Despite my German heritage, I have never really warmed to German food. I do love sausage in nearly every form, as long as it is crusty on the outside and chunky on the inside. And pork is definitely a carnivore’s dream. But preparations of these things in the German playbook usually don’t inspire me. Nein to pretzels as well.
Maybe it’s the frequent large pot of sauerkraut that my mother surely made me try the first time, but sauerkraut is an exception to the lack of interest in this cuisine. My mother made a large pot of sauerkraut when the weather got cold like this. She served it with cheap pork ribs. And mashed potatoes that came from a box. (Definitely not recommended.) This season, I vowed to make some sauerkraut before Oktoberfest 2019 was history. I did this last week, and I poured myself a German beer in the glass I brought back from Neuschwanstein Castle. A solo Oktoberfest. The recipe is below, should you want to warm yourself this season in the German way.
Sauerkraut for four
1 small Boston Butt pork roast (1lb)
5 cloves garlic
1 half yellow onion
2 cans sauerkraut
Salt and pepper to taste
Rinse the pork and stud it with peeled garlic.
Salt and pepper it and sear it on all sides.
Place in a roaster or iron skillet in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes with a half-inch water. Baste periodically.
Remove from the oven and the garlic should have popped out. Smush this garlic in a Dutch oven with the chopped onion.
When this caramelizes place the roast in the oven and sear it some more,
Rinse the sauerkraut and pour it on top of the roast. Fill up the Dutch oven half the way filled with water and simmer for two hours on medium, stirring occasionally. This is done when the roast has broken into braised meat chunks. Serve with homemade mashed potatoes.
