Crispy sauerkraut with bright flecksCarrots with steaming potatoes is a real masterpiece of traditional Russian cuisine. But in order to repeat the cabbage that grandmothers make, you need to know the secrets. Of course, skill comes with experience, and in order to immediately get delicious sauerkraut, the recipe should not be changed or improved. Only its exact adherence will give a good result. It is also very important to pay attention to the cabbage variety. Not all of it is suitable for salting and pickling. You should choose a variety with slightly flattened heads. It is also important that the head is tight, ripe, that is, white. It is permissible for only a few top leaves to be green. The cabbage should taste slightly sweet. The right choice of cabbage is only one of the secrets of how to pickle cabbage: the recipe must also be impeccable. It is necessary to take into account that for pickling cabbage, as for other vegetables, iodized salt cannot be used. Without going into the complex chemical processes that can prevent sauerkraut from becoming tasty, this should be your culinary rule.
Traditional recipe for cabbage sauerkraut
Sauerkraut in winter is a champion in terms of contentascorbic acid, but besides this, it contains a huge amount of other vitamins. If you cook it regularly, you can forget about colored jars of vitamins in the pharmacy. For everyone interested in how to ferment cabbage - the traditional recipe may seem complicated, but once you try it, everything will fall into place, and it will be clear that it does not present any difficulties. It is not necessary to ferment a large batch of cabbage at once. Previously, it was fermented in huge barrels, but only for the reason that families were large, food was simple, and it was necessary to somehow preserve the harvest. Now 1-2 medium heads of cabbage are enough to eat with pleasure, and then cook more. For each head of cabbage you will need 2 medium carrots. If desired, you can add cranberries or apples to the cabbage before fermentation. In the case of apples, you do not have to transfer the cabbage to jars, since apples require more time to cook. Ingredients:
- 5 kg of cabbage
- 5-7 pcs. carrots
- 100 gr. uniodized salt
- 10 bay leaves
- 10-20 peas of sweet pepper
Method of preparation:The cabbage is washed and the top green leaves are removed, they are put aside, they will come in handy later. Then each head of cabbage is cut into four parts with a long knife. The stalks are cut out immediately, and the cabbage is shredded into thin and long strips, ideally if their width is from 1 to 2 mm. Cabbage of this shape will be both tender and crispy. It will hang down from the fork in graceful streams appetizingly. Carrots are washed, peeled and grated on a coarse grater before use. It is often difficult to properly and evenly mix cabbage, carrots, salt and spices. If the volume is large, then it is divided into parts, for example, you can take half or a third of the vegetables, mix, add a third of salt and spices. It is convenient to mix vegetables in a large bowl, if you do not have one at home, then you can do it right on the table. While mixing all the ingredients, the cabbage should be lightly pressed with your hands so that it will release juice later, but you can’t overdo it, because the cabbage will be soft after fermentation. After everything is mixed, the cabbage is placed in a saucepan, the cabbage leaves removed at the beginning are placed on top, a plate is placed on them and oppression is applied. A jar of water is usually used for oppression. The jar is first pressed down several times with your hands to help the cabbage juice come out. Ideally, after a few hours, the cabbage juice should appear and completely cover all the chopped cabbage. This indicates that everything was done correctly: from choosing the variety to lightly rubbing it with your hands. If this does not happen, perhaps the cabbage was not juicy enough. You need to react to the situation quickly, otherwise the top layer of cabbage may darken. Cold boiled water is added to the saucepan, just enough to cover the top leaves. The cabbage is fermented at room temperature. On the 2nd or 3rd day, depending on the room temperature, foam appears around the edges of the pan, this is a signal that it is time to remove the weight and remove the leaves, but the cabbage is not yet ready for consumption. The bitterness should also be released, for this, the cabbage is stirred several times, ignoring the sharp smell that forms during fermentation. It will easily evaporate along with the bitterness in a few hours. After this, the cabbage is placed in clean jars and placed in the refrigerator for storage.
Sauerkraut in a jar
How to ferment cabbage in a jar?In this case, the cabbage is also shredded, the carrots are grated, bay leaves and allspice are added and everything is put into three-liter jars, but in order for the cabbage to ferment, a special filling is needed. For the filling:
- 1 liter of water
- 1 tbsp. spoon of salt
- 1 st of sachet sand
Water is boiled, salt and sugar are dissolved in it.Before pouring the water, let it cool down. The water should cover the cabbage completely. A sign that the cabbage is ready is the appearance of foam. After this, the cabbage should be stirred to release the bitterness, and then you can put it in the refrigerator.
Spicy sauerkraut with beets
This is a great spicy appetizer for any occasion.Bright taste, a sea of vitamins, minimum costs - an ideal dish in many ways. It's time to get such recipes out of grandma's chests and don't give up your positions to Korean pickles. Ingredients:
- 8 kg. cabbage
- 300 gr. beets
- 3 pcs. bitter pepper
- 100 gr. green parsley
- 100 gr. shit
- 100 gr. garlic
For the brine:
- 4 liters. water
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 glass of salt
Method of preparation:The cabbage is washed, the top leaves are removed, then it is cut into squares of about 2 by 2 centimeters, and the beets are cut into much smaller cubes. The horseradish is washed, peeled and grated on a fine grater. The pepper is washed, the seeds are removed, finely chopped, like garlic and herbs. Everything is mixed in a container in which the cabbage will be fermented. For the brine, water is boiled, salt and sugar are added, boiled for a few minutes and left to cool. Pour in cold, the water should cover the vegetables, a plate is placed on top and oppression is applied. The cabbage is fermented for 3 days, then placed in jars and stored in cold weather.
The famous cabbage-peach
The petals are nothing more than petals,translated from Ukrainian. According to this recipe, cabbage is cut into large pieces of 200-300 grams, sometimes even the stalk is not removed. The taste of sauerkraut is special - spicy, and outwardly it looks like the petals of an unprecedented pink flower. Ingredients:
- 5 kg. cabbage
- 2-3 pcs. beets
- 7-8 cloves of garlic
- peppercorns
- Bay leaf
For the brine:
- 1 liter of water
- 1, 5 tbsp. spoons of granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt
Method of preparation:Cabbage is cut in two, then each half is divided into four parts, the stalk can be left in place. Beets are washed, peeled and cut into thin rings. Garlic is peeled and cut into slices. Vegetables are placed in a container in layers - first beets, then cabbage. Garlic, bay leaf and black peppercorns are placed on each layer. Water for brine is boiled, salt and sugar are added. The brine is poured warm, and a plate and oppression are immediately placed on the vegetables. The cabbage petal is kept at room temperature for about 4-5 days. Cabbage is stored in a cool place, necessarily in brine.
Cabbage in Hungarian
This is an interesting interpretation of sauerkraut.originally from Hungary. The taste is different from the traditional one and that is the whole charm of this interesting snack. The recipe uses green tomatoes, so the dish can be called autumn, since only in autumn are unripe tomatoes available to everyone. Ingredients:
- 700 gr. red cabbage
- 1 kg. cabbage
- 500 gr. green tomatoes
- 300 gr. sweet pepper
- 50 ml. vegetable oil
- 100 gr. salt
- 10 gr. ground pepper
For filling:
- 1 liter of water
- 150 grams of salt
- 50-70 gr of granulated sugar
Method of preparation:The top few leaves are removed from the cabbage, it is washed and finely chopped. The pepper is washed, seeded and also cut into thin strips. The green tomatoes are washed and cut into slices. The vegetables are mixed, salted and peppered, a plate of a suitable size is placed on top of them, and a weight is applied. Everything is covered with a cloth and left in the room for 12 hours. After this time, the resulting juice is drained. The water is boiled, salt and sugar are added. The vegetables are poured with hot brine, then vegetable oil is boiled and poured on top of the brine. The cabbage is allowed to cool and put in a cold place for storage. We recommend reading:
