Kielbasa Sausage and Sauerkraut Recipe

Is everybody an explorer or some are more apt for it than others? Let’s try kielbasa sausage with sauerkraut and to find out!

Sometimes we have to take a deep breath and plunge into the unknown hoping for the best or so it seems, we do that from the spectators that look through the lens of history.

Is everybody an explorer?

In reality though, discoveries and inventions didn’t come unexpectedly to random individuals but to people who were actively seeking them. Christopher Colombus didn’t accidentally bump into the Americas, but he was certain that he would find, land following the setting Sun.

Nor the steam machine or the airplane was accidentally invented by people who had too much free time at their hands. Well, maybe the Wright brothers had too much free time, but it takes a lot of that to finally raise their planes above the ground.

Sure, a couple of unexpected discoveries popped up along the way, like small islands, penicillin or radioactivity but people had to know what they were doing to recognize such discoveries. Many of us would have been happy living on a flat Earth or simply toss out any leftover goo in a petri dish. Not to mention the lack of interest in pestling pieces of rocks in a mortar.

What’s in vitamin C?

Nothing proves this better than scurvy that caused suffering and death on land and seas for centuries, even though some found ways to treat it. There are tales that Portuguese planted fruit trees at stopping points from homebound voyages from Asia or James Cook carrying a store of Sauerkraut on his expeditions on sea since experience had taught them, it prevented scurvy.

But since no doctors or any authority was stumbled upon such solution, the scurvy treating properties of citrus fruits or sauerkraut went unheeded. Until a 4-month long voyage to Asia filled with lemon and sugar proved otherwise and the fresh fruit treatment for scurvy was widely accepted.

The discoveries of vitamin C in citrus fruits still had to wait a couple of centuries thus people never came to realize that there were other food that could prevent scurvy such as James Cook’s sauerkraut. Or maybe they just didn’t want to.

What is Sauerkraut?

Sauerkraut is -as its name implies- sour and many of us are not even remotely interested in having that sort of experience tickling their tastebuds as long as there are other options out there. Others find it quite fascinating to the level that they elevate it to the national food status like the Germans or Poles.

Germans like to eat it with bratwurst while Poles with kielbasa which are both sausages with slightly different flavoring with some overlaps but the sauerkraut is the same.

Sauerkraut is plain cabbage shredded, salted, and left to ferment at less than 60°F / 15°C. It doesn’t need any additional ingredients, similarly to the sourdough bread that is fermented by the same lactobacilli bacteria and yeast.

Unlike with bread though, yeast can ruin our sauerkraut if the temperature goes over the optimal temperature, leaving us with a soft and unappealing end product. Probably, few of us will buy sacks of cabbage and spend their afternoons shredding them to fill a 100 gal / 400 L barrel with would be sauerkraut, but for those who try, keep in mind the temperature next time.

How to have Sauerkraut?

For the rest of us, who buy their sauerkraut ready packed in our favorite shops and keep the opened-up jar in the fridge or use the whole batch up with cabbage stew or sauerkraut kielbasa, don’t have to bother with such nuisances.

Throwing together a sauerkraut kielbasa meal is one of the easiest of tasks we may encounter in the kitchen, right after making instant noodles. Although it’s recommended to spice things up a little with some onion and herbs and for the less adventurous to rinse the sauerkraut beforehand. Making sauerkraut sausage is as easy as warming together the ingredients and if we are ready, plunge into the unknown.

Ingredients

- ½ cup / 130 ml Cooking oil
- 4 pieces / 400g Potatoes (diced) (on low carb try Rutabaga)
- 2 medium / 400g Onion (sliced)
- 1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
- 1 lb / 500g Kielbasa sausage (Check out how to make Kielbasa Sausage Recipe)
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 teaspoon / 3g Mustard or mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon / 1g Caraway seed
- 1 lb / 500g Sauerkraut

How to make Kielbasa sausage and sauerkraut

Heat oil in a skillet to medium high and fry the potatoes until golden brown on two sides. Since there is very little oil is used, don’t forget to move them around every now and then. On low carb diet, we can use rutabaga or simply skip this step.
Remove the potatoes, add sliced onions, salt then saute until a glassy / translucent look.
Add sausages, garlic, mustard seed and caraway. The sausage can be sliced up or added whole as preferred.
Stir fry until the onion starts to caramelize and golden brown spots begin to appear on the sausages, for about 5 – 7 minutes.
Mix in the sauerkraut. Some like to rinse sauerkraut, others like it as it is. It’s sourness depends on the brand so make sure it has been tasted before adding it to a dish.
If potatoes or other fun bits were used, add them back to the skillet. Pour a bit of water if no liquid is left at the bottom of the skillet, place the lid on warm then together the ingredients for about 5 – 10 minutes.