This is not a recipe post, it's just sharing a "find" yesterday. I've become enamored with bone broths and am amazed by the flavor difference in my stews, soups ... or as the hubby refers to them as stoups.
Oh the broth these are gonna make!
So in search of pork butt we went to a butcher shop we'd been to years ago but never purchased anything from. It's not all that far from our home yet we don't go in that direction much. So having struck out at our usual source, hubby was like "how about there?". Well we struck out but got some awesome looking salt pork for the next time I make "kapusta" (Ukrainian cabbage/kraut dish). As an after thought I asked if he had any bones and the guy was like sure I'll go get you some! He brought out a big bag. The pic doesn't do it justice.
I'm stoked to have found a source of bones. They apparently make their sausage from the butt, but we reserved one to pick up for today :-)
I'm a bone collector and make my own broths, too - they taste so much better than what you can buy.
ReplyDeleteNext time you make kapusta, post the recipe, please!
(Also, make my own sauerkraut - speaking of kraut...!)
Send me your kraut recipe to try out! I'd be happy to do "guest concocter" posts here too for you or anyone interested :)
ReplyDeleteMy broth is simmering as I post (not the best thing on a warm summer day ...). I'm going to use it in the kapusta instead of water. Not something I usually make in the summer, but I just might make an exception since I scored that salt pork. I guarantee you will love it.
I collect bones but that's slow going with limited freezer space for anything but chicken carcasses. A free source of fresh ones is a find indeed!
There's no special recipe to my sauerkraut. It's just salted/fernmented cabbage, right? Salt and shredded cabbage.
ReplyDeleteI use sea salt, although kosher salt probably gives a milder-tasting result. I have a big glass cookie-jar or storage type jar (they sell them at Walmart). After washing it very well, I start adding a layer of shredded cabbage (2 or 3 inches deep), then sprinkle a handful of salt. Continue to repeat until finishing with a handful of salt. Put a glass saucer, slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the jar, on top of that last layer. Weight it down, use a paper towel to cover instead of the glass lid. Weight it down with a ziploc bag filled with water. Or two ziploc bags filled with water.
Reach in and mix with clean hands once a day over a period of days as the mass reduces in size. If there is any scum/froth on top of the liquid that accumulates, skim it off and discard it. Othewise, just let the cabbage and salt reduce under what is a layer of cabbage-juice-flavored brine. Taste as you go along until it get to the stage of something that tastes good!
I rinse the sauerkraut and drain it before using it in a recipe. I have always used it all when it tasted ready, but some people go on to can (a whole other subject) or just refrigerate the stuff.
I really like a mellow-tasting sauerkraut, fermented but not sharp-tasting.
I don't know how to guarantee that taste!
There are lots of recipes for homemade sauerkraut on the Internet but this one is about as simple as mine.
http://vegetablejapan.blogspot.com/2007/10/homemade-sauerkraut.html
Thanks euler! Sounds like this would make a fine kapusta. I'm making that tomorrow so will post soon. Today I'm doing an idotic thing ... we make a pork butt last week and I simmered up those bones so I had broth in containers in the fridge and it was "go time" to freeze the stuff or use it. So I'm making split pea soup in this 90+ degree weather LOL.
ReplyDeleteThe broth didn't look all that thick when I made it. Hard to explain but even though they aren't thick when hot my chix ones usually look like they'll congeal more than they sometimes do. OTOH this pig bone broth seemed thin. I was down on containers and have it in 2L soda bottles. I had to "squeeze" it out!
When I make my sauerkraut, I add small amount of shredded carrots - 1 carrot per 1 cabbage head. It tastes milder and looks more appealing. No one in Russia rinses it, just squeeze out the brine. Cabbage is usually served with sweet onion slices or green onion and sunflower oil (I use an olive oil). If cabbage got too sour, it is advisable to add some chopped or shredded apple. Brine can be used as a starter for next batch of sauerkraut or pickles or other fermented veggies. I recently tried fermented salsa - it was not bad. When I used to make sourdough rue bread, the starter for the bread was interchangeable with the fermented veggies starter.It is also a folk remedy for a hangover.
ReplyDeleteI also want to share the recipe for a very traditional beets salad. It is a healthier (and more weird-looking)version of a potato salad.
1 fist-sized cooked beet chopped (or chopped contains of 1 can of beets without liquid),
! normal-sized cooked potato chopped,
1/2 chopped sweet onion marinated for a while in vinegar or brine,
1/2 of englich cucumber
2 fermented pickles or 1 cup of finely minced sauerkraut,
some parsley, dill, celery - what is awailable.
Add oil and sauerkraut brine or balsamic vinegar (or lemon juice) and mix.
I remember eating such salad during winter time quite often (minus fresh cucumber and herbs), when only long-lasting and fermented veggies were available. It is not against rules to add some cooked carrots and shredded apple, or put mayo instead of oil. Many, who have problem with regularity, especially appreciate that salad. In Russia it is known as Vinegrette.