Kitchen Diary

The first batch of sauerkraut turned out to be a success. Like, a holy crap this is delicious kind of a success, which is nice when it happens. However, after feeding everybody who came over for our pre-Christmas party with braised kraut and assorted pork products the once so full pot was empty. Today I went out and picked up three large, firm heads of green cabbage for a second batch.

Lessons learned:

• Don’t worry too much. It’ll work out.
• Use proper pickling salt, with no additives. Don’t skimp on the salt.
• Slice the cabbage as thinly as possible. Last time I cut everything by hand, this time I used a mandoline. A food processor would probably be even better.
• Tamp everything down, really hard. You want to bruise the cabbage, to release the juices and to start the brine. The smaller the cabbage pieces, the better this works.
• Slicing cabbages with a mandoline is a messy business. Next time I’ll do it outside.
• Keep the water lid of the crock pot really, really clean. I sprayed it with a vinegar solution, to discourage unwelcome molds.

For now the crock pot is resting in the warm kitchen. Once the brine has developed and the fermentation has started it’ll move into the cooler basement. I’ve added garlic, pepper corns and fresh bay leaves as a flavouring. Can’t wait for the end result.