,...) each time you cook.

[Anonymous No.19793553]

>>19793469
If you add vinegar it'll fuck up

[Anonymous No.19793722]

My country's version has some ingredients you might find difficult to buy where you are, like juniper, but at it's most basic, all you need is salt and cabbage. That's it.
Thinly slice lots of cabbage.
Put it into a plastic bag. Get one from your supermarket produce or baked goods section.
Add lots of non-iodised salt, more than you might think you'd need. Koshering or pickling are ideal (I use pickling because it's a third the price).
Massage it into the shreds.
Squeeze every last bit of air out of the bag that you can manage as you twist it shut then wrap/fold the open-end under the weight of the cabbage like the twist-and-tuck method of storing bagged bread.
Leave it to sit until the same has leeched out a considerable amount of liquid from the cabbage then drain, retaining the liquid.
Soak/rinse the cabbage in fresh water until it is no longer very salty then drain and squeeze dry with kitchen paper.
Wet your hand with salty cabbage water, grab a handful of cabbage on place into the jar then top with aromatics and spices of your choice or none at all then repeat the process: wet your hand, grab more cabbage, add more aromatics etc etc etc
Finally, tie a bit of muslin, cheesecloth or even just some kitchen paper over the mouth of the open jar and let it sit at room temperature for up to three weeks depending on ambient temperature. The colder it is, the longer it will take to sour.
The reason we rinse, dry and use the cabbage water the way we do is that it adds the exact perfect amount of salt for seasoning and fermenting without having to measure. Not too much and but too little.
You can also do a "quick" sauerkraut by dressing the pressed cabbage with a little vinegar but the taste will be completely different. Properly, sauerkraut has no vinegar.

[Anonymous No.19793765]

>>19793552
>>19793722
>>19793553
Thabks, how long do I need to keep it, before it gets good? I presume the more j let it ferment, the better would get, but the minimum? I let it stay for my kitchen for like a week before i try it...? And does the temperature matter?

Also, can i put some other veggies? Was thinking about maybe some shreded carrots and some garlic and onions for better taste and aroma

[Anonymous No.19793781]

>>19793722
you forgot that vinegar kills the lactobacillus that ferments the cabbage. so no, you don't add vinegar unless you're a NAGGER

[Anonymous No.19793790]

>>19793765
Usually it's up to a week unrefrigerated and it very much depends on the temperature
You'll just have to play it by ear

[Anonymous No.19793798]

>>19793469
>Anything else, like vinegar, etc?
Nah.
You are, in essence, making your own vinegar.
Vinegar is a byproduct in fermentation and it acts like such a good preservative because it kills most bacteria in high concentrations. Including the bacteria that produce it.
Which means that if you add the vinegar in advance, you kill the bacteria before it can even ferment.

Alcohol works in a similar way, by the way. The main reason it's hard to get undistilled products higher than 15% is that even the yeast start to die at that ABV.

[Anonymous No.19793807]

>>19793765
>Thabks, how long do I need to keep it, before it gets good? How long/what temperature?
As said, how long and when it will be done depends on ambient temperature. There is nothing stopping you from using a clean fork to take a bit out to taste test. It's done when it tastes done. I've had it be ready in as little as five days.

>Also, can i put some other veggies?
Many Slavs add carrot. Country she's not be we use garlic as an automatic along with the juniper.
I've never heard of any country adding onion, but we use sauerkraut as the base of a gravy for pork in mine. It gets caramelised in lard or oil with thinly sliced onion before adding flour to make a medium roux then topping off with pork-or-vegetable stock/broth.
The full dish is as follows:
Cook sauerkraut and onion.
Add pork chops.
Flip pork chops.
Remove pork chops.
Add flour.
Make roux.
Darken roux.
Add stock/broth.
Dissolve roux.
Re-add pork chops and whatever juices they cast off while out of the pan.
Finish in the gravy.
Serve with good bread and some vegetable sides. Butter-braised carrots with onion, caraway and sweet parsley is a nice one. Boiled potato dressed with bacon grease is another. I don't like mash with this. I feel the tart nature of the gravy doesn't go well with it m

[Anonymous No.19793821]

>>19793781
The vinegar is for making a facsimile of sauerkraut to eat that afternoon since it takes 45 minutes to put together, only five of which are active labour time. This sort of "sauerkraut" isn't good for something like >>19793807 but great as a quick topping or side for sausages. Just don't cook with it.

>>19793790
>unrefrigerated
Which reminds me. Even after the full ferment at room temperature, it continues to develop flavours in the fridge after unless you've water-canned it for even longer storage.

[Anonymous No.19793853]

Thanks for all the tips.
You guys all said that i shouldnt add water since the cabbage will release enough, but what if I do? I absolutely love the sauerkraut "juice" and could just drink it by itself. Its also apparently really good for you to. Should I just add more water if i want to end up with more juice or will it just become too watery and bland?

[Anonymous No.19793859]

>>19793853
It will be fine but add salt commensurate to the volume of water or you will risk growing something unwanted

[Anonymous No.19793866]

>>19793853
Oh and one more thing I don't think I saw this but don't use iodized salt, just use regular salt

[Anonymous No.19794159]

>>19793285
>>19793469
>>19793493
>>19793509
>>19793553
>>19793722
>>19793765
>>19793790
>>19793798
>>19793807
>>19793821
>>19793853
>>19793859
Mmmm... botulism!

[Anonymous No.19794180]

>>19793469
add 5-10% of weight of the cabbage in salt, and 'crush' mash, or bruise well.

[Anonymous No.19794197]

>>19793866
See >>19793722
>Add lots of non-iodised salt

>>19794159
Bruh, I'm on immunosuppressants for lupus. If botulism woulda killed anyone, it woulda been me. As I'm here telling you this, the method detailed in >>19793722
Is demonstrably fine. Stop being a such a an enormously fragile faerie.

[Anonymous No.19794626]

>>19793853
>release enough, but what if I do? I absolutely love the sauerkraut "juice" and could just drink it by itself.
So just buy it.

[Anonymous No.19794650]

You need to make sure that the salt % is right otherwise you can risk getting something like botulism
If you're worried I read that you can test the PH

[Anonymous No.19796031]

>>19793285
>kimchi, but it has too many meme ingredients.
You can easily make a good version without the meme gook ingredients

[Anonymous No.19796852]

>tfw fermentation general is dead

[Anonymous No.19797859]

>>19796852
Just use this one anon, what do you wanna talk about

[Anonymous No.19797870]

>>19797859
I wanna talk about how there's this one group of people who have all the money and own all the media and pretty much dominate the world.

[Anonymous No.19797881]

>>19797870
I also hate bongs, anon

[Anonymous No.19797967]

>>19797881
I was getting at straight white men, lol.
Thank you mods/jannies for deleting but not banning (it even warning lmao)

[Anonymous No.19798329]

>>19793853
>but what if I do?
Use a uniodized salt weighting 2% of total weight of cabbage.

[Anonymous No.19798333]

>>19794180
>5-10%
That would be very salty cabbage.
It is recommended to use 2-2.5% by weight.

[Anonymous No.19798962]

>>19797967
>Jannies not shooting on sight
Huh, they must have been drunk

[Anonymous No.19799103]

Hey is this a sauerkraut thread?

[Anonymous No.19799295]

>>19794159
It is not a concern in high-oxygen high-salt or acidic environments.. homemade kraut is all three bruhbruh.

[Anonymous No.19800520]

>>19794159
Amerishart moment

[Anonymous No.19801975]

ayo niggas wtf do you eat saurkraut with? i bought a jar but it's just been sitting in my fridge for 3 months

[Anonymous No.19801982]

>>19801975
Pork chops in sauerkraut gravy is nice

[Anonymous No.19802029]

how much do germans really eat this instead of weisskrautsalat?

I always got that at grocery store when I was there. I think sour foods are a meme...

[Anonymous No.19802120]

>>19801975
Literally any kind of meat works, but the greasier, the better. Pork belly is perfect. Or a nice sausage. Even roasted chicken works great

[Anonymous No.19802511]

>>19802029
Krautsalat is rather used as a side dish in summer months or as a topping.

[Anonymous No.19803064]

>>19801975
pork, liver, potatoes, that kind of stuff
>>19799103
looks good. savor it.